Managing information
Here, students report how they dealt with the challenges emerging during the topic identification and topic narrowing, during the research and how they mastered the huge amount of information when working scientifically.
In order to read the strategies, click on the die fold-open elements.
LISA (23): "Finding sources which are relevant and up to date..."
Lisa reports on her greatest challenge when she was writing her sociological bachelor thesis.
"At the beginning, I found it difficult to find sources which are relevant, give reliable information and are state-of-the-art research. In my discipline, we use data banks with which you have to familiarize yourself. We have been trained to do this. However, I found it difficult sometimes due to the huge amount of sometimes contradictory information. Ich was insecure, because I could not judge reliably, if sources might be out-of-date or if the authors may be biased in any way. At the beginning of my BA, I orientated myself mainly on our teaching texts and the sources cited in them due to my insecurity. In consequence, I was very discouraged when my mentor criticized that because I had wasted my scarce time doing that and I felt stupid."
Lisa's strategy:
"Admitting my insecurity was my solution because my mentor then explained to me, which is the best way to proceed and showed me reputable journals and more suitable keywords, which I could use as starting point. Unfortunately, or perhaps luckily, it became clear that I went off on my original topic. Therefore, I would recommend other students at the beginning to concentrate on understanding the topic, to write down, how the most important keywords are defined and which they are, in order to consult if you have understood everything correctly. I would also plead for comparing the found facts or theories with several and also older sources like a timeline. That is a lot of work, but it helped me to get a feeling for the way in which the most current scientific insights („the research status “) came about in different ways."
It is normal to not be able to grasp the complete discourse on a topic at once. However, you can work it out and ask your mentor for start-up support.
Strategy Keywords:
- Deal with challenges openly
- Seek support and advice from more experienced people
- Recognize learning profits and benefits
At the Schreibzentrum you will find many helpful offers and possibilities for exchange on scientific writing, e. g. workshops, writing consultation, Weekly Write-ins and the week of postponed research papers.
MARCO (26): "more question rather than more insight..."
Marco (26) wrote his master thesis in social management and completed a training as a Social Care Worker before that.
"I chose the topic of my master thesis myself. At the beginning I was convinced that I really wanted to make something really great of it. I plunged very deeply into the topic identification during the first three weeks and read vast quantities back and forth. I reacted impulsively on more and more new questions and the number of questions increased without gaining more insight. At a certain point in time, I realized, that I could continue like this for ever and never come to an end."
Marco's strategy:
"To begin with, I mustered all my courage again and asked my mentor for help in limiting my topic more precisely. It was a great relief for me to learn that she knew this problem well and thought it to be very legitimate to assist me with it. It felt strange to let go of questions, which I thought to be very important, too. However, afterwards it was unburdening to dedicate myself to the remaining two questions and to do it thoroughly. I found the sentence helpful that I would not lose the other questions, but could deal with them later. And maybe I will do that someday. Wait and see.“
At some point you have to stop asking new questions. The universe is infinite, the time you have for your research project is not!
Strategy keywords:
- Seek support and advice from more experienced people
- Deal openly with challenges
LIVIA (32): "the attempt to consider all knowledge on the topic..."
Livia is about to research for the synopsis of her dissertation
"I find very difficult to bear the constant feeling that there still is so much more that you should read, that you should know. And you will never really have the time to read and know all of that. You find more always. And yet you have to come to an end. When writing my bachelor thesis and to some extend when I was writing my master thesis, the thought that I could not consider everything that might be connected to my topic made me very restless and subsequently I had to apply for a prolongation which did not help neither. I had just found even more literature and theories, which I could not integrate."
How did you deal with that?
"As time went by, I noticed that many other people had the same problems and that is no wonder: You have to realize, what a huge wave of new research is added every day in every discipline across the world. No one can read all of that in a lifetime let alone understand. I intended to do better in my dissertation right from the start. I took a lot of time to define the problem and the questions, which I want to answer. I will not include everything that is related to the topic, but only the facts you need to understand my decisions in my research. and my research is more focused and planed. I do research only if I do know which question I want to answer with that now. And I write this current question on a piece of paper which I stick on the monitor. This makes is less likely for me to go astray."
I am more focused and organized in my research. I do research only if I know which question I want to answer with it right now.
Strategy Keywords:
- Normalize challenges
- Learn from mistakes and modify strategies
Note
At the Schreibzentrum you will find many helpful services for scientific writing such as workshops, writing consultation, weekly write-ins and "die Woche der aufgeschobenen Hausarbeiten", a week in which students and counselors come together to finish writing tasks that are due soon.
link to Schreibzentrum