Scientific writing
Are you writing your Bachelor’s, Master’s or doctoral thesis, or any other kind of scientific text? If so, you are likely dealing with a variety of research and writing tasks, such as finding a topic and formulating the research question, searching and managing references, reading scientific texts, structuring the paper, using scientific language, revising the text to finally publishing it. Correct citation to avoid plagiarism as well as good time and project management are also central.
The Writing Process
Have you ever thought about the writing process? Do you know where you stand in your writing project? Writing a scientific text is a complex task. Nevertheless, we can roughly distinguish four phases:
In the conceptualization phase, you identify a research gap and define the research question for your project. To do so, you search for literature and read extensively. You collect a large amount of information and develop your own ideas. Through notetaking, outlining, and early writing, you begin to establish a writing flow and produce a first version of your text. This stage is commonly referred to as pre-writing.
In the "Writing" phase, you create new versions of your text from the rough draft in several rounds. This means you work intensively on the text and the content.
As soon as the content is finalized, you start the "Revising" phase in which you focus on aspects relating to language, formatting and design. This means you have to take care of countless details and work through your text several times in its entirety and from different angles. At the same time, you may still need to make changes or additions to the content or even delete text passages. You should therefore plan enough time for this phase.
In the final stage, "Publishing", you prepare your text for submission. Depending on the type of text, this may involve different aspects; you should therefore check with your supervisor, your department or your publisher (author guidelines). Bachelor's and Master's students often also have to give a presentation.
Remember to plan regularly throughout the writing process in order to maintain an overview. Be sure to get regular feedback to know that you are on track. Also, be aware that you will be reading and writing throughout the process, albeit at different intensities.
Courses and advise
We support you in your writing process with a comprehensive range of services:
- Argumentation in scientific texts
- Designing effective scientific posters
- Discover smart note taking
- Mastering scientific writing with AI-based tools
- Presenting with impact
- Preventing plagiarism – citing correctly: also in times of AI
- Project Management Essentials: planning your thesis
- Ready for Take-off: how to start your Bachelor's and Master's thesis
- Reading scientific texts
- Revising scientific texts
- Stop procrastination – start writing
- Writing a convincing research proposal
We also offer self-study courses on the Moodle teaching and learning platform to support your academic work.
- Ready for take-off: how to start your Bachelor’s or Master’s thesis guides you through the first steps of your thesis and provides tips on the writing process.
- The course AI-based tools for scientific writing and research provides comprehensive information on generative AI and AI-based tools in connection with literature search, reading, writing and learning.
Do you prefer advice tailored to your requirements? We will be happy to assist you:
Or book a external page consultation with a writing expert of the Language Center of UZH and ETH Zurich to obtain feedback on a selection of a few pages of your English text.
Please check the course catalogue and Moodle to see if there are any lectures on scientific writing in your course or department. Information about bachelor's and master's theses can be found on the student portal, and information about doctoral theses can be found on the website of the respective department.
Checklists
The following checklists support you in your writing project:
Checklist for supervisors
Supporting students with their bachelor's or master's thesis requires a high level of responsibility. To ensure nothing is forgotten in writing projects, Download use our checklist for supervisors (PDF, 461 KB)! It covers aspects such as planning and deadlines, communication, skills, use and declaration of (AI) tools and scientific integrity.
Writing with AI
The use of generative AI and AI-based tools in the writing process raises questions for many students and other members of ETH Zurich: Which tools are allowed to be used? For what purposes can they be used? How should their use be declared? What does their use mean from a legal and ethical perspective? Does authorship change or does everything stay the same? Are there official university guidelines?
We provide you with information on the use of generative artificial intelligence and other AI-based tools – whether for scientific writing, searching for literature, reading literature or teaching. The aim of the ETH Library is to enable you to use generative AI and other AI-based tools effectively and ethically.
Find out more about our services on the webpage AI-powered tools and services by the ETH Library.
Best practices and information on various text genres
- To write a good scientific text, it is advisable to learn from other examples. Therefore, take a look at the Research Collection, the repository for publications and research data at ETH Zurich. There you will find many types of publications such as master's and doctoral theses, journal articles, conference papers, reports, book chapters and much more.
- Doctoral students can find information about the doctoral plan on the ETH Zurich website.
- Information on cumulative doctoral theses can be found on the Doctoral Thesis website and in the Research Collection manual.
Courses offered by other specialist offices
- external page Language Center of UZH and ETH Zurich
- Tools for daily student life provided by the Counselling & Coaching Centre
- Master your doctorate – events, workshops and webinars by the Doctoral Administration
- Compicampus by IT Services of ETH Zurich
- Communication Academy by Corporate Communications
- Language style guides and glossaries provided by Corporate Communications
- CV-Workshop and CV-Checks as well as video on interview training provided by the ETH Zurich Career Center
- Didactica – Continuing education in teaching and learning at UZH and ETH Zurich
Materials and information from other institutions
Many writing centres, universities and other providers have compiled extensive materials and information on scientific writing. Let yourself be inspired!
- external page Academic Phrasebank, University of Manchester
- external page Advise on Academic Writing, Writing Center at the University of Toronto
- external page Dr Andrew Stapleton, videos on Academic AI tools, PhD advise, productivity [Youtube]
- external page Purdue Online Writing Lab, Purdue University
- external page Research Writing, Australian National University
- external page Researcher Academy, Elsevier
- external page Self-study materials – Design your writing process, StudierendenWERK Berlin
- external page Study Hub learning resources, The University of Edinburgh
- external page Thesis Writer, ZHAW
- external page Tips & tools for learning, Learning Center of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- external page Tips & tools for writing, Writing Center of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- external page Knowledge Base, Scribbr
- external page Writing Resources, Writing Center of the George Mason University
You can find literature on the following topics in ETH Library @ swisscovery
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