The IT & study skills course serves as an introduction to the academic endeavour in that students learn about the standards and practices of various research communities within the digital humanities. The course has three main components: The first part of the course will focus on study and self-organizational skills, during which students will learn how to organize their studies and prepare for the upcoming semesters. The second part of the course is dedicated to the IT-skills needed for students to successfully maneuver their studies, research, and organize literature. The final, third part will introduce students to core concepts of academic writing and working and will prepare students for future term papers and other academic writing projects. 


Objectives: By the end of the course, students should be able to: 

  • articulate SMART-goals
  • find resources using the TU Chemnitz catalogue and EBSCOhost 
  • evaluate the content and quality of various texts produce essays prepared in a range of academic citation styles  
  • use selected cataloguing software
  • explain different parts of a term paper and their contents
  • write using scientific language

Semester: WT 2020/21
Semester: WT 2018/19
In this course, students will improve their academic writing skills with a view to successfully composing term papers and their MA Thesis in their fourth semester. We will take a closer look at various formal and stylistic aspects of thesis writing, for instance good chapter and paragraph structures, citations, register, linguistic accuracy, and appropriate and varied vocabulary. (Students discuss content with their professorial supervisors.)

The course will consist of a survey introduction which focuses on formal and stylistic difficulties of writing a thesis and related student questions, as well as several individual consultations.
Semester: WT 2017/18
Being able to communicate accurately and fluently in English is not only essential in today's international business settings but also for career success. It is a skill that every employee from clerk to manager and senior executive must have. This course is designed to extend students’ English communication skills in a variety of professional settings. Students will polish their presentation, debate and discussion skills and will be exposed to and practice the language of business meetings and interviews. Grammatical and lexical accuracy, stylistic appropriateness and successful persuasive skills will play as much a role as effective non-verbal communication and good use of visual aids.
Semester: WT 2017/18
In this course, students will learn to improve their reading skills to become good and efficient readers. Even though every student has learned “how to read”, not everyone knows how to read effectively. Using a variety of primary and secondary sources, we will address reading skills such as preview reading, skimming and scanning, reading for main ideas, reading for details and reading for inference. Strategies for dealing with unknown vocabulary will play as much a role as skills in using the information gained from reading, e.g. summarizing, paraphrasing or creating charts and tables.
Semester: WT 2017/18