There's no escaping it in college: Sooner or later, everyone has to write at least one final paper. The very thought of it is likely to put many of us in an emotional state that can be located somewhere between slight unease and panic. But what is the reason for this? Quite simply, scientific writing is a highly complex matter.

There are many and very diverse subtasks to be mastered before the writing product is ready for submission: As a writer:in a thesis, I must first process a lot of information myself (for example, penetrating the current state of research on my topic), generate further information (for example, collect data) and finally present and link all the collected information in a logical and comprehensible way for outsiders, so that in the end - hopefully - I have generated new insights that somehow help someone. But how does the text of a scientific thesis come into being? How do the clever thoughts get from the head to the paper? How do sentences, paragraphs, sections and chapters come into being that readers can then follow? Many roads lead to Rome, or to the finished text.

One possible approach is to first plan the structure of the text meticulously and then work through the individual steps to the finished text. Admittedly, I am deeply impressed by such a structured and planned approach. However, in the course of my own writing biography, I have repeatedly found that I personally cannot work in this way. I find it very difficult to commit to a detailed outline at the beginning of the writing process. I do consider in advance which basic terms, theories, and concepts I need to explain in order to make my work understandable, but the most useful order is usually not immediately clear to me. So I first jump to a single aspect (e.g., a basic theory) and formulate a text section on it. Then I devote myself to another aspect. By dealing with the details, I get ideas on how to link everything together in a meaningful way - I gradually find the red thread. The detailed outline thus only emerges during the writing process. I also have a hard time writing individual sections of text when I'm first asked to come up with a plan. One of my supervisors once gave me the tip that I should try writing down the contents of a section of text in bullet points first and then formulate them in complete sentences later. But the more I forced myself to write down only bullet points at first, the more I felt the urge to write directly in complete sentences.

Writing researchers have also dealt with the question of how a scientific text is created in numerous studies. Based on these findings, Grieshammer et al. (2019) distinguish five different types of writing. These include "the planner" and "the spontaneous". Both reach their goal sooner or later - text emerges. With the Pläneschmieder, or the Pläneschmiederin, it usually takes a little longer to get a first draft of the text down on paper, because Pländeschmieder:innen first plan their approach and design the structure of the text. Spontaneous writers, on the other hand, quickly put text to paper, but need (sometimes significantly) more time to revise it afterwards.

It doesn't really matter whether you start by making plans or write straight away, because both approaches can lead to the same goal. Every writer should explore for themselves which approach best suits their own preferences. It is also helpful to have strategies for dealing with possible undesirable "side effects" of your own approach.

You want to find out whether you tend to plan or to write on the fly? The writing type test can give you some initial clues. You are welcome to come to the writing consultation with your results. There we can discuss which writing strategies and techniques suit you best:

to the writing type test (PDF, not barrier-free), writing type test abbreviated to click through (on OPAL, in German)

to book an appointment for the writing consultation (on OPAL)

literature: Grieshammer, E., Liebetanz, F., Peters, N., & Zegenhagen, J. (2019). Zukunftsmodell Schreibberatung. Eine Anleitung zur Begleitung von Schreibenden im Studium (4. Aufl.). Schneider Verlag Hohengehren GmbH.

About the author: Betty joined the Writing Center at TU Dresden in 2018 as a key competency tutor and has been giving workshops ever since. In 2018, the Writing Center was still a cooperation project of the Center for Continuing Education and the Career Service, but since 2021, the Writing Center and the project "Schlüsselkompetenzen@TUD" have been independent projects - and Betty has decided to also complete the qualification as a writing consultant at the Writing Center and will not only continue to give workshops, but also writing advice from the summer semester of 2022.

© Franz Mäge

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Bettina Damnik

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This post appeared on the occasion of the first Writing Center Newsletter in December 2021. This and other newsletter issues are linked in the Writing Center Newsletter Archive.

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​The Writing Center of the TU Dresden (SZD) supports students and lecturers with offers for planning and writing various texts in studies such as vouchers, protocols, seminar papers and theses and for teaching academic writing in teaching and supervision. All information about offers and possibilities of support can be found in the areas for students and lecturers.

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