GUIDELINES for writing ACADEMIC PAPERS
Preamble: Why write papers? What is meant by a (pro)seminar paper?
A paper is a demonstration to the writer him/herself and the reader(s) that
they are interested in and capable of academic work.
A well written paper shows that the writer demonstrates:
1. Good thinking skills, and is able to describe their thought processes
logically and clearly. Good writing results from good thinking.
2. Interest in, and a comprehending, critical response to literary or
cultural texts/artefacts (of all kinds) or a lively investigation of a
linguistic phenomenon. Papers are a kind of cross-examination of an idea,
putting something to the test, or proving a point.
3. Capacity to carry out founded research by referring to scholarly work,
dealing with new information and other people’s ideas and finding
supporting and convincing evidence.
4. Ability to organise and structure thoughts, arguments and evidence and
express these clearly. A reader wants to see the development of a writer’s
thoughts, analysis and discussion, NOT a simple regurgitation of facts or
other people’s opinions.
5. Ability to arouse and keep readers’ interest, maybe even coming up
with new ideas or a new approach to the topic (the latter would apply
more to a thesis).
Types of paper:
1) discursive/analytical/argumentative (most likely to be in
literature/culture studies)
2) empirical/descriptive (most likely in areas such as linguistics).
the
area
of
The difference between PS/SE papers and theses are in their length and
complexity.
A PS paper is more like a long essay where some research has been undertaken.
A SE paper is more detailed and is dealt with in greater depth.
A thesis is a much longer investigation requiring more primary material, more
research, which includes finding out about the status quo of the topic, and shows
more originality.
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From “Pro-seminar” and ”Seminar” paper to B.A. thesis, “Diplomarbeit”
and M.A. thesis.
Most of the following deals with seminar papers, but the same principles should
be applied to theses.
A note on length:
Proseminar paper: between 2,500 and3,000 words
Seminar paper: between 4,500 and 6,000 words
B.A. thesis: between 9,000 and 15,000 words
Diploma thesis: minimum 25,000 words
M.A.Seminar paper: minimum 6,000 words
M.A. thesis: minimum 35,000 – 40,000 words
These word counts exclude front and back material such as title page, plagiarism
declaration, acknowledgements, table of contents, bibliography and so on. Don’t
forget to give a word count at the end of your actual text and before your
bibliography.
The printed version of the paper should have a cover page which provides all the
necessary information for submission. The title should indicate what is going to
be discussed. For the main part see the Style Sheet. Good, clear layouts always
impress readers. Fasten the loose sheets together in a presentation folder.
A step by step approach to writing a paper:
1. Ask yourself the following questions:
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-
Who is this paper being written for? What do you know about your
readers’ interests/pre-knowledge?
Why did I choose the particular topic? What is my goal? You should be
interested in this topic and want to find out more about it, so that you
definitely have something to say.
What type of paper is it supposed to be: analytical or empirical?
What deadline do I have? This refers to time management: set yourself a
specific timeline /timetable and keep to it!
2. Brainstorming: this is a preliminary consideration of ideas; what the paper
might focus on. This can be changed or modified in the light of research.
Maybe you already have a title which has been given to you: consider
whether it is specific enough for you to work with, or whether you need to
narrow the topic down. If so, reassess at stage 5.
Mind-mapping is a good idea at this stage. Always write down any ideas
that occur to you.
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3. Researching: use every source possible.
Primary material: the original texts/artefacts you are investigating.
- How much is going to be necessary for the scope of the paper?
Secondary material: the sources you will need to help you with your
investigation.
-
1. Print media of all types →
Specific subject-oriented books; when accessing these you will find it
useful to skim through the table of contents/the index to see if and which
chapters are going to be useful, the bibliography is there to give you more
leads.
Lexica of all kinds, which might even include an atlas, for definitions and
background facts.
Databases and archives.
Course notes, if you are confident these are accurate.
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2. Audio and visual media →
Films, T.V. programmes
Songs and their lyrics etc.
Personal interviews.
