I write in order to see, to do, to specify, to prolong - not to duplicate what has existed. (Paul Valery) Wherever one looks in the sciences, writing is taking place: in the laboratory, in the field, in the archive, in the office. Seldom does this activity attract attention; it is simply too self-evident, too trivial. Closer inspection reveals that writing does not merely serve to aid memory or convey insights. Christoph Hoffmann shows that in research, writing takes on the character of a procedure that yields epistemic effects. Whoever writes not only processes things, but in so doing shapes them and makes them available. As Paul Valery suggests: the act of writing itself becomes an instrument of exploration.