important notes / FAQ

If you have not registered or deregistered regularly in FlexNow, please use this form (opens in a new window). (This PDF is not accessible). Fill it out completely, take it to the lecturer who confirms your action, and then bring it to the secretary's office.Please note: The reason "technical problems" will not be accepted.

Scientific writing
All academic papers - from minutes to doctoral theses - must be independent works. All ideas or quotations that are indirectly or directly incorporated into these texts must be marked by quotation marks in the case of paraphrasing in indirect speech or as verbatim quotations. In addition, the core of all these works must be an original achievement of the person who is identified as the author.

Scientific misconduct
The following constitutes scientific misconduct in the case of
- False statements: The invention or falsification of content, data, sources, references and evidence
- Theft of texts and ideas: Isolated copying and pasting of texts, borrowing of formulations and ideas, duplication of facts and texts without sufficient evidence
- Assumption of authorship: Unauthorized identification as author or co-author
- Deception and plagiarism: Deliberate or negligent copying of texts written by third parties without proof.
- Fraud: Acquisition of services and purchase of (partial) works.

Correct handling of the intellectual products of others
The use of third-party texts, ideas, data, facts, formulations and word creations, etc. without specific, accurate, complete and objectively verifiable evidence (citation) is not permitted.
This also applies to the use of internet sources and AI whose authorship is not known and/or collective.
Texts and other content (illustrations, graphics, tables, statements) that originate from the Internet and/or are generated using Kl (e.g. ChatGPT) can and may only be included in academic papers with appropriate (citation) evidence. Please note the following:
- All information from the internet/the Kl that contains an (appropriate) citation may be incorporated into your own texts after checking and citing the original source.
- All information from the Internet/the Kl that does not contain such a citation must be researched with regard to the original source: If the proof is successful, this content can be incorporated using the original source as in 1.
- All information from the internet/cl for which no (appropriate) citation references can be found may not be used in any form in an independent academic paper.

Steps for writing a term paper
In order to write a term paper, several steps have to be followed. These are briefly presented below. This is only a suggestion, which can be adapted according to the respective research interest.

Determine the topic
A topic should be summarized in a question, which then provides the basis for formulating the title of the paper.
Researching and reading the literature
Here, in addition to reading the basic literature, it is recommended to use the BDSL database available on the UB site.

Create a concept
This preliminary work can now be summarized in a concept. The following points should be briefly outlined:
-    the topic of the paper,
-    your expected hypotheses,
-    the state of research,
-    the methodological approach.

Creating the outline of the paper and writing the term paper
A proper outline must be created for the term paper, which can be based on the following scheme:
-    The introduction is used to briefly explain the research question and the hypotheses of expectation.
-    In the 2nd chapter you can refer to and critically reflect on the previous state of research and explain your methodological approach.
-    In the 3rd chapter you can present the results of your investigation. In a conclusion, you summarize the research topic, the research question, and the results of your research and analysis, and you can draw attention to further interesting aspects.
After you have discussed your outline with your supervisor:in, you can work through it step by step.

Formalia
Written papers should have a title page according to the given pattern. In order to avoid delays in the later entry of grades in FlexNow, please be sure to indicate in which module the paper is to be entered and in which semester you registered for it in FlexNow.
The paper itself should not be written with too small a font, 12pt as well as one and a half line is obligatory. Please allow for a margin on the left for stapling and an appropriate margin on the right for corrections. Do not forget - as with any written work - the plagiarism declaration signed by your own hand at the very end.

Correct citation (avoidance of plagiarism)
Make very sure that it is always clear whether you are reporting your own results or the information of others.
1. paraphrases of other sources are always distinguished from the presentation of your own results by the use of indirect speech (subjunctive 1). This also applies if your source informs you about historical/biographical data.
2. quotations are always indicated by quotation marks. They must correspond exactly to the original in all details.
3. citations within a quotation are indicated by single quotation marks.
4. own additions within a quotation are put in square brackets [ ].
5. omissions within a quotation are indicated by three dots in square brackets [...].
6. if single words or whole passages are underlined, italicized or otherwise emphasized in the original, they are marked by the addition [emphasis in original].
7. own emphasis is marked with the addition [emphasis by the author].
Every quotation and every other adoption from word and image contributions of others must be substantiated by footnotes indicating the sources of these adoptions. There are various citation acknowledgement systems. Uniformity is important, i.e. once you have decided on a type, it must be adhered to.

