In the writing consultation at the TU Dresden Writing Center, many good questions are asked. To the question "Is there a panacea for my stress management?" Kiron, a trained writing peer tutor since 2018, gives a first answer:

Actually, there are no panaceas in the writing process. Everyone writes differently and has different preferences. But I can say this: a good cluster can be helpful at any stage of the writing process. If you already have a decent stress level due to an approaching deadline or a conversation with your supervisor, it's often hard to sort out your thoughts and reduce your stress level. This is where a cluster helps.

The first thing to do is to stay calm and fight the shock. And the most important thing of all: just start. Often (especially when I've already put off starting until two weeks before the deadline anyway) this is the most difficult aspect. But it always sounds so easy. You can make starting easier by using a cluster.

The cluster is a graphical brainstorming method, similar to a mindmap, and helps you structure your thoughts around the topic of your paper. Include everything you can think of: work steps that still need to be completed, ideas about content, and links between the various pieces of information. Afterwards, the cluster can grow into a number of things: an outline, a chain of argumentation, a guide to answering your question, and even a red thread.

For me, the cluster is a panacea for (fast) stress-free writing of scientific papers. But in order for it to be that, you need to sort it out after you've written it. For this, you can take all relevant work phases, your outline points or all other clues (thematic focus, methodological work steps, the phases of the writing process, ...). If you are missing information in your cluster - just add it.

After sorting, you can bring everything from the cluster into a raw text and add a quote here and there or pick out content from your literature (by the way, you will also find numerous relevant keywords for literature research in your cluster ;)). And bang - your raw text is ready. And as soon as you start to flounder: Take another look at your cluster and locate the current state of your work by checking off what you have already included or worked through and adding everything else to your raw text. Have fun clustering!

You want to try clustering yourself? Then maybe our handout on the method will help you. Among other things, you'll find detailed instructions there.

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Kiron Franzki

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This post appeared on the occasion of the June 2022 Writing Center Newsletter. 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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