How to find your red thread: A few Tips

First things first:

The red thread ties your argumentation together.
Use conjunctions, adverbs, examples, and meaningful paragraphs to connect information effectively.
Utilize keyword searches to revise your text. This will help ensure that you stay aligned with your red thread.

When writing a scientific text, you are typically addressing a research question or thesis. To ensure you don’t lose sight of this overarching goal during the writing process, structure your work in a way that allows your argumentation to flow like a red thread throughout the entire text.

Your table of contents serves as the first point of orientation: it outlines the sequence of chapters, informs your readers about the content of each section, and guides them through your work. Additionally, there are several linguistic tools you can use to give your text a logical structure. In this small tribute to the red thread, we present a few general tips to help you achieve this.

How to structure content and layout logically

Signpost

This refers to cues that help your readers navigate your work. In your introduction or preface, you should explain how and why you are addressing the topic. Additionally, your guiding question must be clearly stated here. Follow this by choosing meaningful headings (rather than generic ones like “Chapter 2,” “Chapter 3,” etc.) that briefly outline what readers can expect in each section. Your text should follow an internal logic that is evident in your headings and phrasing. Have you structured your chapters from general to specific, chronologically, or alphabetically?

By including interim summaries at the beginning or end of each main chapter, you can organize your arguments and highlight the most important points. Additionally, make connections between sections within your chapters by referring to other parts of your work. Useful phrases for this might include: “as mentioned in Chapter 2.1,” “as will be explained in greater detail in the next chapter,” or “as outlined in the introduction.”

Linguistic and formal elements

Using connectors helps you link statements within your sentences or transition to other aspects. Every conjunction that introduces a subordinate clause can assist in establishing contextual relationships, such as: but, before, until, since, that, so that, because, while, although…

Adverbs can also help structure your sentences: for example, therefore, however, then, consequently, likewise, later, nevertheless, namely, otherwise, as a result…

Feel free to include examples and analogies in your text to clarify connections and compare information to familiar phenomena. This makes it easier for your readers to understand.

To separate your ideas step by step, make use of paragraphs. They conclude a section of meaning, allowing a new one to begin. Paragraphs can also highlight an aspect from a different perspective or add details to a topic you previously discussed. Logical sections are crucial for readers, as they make the text easier to understand and help internalize its content. By structuring your text with well-thought-out paragraphs, you can enhance readability and increase your readers’ motivation.

How to check the content of your text

Review each chapter you’ve written to ensure it aligns with your red thread and follows a logical structure.

1. Search for keywords

In each section of your chapters, search for the keyword that summarizes the content accurately. Write it next to the section in question and move on to the next one. Do multiple keywords apply to a section? This is a sign that you need more divisions.

2. Sort by terms

Have you found sections that belong together according to your keywords but are separated by other sections? Then change your text to that again.

3. Questions and Answers

For each chapter, critically ask yourself what it contributes to answering your research question and what it should definitely contain. Are there still points missing here or have you mentioned them elsewhere? Then you should revise the chapter.

4. Match keywords and content

Can you match the keywords you found in each section to the questions you asked the content of the chapter in the third step? As soon as it turns out that your keywords don’t match the requirements you have for your chapter, you should move the relevant sections to another chapter or delete them altogether. Avoid superfluous statements.

5. Revision

Look at your text again as a whole: Do your chapters and subchapters follow each other in a meaningful way? Is something missing or are there superfluous sections? Are the headlines meaningful? Are transitions available and sensibly installed? What function do the respective paragraphs have in the overall context? Is a mental step missing?

This gives you everything you need to revise the text, so that the red thread doesn’t get lost.

A tip at the end

Let your finished text rest for at least a day and do something completely different. By detaching your thoughts from your work and focusing on other things, you can avoid what’s known as “operational blindness” — a point where you’re so immersed in the flow of your text that you can no longer spot your own mistakes. A bit of distance can be incredibly helpful here.

Try writing a short story or novel as a change of pace. The perfect opportunity for this is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), a creative writing project held every November with the goal of drafting a 50,000-word novel in one month. The focus isn’t on producing a flawless or publication-ready piece—it’s about overcoming inhibitions and writer’s block by embracing the tight timeframe and just letting the words flow. You can always edit your work later at your own pace.

Would you like to try it out and exchange ideas with like-minded people? Then simply register on the official homepage https://nanowrimo.org/ or join one of the countless forum or social media groups. The prize for successful participation is the great feeling of having “achieved something”.

By the way: Writing meetings are also a suitable means of motivating each other for academic papers.