FAQ on written course certificates

‘When is the deadline for submitting my essay?’

Please submit your essay no earlier than the end of the lecture period and no later than the end of the current semester, i.e. 31 March or 30 September. Exceptions may be made by arrangement. You should only start writing your essay once you have attended the entire seminar. This will ensure that you have a good grasp of the topic covered. If you write your essay before the end of the lecture period, you may well come across questions or issues that are only dealt with later in the course. At the start of the next semester, new topics will take up your time and attention. That is why it makes sense to use the break at the end of the semester to work on your written assignments.

‘How long does my essay need to be?’

You can find the required lengths for the written assignments in the module descriptions on Stud.IP.

I regard these figures as guidelines, from which you may deviate if your writing style or the topic you have chosen makes this seem appropriate. Except in the core modules, you do not need to submit a seminar paper in every seminar within the module, but only in the seminar in which you sit the final module examination. In the other seminars within the module, you simply need to have your attendance confirmed by the lecturer. If you are required to submit a written assignment or give a presentation as proof of this ‘active participation’, please contact your student body or the AStA.

‘What formal requirements must I meet?’

You are free to decide on the structure and layout of your essay yourself, provided you observe the following:

The following must appear at the beginning: your name, email address, seminar title and module. Above all, the footnotes and bibliography must be consistent; please do not use different citation systems within a single essay.

You can find a guide to academic writing on our department’s website:
https://uol.de/philosophie/management-of-studies/leitfaden-zum-wissenschaftlichen-arbeiten

The bibliography should list all texts to which you refer directly in your work. If, as is often the case particularly at the start of your studies, you refer to only one primary text, then your bibliography will contain just one title. You should not artificially pad it out; if your analysis of that single text is sound, a short reference list is not a shortcoming; if it is not sound, even a longer reference list will not improve your work. Please note that other lecturers may have different or more specific guidelines regarding the format.

‘What is an essay?’

An essay, when well executed, is a highly sophisticated synthesis of academic text, reflective personal commentary and poetry; when poorly executed, it degenerates into rambling. If you are interested in the literary form of the essay, I would like to recommend Adorno’s text The Essay as Form (Theodor W. Adorno, ‘The Essay as Form’, in: Collected Writings 11: Notes on Literature, ed. Rolf Tiedemann, Frankfurt am Main 1997, pp. 9–33.) However, nobody expects you to write an essay as a course certificate. In the university’s examination regulations, the term ‘essay’ simply refers to a shorter version of the standard seminar paper. It should have a clear topic and a recognisable central theme. In your treatment of the topic, it should be clear that you have understood what you are writing about, that you are familiar with the sources provided, and that you are capable both of following a theoretical line of thought and of presenting it in writing as an independent argument, whilst also critically examining it.

‘How do I write my essay?’

Once you have chosen your topic, consider how you wish to present it. This will then form the basis for an outline of your essay. This outline is intended to help you keep your central theme in mind throughout the writing process. It may change a few times over the course of your work and does not have to be identical to the table of contents (if you wish to include one for longer pieces). In a philosophical text, the outline usually emerges from and in tandem with the flow of the argument.

‘How do I avoid common mistakes?’

… no biography

A philosophical text deals with a theoretical subject. For this reason, the inclusion of biographical details of philosophers, whether living or deceased, is only necessary to a very limited extent. If you are comparing the theoretical approaches of different philosophers, it makes perfect sense to mention the order in which they lived and whether they were aware of each other’s writings or could have been. If you are writing about a figure from the French Enlightenment, it may be illuminating to mention the political situation at the time. However, without embedding this within the theoretical context of your work, a retelling of the life story of the authors to whom you wish to refer is out of place and should be avoided.

… not from start to finish

The following applies to any academic paper: the introduction is written last. Before you start writing your paper, you may know what you want to write about – but it is only after you have written your paper that you can be certain of what you have actually written about. If you follow your subject as you write, it may well be that it does not lead you where you originally thought it would. In such cases, it is better to do justice to the subject matter rather than to a pre-written introduction. That is why the introduction should always be written last or revised last. The same applies to the rest of the paper: it should not follow the random sequence of your ideas and associations, but rather the internal logic of the development of your argument. It therefore makes sense to repeatedly check the thoughts you have written down to see whether they build on one another, so that you can arrange them in the appropriate order.

… read it aloud

The first attempt to capture a complex train of thought in a single written sentence often pushes the limits of grammar – and, along with the grammatical form, the coherence and rigour of the thought are lost. However, as the author of the text, you usually know what you intended to express in what you have written, so it is easy to overlook incomplete or nonsensical sentences (this happens even to native speakers with Abitur). It helps to read the text aloud to yourself or to others. This makes it easier to spot any grammatical errors and overly bold leaps in reasoning than when reading the text silently.

You’ll find the rules on comma usage at the front of the Duden!

‘What secondary literature should I use?’

To begin with, none at all, unless it was recommended in the seminar. There are metres upon metres of secondary literature on the classic philosophers, both good and bad. However, you can only judge whether the book you’ve presumably chosen at random is suitable or unsuitable for the topic if you’re sufficiently familiar with the primary literature. So the rule is: if you want to write about Hegel, read Hegel; and if you want to write about Aristotle, read Aristotle. Only then does it make sense to engage with other interpretations. Secondary literature is therefore not suitable as an introduction, but is only for students in later semesters.

‘Do I have to use gender-sensitive language?’

No, you do not have to – but according to the guideline on gender-sensitive language and communication adopted in 2022 by the University Senate and Presidential Board of Carl von Ossietzky University, you should, as the pursuit of equal opportunities is part of our university culture. It is important that you do not merely follow a rigid set of rules, but actually handle gender-related language sensitively. The phrase “Kant, Fichte and Hegel are the most significant philosophers* of German idealism” is just as nonsensical as talking about “free citizens of the ancient polis”. Gender-sensitive language is intended to highlight historical and contemporary sexism, not to conceal it.

‘What to do when you have writer’s block?’

Don’t go and clean your windows, and above all, don’t waste your time reading those frustratingly long motivational guides on overcoming writer’s block. Ultimately, only one thing helps: writing. And that takes time. By this I mean not so much the time technically required to put words on paper, but rather the time it takes to develop thoughts that are worth writing down. Jot down the title of your essay (which, in many cases, will change anyway), start with an outline, go through your lecture notes and gather key points that are relevant to your chosen topic. If you get stuck, go for a swim, go to a party or do whatever else takes your fancy, and carry on working later. Admittedly, this is just as ineffective as staring blankly at a sheet of paper or a screen, but it feels better.

‘How do I hand in the essay?’

You’re welcome to email me your finished essay, together with the fully completed cumulative course result sheet for the relevant module, as a PDF file, or pop both into my postbox at the university. Once I’ve received your essays, you’ll get brief feedback. Once I’ve marked it, I’ll enter the grade into Stud.IP and let you know by email. You’re then welcome to book a personal consultation with me during my office hours to discuss your work. This is usually helpful, as it’s impossible to tell from a grade alone exactly where your strengths and weaknesses lie.