Meet2Talk
Good Practice Plattform
Since 2017, we have been hosting the Meet2Talk format once per quarter for informal exchange about innovative teaching projects at Heidelberg University.
September 2025: Learning to write through presentations? New teaching strategies for learning to write
Economic and Social History, Department of History, Heidelberg University
Wednesday, 17 September 2025
6:00 – 8:00 pm (s.t.)
In the humanities in particular, written term papers are often the central form of assessment. However, writing scientific texts is rarely explicitly taught in class. Instead, it is usually assumed that students are already able to write multi-page papers simply because they have completed their school diploma. In everyday seminar practice, however, it often becomes clear that this assumption is mistaken and that scientific writing skills still need to be acquired.
Especially in seminars that are already content- and method-intensive, the question arises of where and how scientific writing can be meaningfully practiced.
During this discussion evening, we want to reflect on the extent to which an adjusted presentation structure can help deliberately build and develop scientific writing skills. The starting idea is that, instead of a classic handout, students write out part of their presentation in text form—for example, the introduction. In the lecture, not only are subject contents presented, but the group is also shown the central elements of the written section.
This way, writing itself becomes the subject of scientific engagement—practical, problem-oriented, and specifically adapted to students’ needs. Discussion of quality criteria for scientific texts, challenges in the writing process, and possible problem-solving strategies is integrated into the seminar structure— not least because the texts written by the presenters are read and commented on by fellow students in several steps.