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3. Internet web-sites, but please note that you should be referring NOT
ONLY to online material, but print material as well.
For more possibilities see the Style Sheet.
In
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all cases - pay special attention to:
Credibility/authority of author(s) (for example: scholar or journalist)
Accuracy of information - when in doubt consult more than one source.
Date of publication/production - you don’t want to be using information
that is hopelessly out-of-date.
The publisher and the country of publication.
Validity and reliability of web-sites - there are plenty of texts/entries that
are incorrect or badly written.
4. Making notes:
-
For your own research purposes always make short written notes in
your own words; plagiarism, which is copying from sources in whatever
way, is illegal (see guidelines for this on the Style Sheet)! Get out of the
habit of simply highlighting passages of text with a marker pen.
- Keep a very careful record of all of your sources: authors, titles, page
numbers since you may wish to refer to these again or your reader may
want to make a check. You will find that you will accumulate quite a lot of
material: make copies of articles/chapters/pages and mark what
you want to use for the record and for future reference. Keep this
material well organised! In addition you will need accurate references in
order to write your bibliography. For this purpose it is useful to make
bibliography cards or use a software programme designed to do the same.
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Keep careful and separate records of:
- Verifiable information.
- The author’s interpretation or perspective.
- Whether you agree or disagree with the author.
- Your own thoughts and ideas as you go along.
5. Writing a thesis statement (for papers): By this time you may have
changed or modified the original focus of the paper. You should now write a
statement of what the point, or message of your paper is going to be. It is a
brief explanation of your goals, theory or argument - “that which is to be
proved”. Keep this in mind at all times during the writing process. Make
sure the title is still appropriate. If not you may wish to modify it at this stage.
Remember that the connection between the title and the contents must always
be maintained.
A thesis proposal (B.A./M.A. thesis) goes further than a statement:
First consideration: topic.
- Which field of study are you most interested in?
- Within this area of interest, is there something that has caught your
attention that you would really like to do some research on? What is your
focus going to be? What is the central question of the topic you are
researching?
- What would you like to discover? What kind of scope do you expect?
Where might you have to limit your search?
- Why is this worth pursuing? What are you contributing to this field of
learning?
Second: methodology
- Which theories are you going to need to use?
- Do you understand the relevant terminology?
- What primary literature or research data are you going to examine or
assess?
- What secondary literature do you need?
- How are you going to proceed and organize your work within the time limit
you have been given, or have given yourself.
Third: proposal
- Now that you know in which direction you are going, you should write a
longer proposal developing the basic hypothesis/premise of the
thesis statement, and include your methodology and how you plan
to proceed. This should be in prose form, and about 1½ pages (around
700-800 words).
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6. Planning: you need to sketch out the structure of your paper, so
consider:
- In what order you wish your ideas to be since your paper must be
coherent. It is often a good idea to begin with some general or theoretical
considerations that work up to your main points or arguments towards the
end of your paper.
- Make tentative notes on what might be included in the introduction and
conclusion (see below for more information on these).
- Remember to organise your thoughts into sections and paragraphs.
- Delete points that may only be digressions, or irrelevant.
Your sketch should look something like this (with the contents, of course):
Introduction
- a broad general statement introducing the topic
(thesis statement)
- is about 5%-10% of total text.
↓
First section
- main point, followed by
- supporting points.
↓
Second section - main point, followed by
- supporting points.
etc. (any number of sections)
↓
Conclusion
- brings together all the arguments, restates the
points made, rounds off with a final statement
- this may be a comment, or may be looking
ahead to future solutions or research
- is about 5%-10% of total text.
Some further notes on structure: particularly relevant to the writing of
theses, but not only...
Overall structure:
You need to keep in mind throughout your writing a plan of your overall
structure.
Likewise
you
should
never
lose
sight
of
your
main
theme/statement/hypothesis/argument. The following order should be kept to
for the sake of logic and coherence.
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-
-
Introduction.
Key concepts, definitions, theoretical background, together with an
explanation of how these will be applied in your paper.
