Thoughts expand while writing: Writing consultant Gabriele Menne El.Sawy

Thoughts expand while writing

From term papers and internship reports to Bachelor’s theses – Gabriele Menne El.Sawy advises students at H-BRS on all questions related to academic writing. What does she think about the art of writing? Here are her answers:

Writing remains important despite YouTube and podcasts because ...

... writing and thinking are closely linked. Writing structures thoughts.

The biggest hurdles in writing are ...

... to start writing (the first sentence in the text), to take your time when writing, and to convey the thoughts you have so clearly that they become understandable.

My advice to anyone who suffers from writer‘s block is ...

... free yourself from the idea that every sentence has to be perfect at the beginning. Write a rough draft without worrying, you can revise it later.

Talents develop in writing when ...

... people are encouraged to use the potential for artistic freedom, creativity and diversity that language offers to express themselves. Gabriele Menne El.Sawy is a professional writing consultant. She studied German as a foreign language at LMU Munich, taught at the German University in Cairo and set up a project for writing support at the University of Bonn before joining H-BRS in 2012. Together with Jill Yates-Wolff, she supervises the Writing Centre for German and English. The number of queries from students has risen steadily since then and was recently so large that in 2021 the university gave the go-ahead for a Writing Centre, as part of the Language Centre, with four positions of its own.

On the pulse of the times

Digital gaming evening in the Department of Management Sciences

Snippets of conversation buzz through the air, glasses clink, shoes clack. The evening special is written in chalk on a blackboard. We see the smile of a friendly person next to us in the dim light and start a conversation. We had never met until now, but maybe a friendship will develop that will last throughout our studies? Then the coronavirus pandemic hit and from one day to the next, everyday experiences like these no longer occurred. No freshers‘ week, no pub crawls, no coffee together after lectures. Students sat at home, opened their laptops, listened, took notes and closed their laptops again. That can‘t be it, thought Professor Christine Buchholz and Constanze Eick from the Department of Management Sciences. Despite the difficult situation, they wanted to offer their students the opportunity to make contacts and form friendships – even outside of courses.

This is how the idea of the department‘s digital gaming evenings was born – for Christine Buchholz, it meant more than just a nice pastime. “We’re sending a signal to the students with this activity. We care that you’re sitting at home! If a friendship or two develops out of it or if students win back some zest for life, then we’ve achieved a lot.” One gaming evening turned into many – always on Thursday evenings and organised by the students themselves. The response was great. Sometimes more than 100 students played and talked until late into the night. Another success – the Donors’ Association awarded the 2021 gaming evenings the title “University Pearl of the Month April”. The reason? “The digital gaming evening strikes a chord with students, it‘s a great way to casually get to know each other. That‘s exactly what many first-year students are missing in this particularly challenging period of pandemic.”

Proud prize winners: Professor Christine Buchholz, Moritz Simen and Constanze Eick are pleased to receive the “University Pearl of the Month April” award