Scientific Writing - MC280P85

• Title: Scientific Writing
• Czech title: Zásady psaní a vědeckých textů
• Guaranteed by: Department of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry (31-260)
• Faculty: Faculty of Science
• Actual: from 2022
• Semester: both
• E-Credits: 4
• Hours per week, examination: 2/2, C+Ex [HT]
• Capacity: 20
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Note: enabled for web enrollment; you can enroll for the course in winter and in summer semester
• Guarantor: Carlos Henrique Vieira Melo, Ph.D.
• Teacher(s): Carlos Henrique Vieira Melo, Ph.D.

Annotation

Last update: Carlos Henrique Vieira Melo, Ph.D. (01.10.2019)

The scientific writing course is designed for graduate students (MSc. and PhD) with an English B2 (≥ FCE, IELTS 5, BEC Vantage) level seeking to develop their scientific writing skills towards a research career.
Both frontal (lecture-style) and practical ("How-to") instruction with a bottom-up, genre-based approach will be used in two 90-minute weekly lessons (one lecture and one practical) for twelve weeks.
This course aims to develop effective written communication skills based on logical argumentation, thereby stimulating critical thinking and knowledge integration in the context of the scientific method.
Upon completing the course, students are expected to autonomously communicate research findings in adherence to the IMRAD structure, using several rhetorical and linguistic devices for presenting evidence and making claims while critically discussing results, and to improve their ability to identify important research problems, creatively gain new insights and project future applications of their research, as detailed in the syllabus.

Literature

Last update: Carlos Henrique Vieira Melo, Ph.D. (01.10.2019)

Scientific Writing and Communication: Papers, Proposals, and Presentations. Third Edition. Angelika H. Hofmann. New York. Oxford University Press. 2017. 
The Scientist's Guide to Writing: How to Write More Easily and Effectively throughout Your Scientific Career. Stephen B. Heard. Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton University Press. 2016.
Getting published in the Life Sciences. Hoboken, New Jersey. Richard J. Gladon, William R. Graves & J. Michael Kelly. Wiley-Blackwell. 2011.
Essentials of Writing Biomedical Research Papers. Second Edition. Mimi Zeiger. New York. McGraw-Hill. 2000. 
The Elements of Style. London: Macmillian, 1999. Strunk , W. and E. B. White.

Requirements to the exam

Last update: Carlos Henrique Vieira Melo, Ph.D. (01.10.2019)

Final Score = 50% Final Exam + 25% Midterm + 15% Abstract + 10% Attendance
- Final Exam score ≥ 60% 
- Midterm score ≥ 60%
- Abstract ≥ 60% 
- Attendance ≥ 60% (including both lectures and practical lessons)

- Final Score  ≥ 50%

Syllabus

Last update: Carlos Henrique Vieira Melo, Ph.D. (01.10.2019)

1. Principles of Scientific Writing: Coherence; Scholarly publishing, Writing cultures, Reasons and strategies for publishing research

2. Cohesion: Grammatical & Lexical Cohesion, Framing, Parallel Construction and Sequential Construction

3. Continuity: Eliminating Discontinuities and Logical Gaps, Providing Transition, Depth and Emphasis & Introducing Variety

4. Conciseness: Key conciseness strategies, Removing wordiness, Rephrasing awkward sentences & Fixing sentence fragments

5. Clarity: Avoiding Ambiguity, Multiple negatives & Jargon, Defining the unfamiliar, Striving for Simplicity, Placing dependent clauses in sentences

6. Precision: Word choice, Phrasing, Field-specific terms and conventions, Nomenclature

7. Accuracy: Semantic (Being forthright, Maintaining an objective point of view) and Stylistic (Maintaining formal tone, Avoiding overstatements) 

8. Grammatical accuracy: Maintaining verb accuracy, Using sequences of tenses, Avoiding faulty comparisons

9. Rhetorical accuracy: Adhering to IMRAD structure, Avoiding reasoning errors, Presenting conclusions (rather than data from references) & Citing primary sources

10. The scientific paper: Catchy titles with active clauses, Effective Abstracts, Structured Introductions, Guidelines for M&M, Storyline in Results, Developed Discussions

11. Editing and proofreading: Drafting, Revising, Reverse outlining, Editing techniques, Developmental editing reports

12. Publication Ethics: Authorship, Plagiarism & Scientific misconduct