Course Description

Welcome!

GUIDE TO SCIENTIFIC WRITING I
Course code: GSW1E


In this 3-hour introductory workshop, students are presented with some tools of the trade from a professional science and medical writer.

Guide to Scientific Writing I is designed to develop your scientific writing skills for lab and research reports, essays, and other written assignments during your degree course.


You can preview some of the course content from the free access modules below.


Course objectives:
1. Students develop better communication skills by learning to use concise, clear scientific language through instruction and practical exercises.

2. Students become self-learners through the provision of relevant information and advice from handouts, links, and references to external material.

More about ScienceSkills.net courses
Today's university students are very much aware of the high standard of scientific writing expected of them. Unfortunately, there is limited space in the academic timetable to teach them how to develop this skill. Your first literature review, as an example, will be especially challenging, and it's likely that you are unsure of what is required (see workshop "How to Write a Scientific Literature Review.")


Why are ScienceSkills.net writing courses different, better, or even relevant to you?

Simple - the instructor's research background and experience in teaching scientific writing skills. Read Dr. Kirsop's biography below.

Thank you for enrolling
Thank you very much for enrolling as a ScienceSkills.net student and welcome to our ever-growing community.

We do hope that you enjoy this workshop and that you recommend it to others.

Senior Instructor

Dr. Allison Kirsop

Dr. Allison Kirsop is a former researcher in chemical biology. She runs her own medical writing business and has over 6 years' experience as editorial manager of a peer-review journal. She currently teaches scientific writing skills at the University of Edinburgh, UK.So, you benefit from being taught by a professional writer who understands the degree curriculum, the requirements for students' assignments, and the standards and criteria needed to publish in academic journals.

Course curriculum

  • 1

    A Guide to Scientific Writing I

    • READ THIS FIRST: online workshop preamble

    • INSTRUCTIONS: how to navigate

    • Course title

    • Course content

    • Lesson 1: Sentence structure

    • Instructions for downloading pdf for Watson and Crick paper

    • Exercise 1: Examples

    • Exercise 1 (online form)

    • Exercise 1: Discussed

    • Quiz: Clear and concise writing

    • Lesson 2A: Improving your language skills

    • Lesson 2B: Useful references

    • Lesson 2C: Ambiguity

    • Exercise 2 (online form)

    • Exercise 2: Discussed

    • Ambiguity quiz

    • Lesson 3A: Tables and figures

    • Lesson 3B: Formatting tables

    • Lesson 3C: Formatting figures

    • Exercise 3: notes

    • Exercise 3: Formatting Tables and Figures for a Scientific Paper/Thesis

    • Exercise 3 Answers: Table 1

    • Exercise 3 Answers: Figure 1

    • Designing an Illustration

    • Lesson 4 preamble and update

    • Lesson 4: Plagiarism, citations, and bibliographies

    • Exercise in Practical Writing Skills

    • Workshop evaluation form

    • Mendeley tutorial video

    • Grammarly tutorial video
  • 2

    Valuable tips and resources

    • 5 Tips for Proofreading and Editing Your Work

    • Words and Phrases to Avoid

    • Supplementary Material: Plagiarism

Reviews

4 star rating

A good introduction to scientific writing

Anna Herz

This course was very clear and concise, however I wish there had been examples/exercises on how to write figure descriptions. I thought the length of the cou...

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This course was very clear and concise, however I wish there had been examples/exercises on how to write figure descriptions. I thought the length of the course was good for an introductory course. Update from instructor: Thanks Anna - these changes have been made and the workshop now includes worked examples of a table and figure.

Read Less

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    FreeHow to Write a Scientific Literature Review

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