Scientific work: Examples, suggestions, instructions
Table of contents
How do I write an academic paper?
There are numerous attempts to alleviate some of the difficulties faced when writing a Research Associate paper by providing instructions. This is just one of many and does not claim to be the only or exclusive guide. In any case, the principle of UNIFORMITY has the highest priority.
So why is writing a term paper such an important part of academic work? The term paper accompanies you throughout your studies, from the proseminar paper, in which the focus is on learning the skills, to the main seminar paper, in which the skills acquired in the basic studies are to be applied, to the master's or state examination paper, which takes the mastery of these skills for granted. The demands and scope also increase. However, a seminar paper should never be less than 10 pages long or ignore the basic requirements of academic work, whether in terms of form or content. Particularly important are: OVERVIEW and UNIFORMITY, COURAGE and SCIENTIFICITY.
1. formal structure
- DIN A4, printed on 1 side
- Page numbers (top or bottom) from p.3 onwards
- preferably in a loose-leaf binder
- Font size 12 (footnotes / longer quotations 10), 1½ lines (footnotes / bibliography 1 line)
- Useful: Times New Roman font, justified text
- Use word processing as an aid and format as you write: Set page layout, footnotes on the corresponding page if possible, no "cobblers" or "sons of bitches" (not 1 line of a chapter alone at the top or bottom of the page)
- Margins approx. 2.5 cm on the right and approx. 3.5 cm on the left, 1-1.5 cm at the top and bottom
- Citation rules / bibliography guidelines (important: UNIFORMITY!!!)
Components:
a) Title page
Cover page with informative character
Title of the paper large and bold
Seminar title, lecturer and semester
Author's own name with other important information such as subject combination, telephone, e-mail
Possibly also name of university and Institute, date of submission
Important: is not included in the page count, so does not have a page number
b) Table of contents / outline
Table of contents with the bullet points numbers / letters (I.; II.1; II.1.1 etc. or A.a) and headings as well as the respective page numbers
Introduction-main part-conclusion as a first rough indication of the structure
the table of contents itself does not appear in the outline, which only begins on p.3, the actual text
c) Main text with footnotes
comprises your scientific work including introduction and conclusion and is structured according to your table of contents
Make paragraphs in the text!!!
Footnotes/annotations end as complete sentences with a period; they are separated from the main text with a hyphen (word processing does this automatically) or appended at the end as an annotation apparatus; footnotes are numbered consecutively (at most separate by chapter for master's theses), whereby reference is made to the number of the footnote (cf. note 14, ibid., loc. cit.). It is important that the number referring to the footnotes is in superscript and in a smaller font size.
Footnotes should be placed where they belong, after the name, at the end of the sentence
d) Bibliography / List of illustrations
Bibliography is absolutely obligatory, separated into primary and secondary literature; listed alphabetically: list all literature used, no bibliography claiming to be all-encompassing
List of abbreviations only if required, not for comprehensible, common abbreviations such as o.O. u.a. v.a. etc. or relevant journals; explain short forms of work titles when first mentioned in the footnotes
e) Declaration of independence
Possibly declaration of independence / curriculum vitae or optional pages such as dedication
2. content structure
- Work is composed of arguing-debating-discussing-referencing-citing: your own achievement lies in the new perspective, the synopsis, in finding the thesis, also in the commitment to the work
- Research as preparatory work (especially searching and reviewing recent literature, selecting), creating a certain system, excerpting and partial reading, making copies of important passages, really working on the texts, i.e. using encyclopaedias if necessary, consulting It is your work, not the lecturer's, so you must be active in the research (do not blame the lecturer for not having literature, go to the library yourself, possibly interlibrary loan, Internet research)
- Literature research is the be-all and end-all: the quality of the literature found and how you deal with it (or the skillful handling of the non-existent literature) also determines the grade of your work --> relevant works, specialist literature, research efforts, titles of papers, etc. New/newest literature!!!! (not only from 1930) Also mention literature when talking about it!!!! (Note: at least 3 footnotes per page, even the obvious must be cited, depending on the subject, but the clearer the better; exact citations with explicit page or verse references). Relevant literature (not only travel guides etc.; for a master's thesis you may expect more than SLUB literature), also Internet publications, possibly also illustrations; only pure reference works do not need to be cited (encyclopedias, if they only inform about biography etc., but not if they take content from them; dictionaries; Duden; bibliographic aids; catalogs)
- sensible structure (numbered), e.g. according to chronology, sub-items, sub-areas etc.: it must have a certain logic and be able to convey your topic, support your thesis, be concise and meaningful, so it is best to find relatively short headings, but also not too short and imprecise (e.g. The vowel system: I. the a; II. the e)
- Pay attention to topic and title! Seminar context! The structure should already follow from the title - i.e.: the work is preceded by finding a topic. This topic is the central theme that the paper must follow, whereby your understanding of this topic (and the literature) is particularly important;
A term paper arises from a specific context (seminar) to which indirect reference is made (i.e. no references to "what was said in the seminar", but to the sources, where did the seminar leader get this from, taking up questions discussed there as scientifically relevant questions). Engage with what has been learned, critically adopt the interpretations, the point of view (e.g. Italy's changing party system).