Historical background when and where relevant. This should not be too
long, your reader doesn’t want to get the impression that the paper is
being filled (padded out) with unnecessary detail.
Other contexts: political, religious, socio-cultural etc.
Main body of research:
-
-
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Text(s), artefact(s):
novels
poems
songs
speeches
films
T.V. series
etc..
-
Data
case studies
surveys
interviews
questionnaires
tests
reports
statistics
Analysis and discussion, whereby you can choose whether you want to
deal with your texts/data ‘en bloc’ first (A), and then analyse and discuss
them (B) - (A followed by B), or whether you wish to deal with each
point/aspect of your texts/data separately, followed each time by your
analysis and discussion (A1 + B1 followed by A2 + B2 ,etc.).
Work up to your strongest/most interesting points and arguments that
should come at the end of your paper, leading up to the
Conclusion.1
It must always be clear to the reader what you are setting out to
achieve and how you are approaching your goal, which you can only do
when you are clear about these things yourself.
Internal structure: on the level of each chapter or section.
-
-
Each chapter should have an interior structure, like that of an essay.
The content of each chapter must be relevant to the question or topic
being discussed, and not contain any digressions. You must
unambiguously keep to the point, backing up anything you say with valid
arguments, explanations and direct references to your text(s), data, etc.
The chapters should follow on from each other in a logical way.
Chapters are divided into paragraphs, and these should also have an
internal structure, and, be linked from one to the next. This is in the
interests of cohesion and coherence. A paragraph is a section of text
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This is the case with a Euro-centric approach; there are other writing cultures that work the other way round, beginning
with the results/conclusions and then demonstrating how these were arrived at.
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dealing with one idea; this is marked by the topic, or key sentence
often at the beginning of the paragraph, which sets out this idea,
and all the other sentences in the paragraph must be linked to it.
These sentences contain explanations, definitions, analyses, qualifications
and illustrations, in other words are a development of the topic sentence
and help to clarify your points. Anything which doesn’t relate to the main
idea belongs in another paragraph. Illustrations are necessary to convince
the reader of the validity of statements; they are one way to provide
evidence.
Evidence is displayed through references to facts, parts of texts and data
which might be from your primary material, but it will also be related to
your secondary material which has been produced by other authors and
scholars. Background or direct facts relating to your primary material will
belong to a body of ‘common knowledge’ which can easily be found in
standard works of reference (dictionaries, encyclopaedias, text books
etc.). Other evidence will come from your secondary literature, and
references to these will be dealt with by means of summarising and
paraphrasing what you have read. Including these, not only supports your
points, but also demonstrates that you are familiar with what renowned
scholars have written and that you have come to terms with it and can
discuss it appropriately. Direct evidence can be given by including
quotations (see more on these below).
7. Beginning the writing process:
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-
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Develop your ideas paragraph by paragraph; paragraphs vary in
length; fewer than 3 sentences would be too short, because it is unlikely
that you have developed the idea adequately, and three-quarters of a page
would be too long, since it will probably contain too much irrelevant
padding. In English, paragraphs do not have subsections.
Include your examples as you are writing2.
Remember to indicate your references and your quotations (see the
relevant section in the Style Sheet).
It is useful to frequently reread what you have written to check on
sense and purpose, i.e. that you have actually said what you wanted to,
that it is clear to the reader.
Check that you have no unfinished sentences or sentences with more than
one idea, that your sentences are appropriately linked3, that they follow
2
Visual references (illustrations, diagrams, graphs, photos) can also be useful to focus the
reader’s attention, explain or clarify a point, but they must be given a caption and referred
to and explained in the text. Do not pepper your paper with illustrations. Footnotes can be
used to qualify a point, give an explanation or provide additional evidence, the inclusion of which
in the main text would interrupt the argument considerably. This is an example of how to use
footnotes.
3
Avoid indiscriminate use of connectors such as: ‘in addition’, ‘moreover’, nevertheless’ etc..
Check correct use of these in: Swan, Michael. 2005. Practical English Usage. Oxford University
Press.
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on logically from each other and that each paragraph follows on logically
from the previous one.
