»Es soll aufgabe der vorliegenden arbeit sein …«

This article aims to provide an initial insight into the practical philological work of seminary students around 1900 who study German language and literature. Within a historical-praxeological case study I want to discuss one specific text, a so-called ›Seminararbeit‹, submitted by a student in 1884. Johann Zmölnig writes about Paul Fleming, a German- and Latin-writing author from the 17th century, who becomes popular for his poems in the decades after his young death. But also later on, he is seen as a figure for German-language writing in questions of language-policy - and during the 19th century in particular for philologists and their editorial work. In more than a hundred handwritten pages the student shows several aspects of philological writing-practice: studies of language and style, linguistic criticism, biographical writing as well as the ability to enhance the prevailing perception of Fleming’s poetry.