Also discuss other approaches. Never ignore parts of the research that do not agree with your opinion, but engage with the topic. You must know the relevant literature on the topic (even if it is bad, useless or otherwise, you must show that you know it: so it flows into the work, even if negatively).
- The result should be a scientific analysis with clear, concise statements, whereby the structure is central and must be appropriate to the topic. For this reason, it is completely nonsensical: www.hausarbeiten.de (firstly bad, secondly useless, possibly cite Internet page); your work should have a certain connection to your seminar; a master's thesis should deal with a sub-area specifically dealt with by you and in your way; new books are always coming onto the market...
- Possibly preliminary remarks, preface, dedication etc. (to be titled as 0.)
- Structure according to the scheme introduction/main part/conclusion, differentiate main part in particular
- Formulate theses, define task
- Catchy names for the individual bullet points (not: conclusion) or chapters
- Quotations as references and footnotes with references etc.
Everything must be critically scrutinized and substantiated. Your references, your certainty are the representations in primary and secondary literature. Every thesis deals with sources (although often not direct source studies) and with the scientific treatment of certain topics. Therefore, words in the introduction or in the presentation of primary sources are also possible, but not, please, the presentation of self-evident things: e.g. a detailed biography of Berlusconi as a chapter in a seminar paper on Berlusconi's politics, not on all of Molière's works in a study on Le malade imaginaire, for which there are references to further literature in the footnotes.
Introduction
Conceivable would be: Thoughts on the literature, the existing representations, on the relevance of the topic, justification of the structure; own theses (already mentioned at the beginning or worked out in the course of the work), important preliminary work/theories
not possible: own person as reason, "In the seminar we had the topic and therefore I am writing a term paper", "I am studying Italian" etc.
At least about 3/4 of a page for the introduction
Consider the introduction as a lead-in to the main part, as an explanation for your work, as the particularly important part that informs the reader about the aim of the work and shows that you have dealt with finding the topic (because it is your understanding of this topic, not that of the supervisor, corrector, even if he gives the topic), so discuss the problem, your understanding of the topic, for explanation of the procedure, your theories Remember: the introduction is read first!
Main part
You should aim for a result, want to make a statement, work something out, find your own central theme (e.g. election coverage of Italy 2002 was biased, in Germany people were mainly interested in the election chaos = summary of newspaper articles, websites, i.e. work with sources on which you make your judgment).
Therefore, select bullet points sensibly and stringently, formulate theses, don't just narrate, also question critically! Your own achievement lies in the new composition, in the perspective on your question, in your point of view, in your reading of the sources In the main part, the development of your thesis must take place, i.e. it must either be targeted at the result, which you summarize again in the final part, or it must result from the introduction as a development.
In other words: your entire thesis must have a context!!! It must be a "whole" and ultimately be able to be described as well-rounded and read from beginning to end.
Footnote
In addition to the bibliographical information, the footnote includes all additional references that do not fit into the main text (scientific references and comments on the literature cited, such as a short sentence on this literature; quotations that should not disrupt the flow of the text and therefore go into the footnotes; suggestions or desiderata; evidence, references). There are often pages with 90% or more footnotes (this is an exaggeration, but don't be afraid to use up to 1/3 of the page from time to time).
Final summary
The result of the work should be summarized once again in the final summary (as a summary, outlook, supplement). The work is rounded off in the final section or part of its structure is already to be understood as such.