Notes on writing introductions:
An introduction:
- is a general statement, maybe an expansion of your title, which leads
into the thesis statement, and informs the reader(s) what the
paper/thesis is going to be about; you may wish to include here why you
chose the topic or what lead you to it; an introduction is important for
catching the reader’s attention and drawing them into your topic.
- explains what you are expecting to find, what you hope the outcome
will be, what topics, which aspects you are going to deal with, but does
NOT give any conclusions or answers at this stage.
- might include a ‘creative tie-in’ in the form of a quotation or anecdote, but
keep this short, and only include such things when they serve to enhance
your introductory statements, fit into your theory or framework; formulate
anecdotes as formally/academically as possible (you should avoid too
informal a style).
- declares and describes your theoretical approach (e.g.: postmodernist,
feminist etc.), your method of research, and the material you are going
to analyse; explain these and any terminology more fully later on in your
first section/chapter.
- might need to include some historical or theoretical context.
- might need a brief discussion on the scope of your work and possible
limitations (what you have decided to omit and why).
- maps out the structure of your paper/thesis, so that both you, while
you’re writing and your reader later on, can see clearly where your work is
leading (“this paper/thesis will begin by ..., this will be followed by..., ).
- should be between 5% and 10% of the total paper/thesis.
Everything in the introduction must be relevant to the text as a whole. It is a
good idea to write your introduction first, and modify it as the writing project
develops should you find yourself moving in a different direction to the one you
set out from; alternatively write the introduction and conclusion once the main
part is finished and you are quite clear about it.
Inserting definitions into a running text:
Some people are not happy with direct dictionary quotations and feel that it is
better to paraphrase these. For example, suppose you had to define ‘identity’.
You could express definitions of identity as follows:
“Since the term ‘identity’ has complex associations and connotations,
scholars have attempted to define it in a number of ways. For example,
the 11th edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary states that certain
characteristics determine who a person is, which can only be seen as the
very beginning of an attempt to discover what the term might imply or
cover. The Gale Encyclopaedia of Psychology goes slightly further by
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including the idea of uniqueness, and states that people develop a social
identity according to which particular groups they belong to such as ethnic,
occupational and many others.”
In the above example, what has been found in reference works has been
paraphrased. (As lexica etc. are compiled by teams of lexicographers or
contributors, these are not always identifiable and so cannot be referred to. The
titles of these works alone are sufficient.)
If this were in a thesis it would only be a beginning; you would need to add the
opinions of social and cultural scientists, as for example Stuart Hall, and maybe
others, depending on how important this concept is for your paper. If you were
writing a paper that analysed questions of identity in a particular novel, for
example, it would be advisable then to discuss various models of identity, so not
just Stuart Hall’s, but others as well. On the other hand, if this was only a minor
issue in your paper, then a paragraph such as the above would be enough.
Different dictionaries/encyclopaedias/other sources give quite a ‘variety’ of
definitions, so making a comparison can be revealing! You don’t need to consult
‘dozens’ of sources, but comparing meanings can be interesting and worthwhile.
More to the point is how different scholars use definitions AND how they define
their own terminology. Depending on the topic and the necessary depth of
investigation, you can decide on how many scholarly statements you want to
include. If you doubt someone’s definition, then challenge it! For example:
“Kenneth Wald in Religion and Politics (1992) claims that: ‘a civil religion
can be described as ideas and standards that give people a sense of
belonging together while they differentiate themselves from others’. It
could be argued that as a ‘civil religion’ has no formal code of beliefs,
people form their own individual sets of beliefs by selecting these from the
doctrines of various religions (or no religion at all). Since this is an
individualisation of religion, there is nothing to say that this binds people
together in any way. Since the ‘individualists’ do not belong to an
established church, they are different from those who do, but otherwise
they do not ‘belong’ to a group of people having the same beliefs.”
This is what the author of a paper on ‘civil religion’ argues, which would
contradict the argument provided by K. Wald. (The underlining in the above
example only indicates the argument and the attempt at countering it.)
