Scientific writing, 2 credits
Vetenskapligt skrivande
Course information
Language of instruction: English
Course period: First week of December 2024
Campus teaching or online teaching: Campus teaching
Recommended prerequisites
No specific pre-requisites. Ideally students have started to work on the first draft of a manuscript or have a manuscript from their masters thesis to work on during the course. If not, students work on the skeleton of the first paper in their thesis.
Learning outcomes
* Learn how to effectively write all parts of a research article by understanding the intended structure of an article including the abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion and conclusions sections.
* Learn how to develop clear and effective storylines.
* Learn how the peer-review other papers and how the publication system works including how to submit a manuscript, how decisions are made by editors and how to respond to reviewer comments.
* Learn how to write the introduction (kappa) of a PhD thesis.
* Develop skills contributing to clear and strong writing styles by comparing examples of good and bad writing.
* Develop skills contributing to making clear figures and tables by comparing examples of good and bad results sections.
* Develop writing skills that are transferable to report writing and popular science outside of academia.
* Learn how to effectively provide constructive feedback to others in the role of being a co-author.
* Learn how to verbally communicate your research in a compelling way and give a three minute ‘elevator pitch’ for specialists in your field and in a popular science manner for non-specialists.
* Learn how bibliometrics are calculated
Learning outcomes for doctoral degree
This course focuses on developing written and oral communication skills that are an asset for transferring the knowledge and understanding arising from PhD work to others in academia, as well as outside academia. This course gives PhD students a strong set of core writing skills including tricks and tips to give them a head start and feel confident in communicating their research to peers at the international level. The course is specialized for the writing styles associated with the different sub-disiplines across the natural sciences and technology. Students will learn how to target a range of journals spanning from specialist and generalist journals and how to write popular science articles for the public.
Course contents
We will discuss all aspects of scientific writing, including the format and content of the scientific paper, the publishing system, how to submit a paper, the variety of journals to submit to, authorship, the peer-review system, how to review a paper, how to respond to reviewer comments, editorship, bibliometrics and the doctoral thesis.
Instruction
The course includes a combination of lectures, group work, writing exercises, class discussions and guest speakers. Many of the lectures are interactive and students are encourages to share their thoughts throughout lectures.
Assessment
Submit all exercies, participate in group activities, attend all lectures and contribute to class discussions.
Course examiner
Dolly Kothawala, dolly.kothawala@ebc.uu.se
Department with main responsibility
Department of Ecology and Genetics (IEG)
Contact person
Dolly Kothawala, dolly.kothawala@ebc.uu.se
Application
Submit the application: Students are asked to fill in the below form:
Submit the application not later than: November 15