Appendix
(any notes, literature used, useful illustrations)
3. language and style
- Scientific, technical language instead of everyday language, which also demonstrates knowledge of the relevant literature
- Get used to the scientific style: critical argumentation - nothing is self-evident, natural, clear, obvious.
- You are not writing a novel: so no storytelling, no jokes, not prosaic like the 19th century, but scientific, factual style, no colloquial language. Take your lead from good works of current secondary literature, but not from your primary literature.
- Leave out anything superfluous, do not artificially lengthen your work (no filler words), be as brief as necessary, but stay true to your topic (i.e. everything essential must be included, or you must justify why you do not deal with important aspects of a topic - there is space for this in the introduction or the notes section: at this point...).
- Stylistics (indirect speech, grammar), comprehensible sentences
- correct syntax and spelling, good German, complete sentences, logical structure
- Observe rules for typescripts (e.g. spaces, apostrophes, accents)
- Italicize foreign language words as well as work titles (also in the text): everything that is not in the dictionary, e.g. happy end, institutions such as Académie Français
- Quotations in "common" foreign languages (Romansh, English, Latin) are not translated
- Care, no incorrect or altered quotations
- Point of reference: good, up-to-date works of secondary literature
- only generally understandable abbreviations (Hg; e.g.)
- correct use of foreign words, reference: Duden
- appealing design
- no overuse of the graphic design possibilities on the PC, also skepticism towards spelling programs, no separation systems for foreign words/foreign languages
- Proofread!!! Print out and read through before submission!!!
4. organization
- It happens again and again that students do not finish their seminar papers on time, therefore...preparatory work usually begins with the presentation, reading literature is the most time-consuming, depending on preference: write on paper beforehand, or work with computer/laptop, in any case: carefully
- No incorrect quotations (the worst thing that can happen...), no wrong names or numbers, when inserting into the computer, make sure that the sentence structure remains the same. No more than two term papers per semester break, plan to hand them in close to the seminar
- One more thing: be sure to pick up your work and discuss it (right to justification, at least in writing); the assessment standards certainly vary somewhat: but formal criteria are a must, a matter of course, content alone counts (use of literature, sense of structure, manner of presentation). Without formalities, no certificate! Only good content gets a good grade!
5. literature references (selection)
Bangen, Georg: The written form of German papers. Empfehlungen für die Anlage und die äußere Gestaltung wissenschaftlicher Manuskripte unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Titelangaben von Schrifttum, Stuttgart 19909 ( = Sammlung Metzler 13).
Baumgart, Winfried: Book index to German history. Hilfsmittel- Handbücher- Quellen, Munich (dtv) 199210.
Becker, Fred G.: Anleitung zum wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten: Wegweiser zur Anfertigung von Haus- und Diplomarbeit, Cologne 1990
Eco, Umberto: How to write a scientific thesis. Doctoral thesis, diploma thesis and master's thesis in the humanities and social sciences, Heidelberg (Müller) 19977.
Grund, Uwe / Armin Heiner: How do I use a library? Basic knowledge - strategies - tools, Munich (Fink) 1995.
Jeßing, Benedikt: Arbeitstechniken des literaturwissenschaftlichen Studiums, Stuttgart 2001.
Kammer, Manfred: Bit um Bit: wissenschaftliche Arbeiten mit dem PC, Stuttgart1997.
Krämer, Walter: Wie schreibe ich eine Seminar-, Examens- und Diplomarbeit: eine Anleitung zum wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten für Studierende aller Fächer an Universitäten, Fachhochschulen und Berufsakademien, Stuttgart 19954.
Lamprecht, Stephan: Professional Research on the Internet, Munich (Hanser) 19992.
Jehle, Harald: Scientific work in libraries. Introduction for students, Munich and others (Oldenbourg) 1999.
Poenicke, Klaus / Ilse Wodke-Repplinger: Wie verfaßt man wissenschaftliche Arbeiten? A guide from the first semester to the doctorate, Mannheim and others (Duden) 1988.
Potempa, Thomas: Finding information on the Internet. A guide for online research in a targeted manner, Munich (Hanser) 20002.
Standop, Ewald: Die Form wissenschaftlicher Arbeit, Heidelberg et al. (Quelle&Meyer) 199013.
Steinhaus, Ingo: Research on the Internet, Munich (Humboldt) 1998.
(written by PD Dr. Christoph Mayer)