“The most successful scientist thinks like a poet … and works like a bookkeeper.” E.O. Wilson After having reviewed a few more student (bachelor) theses, one thing sticks out: Many students have problems showing a clear argumentation throughout their work, often even within chapters. The problem isn’t that the text could have been written better — every text could. It isn’t a style issue. The problem is that a lack of clear argumentation in the text betrays a lack of clarity of thought when doing the work. The text is simple the indicator, the visible matter in which the thought process of the student becomes visible. And giving that the students should follow a clear line of thought, argue for their decisions instead of rambling on and jumping to conclusions, this is a problem. In many cases, it is implicitly clear to the students why they did what they did, but they don’t write it down in a logical structure. Thinking about how I did write texts as a student, I think the following diagram might help. The diagram is specific for the types of works my students write, but it can be applied to other disciplines as well. The [...]
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