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Writing for studies

Studying at the Faculty of Sociology

Students at Campus X, Bielefeld University
Bielefeld University
Zitat Luhmann

Writing is an essential part of examinations in sociology, political science and social sciences degree programmes and one of the core skills for later professional life.

The Faculty of Sociology itself is as diverse as its writing culture. The examination criteria and learning focus can vary greatly depending on the module, subject/work area, examination form or Bachelor's/Master's degree.

 

If you have any questions...

... ideally contact your teacher directly: Enquire about preferred citation styles, make sure that the assignment is comprehensible and which tools/resources are permitted.

 

 

The assignment often takes place in the context of finding a topic (e.g. for a seminar paper). This can also be done in the course, through handouts in the study room, during office hours or by email.

Examination regulations in brief

  1. The agreed task determines whether a written paper can fulfil the criteria of a "good" paper. Writing guides and other resources can serve as orientation, but cannot replace the assessment criteria of the teaching staff.
  2. The use of aids - including the use of Large Language Models ("LLM") - is regulated in the assignment of the examination or in agreements with the teacher. The teacher may request a written assurance of independence.
  3. For final theses, the tasks, processing times and assessments must be more formalised, i.e. announced in the examination office.
Teaching staff

If you are interested in finding out which teaching staff at the Faculty share tips and strategies for academic work on their websites, you can find the links to the respective offers here:

There are tutorials to prepare students for the two degree programmes in Political Science and Sociology for specific types of examinations, as well as providing general support for learning how to write academic papers. There are instructions, feedback and a space for support in developing questions and specialist skills. Both programmes are always offered in the winter semester.

The voluntary "Introduction to Political Science Tutorial" provides an introduction to political science. As this is a voluntary course offered, it can be found at the bottom of the list of courses offered for each version of degree programme under "Further courses".

The tutorial "Sociological Work & Writing" provides an introduction to the Sociology degree programme. This is a compulsory part of the module, which is why it can be found directly in the module "Fundamentals of Sociological Theory / Sociological Culture".

The internship module in the Bachelor's degree programmes in Political Science, Social Sciences and Sociology requires a separate form of examination in the form of the so-called internship report after successful completion of the actual internship. The Internship Office offers subject-specific information pages(BA Political Science, BA Social Sciences and BA Sociology), consultation hours, as well as the "Internship Accompanying Event" - recommended for the 4th semester - which is led/supported by teaching staff.

Different criteria apply to internships in the master courses Sociology, Political Science and Gender Studies. For example, internships in the MA Gender Studies programme are additionally structured by an accompanying course and only there are the examinations based on reports/reflections. In the MA Political Science and MA Sociology degree programmes, on the other hand, the examination in the voluntary internship module takes the form of a seminar paper.

For the final modules in the Bachelor's and Master's programmes, colloquia offer accompanying support in the development of the final theses. You will have the opportunity to receive peer counselling and feedback from teaching staff who do not have to be your examiners. Ideally, the focus of the colloquium will be thematically relevant to your project. You can always find the current events by degree programme in the electronic course catalogue (ekvv):

The faculty also provides information on the respective pages of the Bachelor and Master degree programmes. Central to this are the forms for registration from the examination office, as well as the brief information, as guidelines for the Bachelor's thesis and Master's thesis. These summarise the most important criteria for writing a thesis and thus provide support in the search for reviewers, the choice of topic and the formalities.

The coursework, examinations and theses are generally explained in the examination regulations. In addition, the respective subject-specific regulations and module descriptions provide definitions of the requirements, which in most cases you will not come into direct contact with, but which you or your teaching staff will sometimes need to refer to in order to create clarity and agreement for all parties involved in the best case scenario.

These information pages on AI/Large Language Models may be of interest to you or your teaching staff when weighing up the safe and didactically sensible use of tools and aids in terms of examination regulations.

SKILLS supports the development of literary skills with offers in various forms: shorter workshops, more extensive courses that are recommended for individual supplementation, as well as writing counselling.

Each semester, the university library also offers training on literature research and management, subject-independent advice and resources such as workstations, as well as subject-specific advice and services such as desktop devices.

In order to support scientific practice digitally, various licences and platforms are available for e.g. administration programs, visualisations, options for collaborative writing, or even data recovery (hopefully not necessary). Individual advice is also available from BITS.

The specialist portal Soziopolis, in which many teaching staff at the Faculty of Sociology also participate, provides numerous handouts and essays with tips and tricks for academic co-workers and writing in the dossier"Wissenschaft als Handwerk" (Science as a craft). You can orientate yourself on specific text formats or concrete work steps, among other things.

Here you will find an incomplete collection of handbooks, journals, platforms and textbooks on literature research for writing. Some of the literature has emerged from the Faculty of Sociology or Bielefeld University and has proven its worth in the training of many students. Other literature offers insights into current discourses on academic writing and its didactics.

  • Berger-Grabner, D., 2022: Scientific work in the economic and social sciences. Helpful tips and practical examples. Wiesbaden, Heidelberg: Springer Gabler.
  • Frank, A., S. Haacke & S. Lahm, 2013: Schlüsselkompetenzen: Schreiben in Studium und Beruf. Stuttgart, Weimar: J.B. Metzler publishing house.
  • Fröhlich, M., C. Henkel & A. Surmann, 2017: Together you write less alone - mastering (group) writing projects together. Opladen, Toronto: Verlag Barbara Budrich.
  • Soziopolis - Observing society, 2025: Science as a craft.
  • Strulik, T., 2016: Writing in sociology studies. Successfully entering the sociology thinking and writing collective. Opladen, Toronto: Verlag Barbara Budrich.
  • wbv Publication, 2025: JoSch - Journal for Writing Studies | JOS.

Writing in the Research and Teaching Units

Some Research and Teaching Units have jointly collected and defined text criteria and citation information. Others provide more general tips, e.g. on approaches to reception in their area of expertise or an overview of their courses as a whole. Please check the PEVZ to see which work area your teacher belongs to and which guidelines they have.

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