Incorporating information etc. from source material:
-
Use phrases like:
according to
X claims that
X argues that
X states, suggests, explains that
X has demonstrated
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-
-
-
However, reformulate the author’s claims, rather than substitute them by
using synonyms, in order to avoid accusations of plagiarism.
A translation from another language is going to be a reformulation. On
the question of translating, it is appropriate to quote in the original
language if you know your reader/supervisor understands that language,
but check with your supervisor on this.
When some piece of information can be regarded as ‘common
knowledge’ (something which is easily verifiable in easily obtained
reference works) then this does not have to be referenced.
If the information is ‘new’ then it needs to be referenced. Most commonly
you will refer to the scholar or author by name, so this is quite clear:
“As the cultural theorist X X (1976:20) suggested..... “
Or, you will give the argument and follow this with the reference:
“[..] consumption can become an illness that turns people into robots (Y Y,
1951:123-5)”.
(The full references of the above examples will go in the bibliography.)
A note on the use of quotations:
It is unlikely you wouldn’t want to quote anything at all. However, it is best to
keep these to a minimum. Do NOT pepper your writing with quotations
just because:
- you happen to like them,
- you wish to demonstrate you have referred to particular scholars,
- you have difficulties with paraphrasing,
- you are using them to achieve the required word count.
Include them only:
- where they are essential (the very essence of something),
- when you are providing examples from your primary text(s), in which
case you are quoting verbatim to demonstrate a point or give evidence of
something,
- where the author’s formulation is vital to understanding and they are
“words of wisdom”,
- when every word has an impact and cannot be replaced by a paraphrase
or explained in any other way.
If you are given information in emails or interviews then this will be part of
your documentation and you can refer to it. If the information was not recorded,
then it’s best to refer to the person who gave you the information in the
‘acknowledgments’ or ‘dedication’ at the beginning of (particularly) a thesis.
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Notes on writing Conclusions:
A conclusion is:
- an appropriate ending to your paper not an abrupt stop that leaves the
reader perplexed;
- should give final cohesion to all the points and arguments made in the
body of the paper;
- an answer to the question or hypothesis stated in the introduction.
You should:
- bring all the main points together working from the ‘parts to the whole’;
mention your main points/key arguments for which you simply need to
refer to your chapter headings and consider what these point towards.
Consider what the important connections are between the points and
what these points have in common. From there you should be able to
make general conclusions about what you have noticed during your
research. You will, as well, be reminding the reader that everything has
been discussed, questions answered, hypotheses proved. This process is
circular; you don’t want any loose ends.
- give the reader the feeling they have read something that was
worthwhile, that they have discovered something new and interesting
(even if this just a new perspective to an ‘old’ question) and thought
provoking, and that the paper/thesis has future relevance, or wider
implications, that it is related to other topics.
- round the paper off with a short, final statement. If you wish to finish
with a quotation, then it must be appropriate, and sum everything up in a
striking way - it should not be some sort of quick escape, to avoid what
you should be doing! The key word is again, ‘relevance’.
Do not:
- go beyond what you have argued/demonstrated, because that would raise
more questions than you can answer.
- include anecdotes at this point.
- introduce new ideas or pose new questions, anything that has not been
dealt with in the main body of your paper.
- criticise yourself, since this would lead the reader to wonder why you had
bothered in the first place, however, you can acknowledge shortcomings
due to the scope of the paper as set out in the introduction.
Be careful about:
- voicing an opinion; only do this if it is appropriate in the context, and you
can back it up with solid evidence that you have already dealt with in the
main part of the text, for example:
“In the light of.. it might be possible to assume.. /it might be possible to
conclude that..” or,
“In the course of.. it became clear to me that..”
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8. Editing and correcting:
Having finished writing it is vital to spend time doing this.
- Read what you’ve actually written, rather than what you think you’ve
written.
- Check that everything actually makes sense and there are no ‘gaps in your
thinking’.
- Check that everything is in logical sequence
- Check your English: grammar, vocabulary, spelling.
- Check that you haven’t made any typing mistakes.
