Academic Research

You will be expected to write academic texts throughout your studies. This important skill is one of the things you will learn in your bachelor’s program. Scientific discourse is based on academic writing, as this is how the scientific community exchanges and transfers knowledge. And that’s not all: Academic papers often build on previously written work or reference other scholars’ work, which is what makes scientific progress even possible in the first place.

Academic writing is more than just a way to describe knowledge. While writing, information is gained and processed. This is why in academic writing, being able to write well is not enough, nor is it enough to know your topic well. Students need to become familiar with the conventions and stylistic characteristics of academic language.

Your degree program at WU will give you the opportunity to experience various forms of academic work, for example by writing seminar papers and your bachelor’s thesis.

In the courses “Academic (Legal) Research Techniques” and “Research Methods”, you will become familiar with academic research in preparation for writing your bachelor’s thesis. If you are enrolled in a German-taught bachelor’s program, you are required to take one of these courses with continuous assessment of student performance (prüfungsimmanent, PI). The English-taught BBE program also has courses intended to prepare you for writing your thesis. This module is intended to offer additional support for the research and writing process.

The library offers a number of online resources and information on literature research in Fit4Research (available in German language only), as well as a large selection of workshops and other programs related to literature research and reference management.