Guides for scientific writing and our LaTeX template

The goal of a scientific report or thesis is for you to show that you are capable of researching and presenting your findings in a scientific way. This means you need to enable your readers to follow your thoughts, acquire your insights and utilize your results. It also means that what you write down needs to be consistent, correct and complete but at the same time not overwhelming, unnecessary or uninteresting.

Over time some best practises have been found that are widely used by researches in order to meet these requirements. Some of them are defined as requirements by conferences, some are written down in books, and again others are carried on only verbally. They usually are very similar, contain the same techniques and only differ in certain aspects.

In this guide we try to summarize the ones we find are the most important ones and the ones we found most students are struggling with. We present tips on how you can structure texts and arguments. We list some typical grammar pitfalls and how you can easily avoid them. We explain on how to use visual aids, such as text highlighting, figures and tables to emphasize and sum up your content. We explain how to work with references, quotes and citations so you can be your text into context within your research field. And we explain some more.

Bear in mind that this guidelines are not complete. We encourage you to read further guides as well, read lots of other scientific works or ask your supervisor for feedback.

Bear also in mind, that a best practice does not mean that it is also the best choice. Sometimes, your topic will require or allow to differ from these guides. So if you think that a different way fits your content better and you don’t see any disadvantages, feel free to break these rules.