References/Bibliography
Any literature referred to (as a basis for quotations, intellectual adoption, etc.) must be listed at the end of the paper in alphabetical order in the bibliography, divided into primary literature and research literature.
The distinction between primary and secondary literature depends on the research question: primary literature includes the literary texts referred to in the context of the research question. Secondary literature is the literature which itself deals with the literature relevant to the research question. Thus, depending on the question, the same book can be primary literature and secondary literature.
Ex: Ricarda Huch's book on Romanticism would be counted as primary literature if it were listed in a bibliography for a paper on Ricarda Huch. However, the same book would be listed as secondary literature in a paper on Romanticism.
In principle, one should only list literature in the bibliography that one has actually worked with, but this does not mean that only literature that one has also cited in the footnotes may be listed.
The bibliographical evidence for the primary literature should, if possible, be provided with the help of a historical-critical edition. If this is not possible, one must in any case resort to a reliable text. Under no circumstances can primary texts be cited from secondary literature.

Bibliographic citations
A complete title citation includes:
- Author's last name and first name
- title, with subtitle
- for multi-volume works: Volume number
- number of editions (the first edition is not specially marked), possibly with a note as to whether it is a revised or improved edition; the fact whether it is a reprint may also be noted at this point.
- Place and year of publication. If the place or year is not known, the note o. O. or o. J. is usual; if the place and year can only be determined indirectly, this information is given in square brackets [ ].
- For works published in a series, the title and volume number of the series are given in round brackets and behind equal signs (= ) after the author and the title of the work, followed by the place and year of publication. However, the series note may also come after the indication of place and year. The editors of a series need not be named.
- For articles in anthologies, the author and title of the article are given first, followed by the editor, title, place of publication, and year of the anthology, then the page number of the article.
- For journal articles, the author and title of the article are given first, then the title, volume or year, and year or date of publication of the journal, which is enclosed in round brackets ( ), followed by the page number of the article. The place of publication and publisher of the journal are not mentioned. If the author of an essay is unknown, this is indicated by the addition Anon.
- If it is a dissertation, this is noted in the bibliographical information before the location.
- Internet sources are cited with the author's name, the title of the article, the URL and the date of retrieval. If the documents were previously printed, the bibliographic information (as above) must also be provided.

Affidavit of examination performance
Plagiarism is the theft of intellectual property. In order to prevent this, the author must affirm with his/her signature that he/she has prepared the work alone and that he/she has recorded all passages (including those taken in spirit) from other authors. (see Plagiarism Statement)

Linguistic correctness
Term papers in Modern German Literature are only accepted if a minimum level of linguistic correctness is met. A maximum of 10 spelling errors and 5 punctuation errors are allowed on the first 3 pages of continuous text. If these limits are exceeded, the work will not be corrected for the time being. The author will be given the opportunity to revise the text. In the case of a grade, the violation of the upper error limits will be taken into account: The work will be graded one grade lower.
After correction and discussion (!) of the paper, your grade will be entered into FlexNow. Be sure to take up offers to look at the correction in order to improve your writing skills!

Consequences of plagiarism
Papers containing plagiarism will be recorded in the examination system as deception and considered "failed".

Tutorial
For first-year students: Attending a tutorial is highly recommended!

Plagiarism is when the ideas and words of others are passed off as one's own. It does not matter from which source (book, magazine, newspaper, Internet, etc.) the ideas and words originate, nor does it matter whether they are major or minor borrowings or whether the borrowing is literal, translated or analogous. The only decisive factor is whether or not the borrowings are identified by indirect speech or quotation and the sources cited (see Hints on writing a term paper). If it is concealed, this constitutes plagiarism or deception.
In such cases, no certificate of achievement (including a certificate of participation) will be issued and participation in the course will be registered in FlexNow as "failed (undermining)".
I hereby declare that I have taken note of this text and have not committed plagiarism in this work in the above sense.

Date, signature