- Your final questions should be:
“Have I achieved what I set out to do?” and
“Can I find no more mistakes?”
Always expect criticism! A tip: share your text with colleagues, and ask them
to be as critical as possible!
9. Style:
Academic papers must be written in a formal, impersonal style, which means
from the third person perspective to show objectivity. So there should be
NO
-
‘inner monologues’,
emotional confessions,
personal accounts, unless you are describing work you carried out.
In addition:
Avoid lists of platitudes, superficial or vague comments (concentrate on
making meaningful statements).
Avoid repetitions.
Do not ask rhetorical questions.
Do not use abbreviations.
Pay attention to being ‘gender neutral’.
On Using Personal Pronouns (in general).
You should be using the 3rd person in most cases because:
The 1st person is used:
- for autobiography, a personal account of something, a story which would
be inappropriate for a paper or thesis.
However, it can be used:
- when setting out what is going to be dealt with in the paper/thesis and the
procedure to be carried out,
- when describing for example empirical work carried out by the writer,
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when subjectivity is being stressed, and what is being said does not reflect
any one else’s opinion,
- when stating a personal opinion in contrast to the opinion(s) of others
e.g. “I personally believe…” or, “As far as I am concerned..”
-
The 2nd person is used:
- when the writer is directly addressing the reader(s), which would be
inappropriate for a paper or thesis,
- when the writer is making generalisations, also totally inappropriate,
- when giving orders and in conversation, which would likewise not be part
of an academic paper.
Note:
- the German construction using ‘man’ can be translated in different ways,
other than using “you” so, for example:
“Man weiß nicht was ihre Mutter ihr gesagt hat.” could be translated as
follows:
- in conversation – “You don’t know what her mother told her.“
- in formal terms – “It’s not known what was said.” Or rather, “No
one/nobody knows what her mother told her [daughter].”, assuming that
the active form is preferable to the passive.
- “Who knows what her mother said to her.” would be informal. The 3rd
person and the passive are common in this kind of construction.
(See: Humphrey, Richard. 2005. Grundkurs Übersetzen Deutsch-English.
Stuttgart: Klett Verlag.35-36. It gives many examples for the translation of
‘man’)
The 3rd person is used:
- in general, for everything else: when writing essays in particular,
whenever objectivity needs to be shown. (Note: the author of this
document didn’t write here: “whenever you need to be objective”, which
they would say/write when giving instructions.)
3rd person plural for gender correctness:
- It is better to AVOID the clumsy he/she, his/her etc. when trying to be
gender correct. An alternative is THEY (their etc.). This has become quite
common in the U.K./U.S. today, even when only one person is being
referred to.
- Also, it should not be automatically assumed that, for example, all
teachers or students are male as we know this is clearly not the case.
- Likewise it is incorrect to assume that ‘he’ represents both ‘he’ and ‘she’. It
does NOT!
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10. Final remarks or “Summing up”:
Clear thinking
Clear planning
Good structure
Clear message
Consider your reader(s)
Use an academic style
Keep to the point
Follow academic writing conventions
(see the Style Sheet)
11. Further reading: (Writing, in general)
Aczel, Richard. 1998. How to Write an Essay. Stuttgart: Klett Verlag
Aczel, Richard. 2004. Creative Writing. Stuttgart: Klett Verlag
Brookes, A. & P. Grundy. 1990. Writing for Study Purposes. Cambridge: C. University
Press
Doubtfire, D.& I.
Burton. 2003. [1983] Creative Writing.
London: Hodder and
Stoughton
Greetham, Bryan. 2001. How to Write Better Essays. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Manser, Martin. 2002. Penguin Writer’s Manual.
Oliver, Paul. 1996. Writing: Essays and Reports A guide for Students. London: Hodder
and Stoughton
Siepmann,, Gallagher et al. 2008. Writing in English: A Guide for Advanced Learners.
Stuttgart: UTB
Wallace, Michael. 1988. Study Skills in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Wisker, Gina. 2001. The Postgraduate Research Handbook. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan
Document updated 2010.
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