The Writing Centre paid a visit to Zittau on 5^th June 2019. For the international study course Ecosystem Services, two representatives of the Writing Centre held a full-day workshop. The workshop focused on teaching the fundamental skills of academic writing. The participants, who came to Zittau from all over the world to take part in the English-language master’s programme, received information on scientific standards in Germany over the course of the day. They were also made aware of the factors that play an important role during the writing process, such as the immediate writing environment. A pivotal focus of the workshop was on teaching methods, specifically the methods that make it easier to start writing, such as free writing, but also on methods that facilitate structured time planning. A practical exercise concluded the workshop, in which the participants could already work on their writing project for the seminar using the Pomodoro Technique.

Although the participants were all master’s students, some of them were yet to submit a written paper in a university context since the students had different backgrounds. The bachelor’s programmes that the students had previously attended varied considerably. They had studied engineering sciences or biology, or even political sciences at the bachelor level. For many, it was their very first introduction to the topic of “academic writing”. Since the Writing Centre in Zittau does not offer writing counselling, those who required more individually tailored advice for their essays after the workshop had the opportunity to participate in an online consultation via Adobe Connect, which is conveniently accessible from home.

An important aim of the workshop was to encourage the participants to reflect on themselves, which constitutes an important step for students to become aware of their own writing process. The participants themselves made this happen: with good moods all round, high motivation and homemade cake from the course coordinator, they contributed to a very pleasant and effective learning environment.