Scientific Writing

Justin Mullins & Mark Buchanan
November 13-14, 2019
9:00 - 17:00
On 13th in AEI 013, Callinstr. 38 and on 14th in AEI 013 Callinstr.36

The Scientific Writing Workshop is a writing workshop for young scientists that teaches the skills to produce research papers of the highest quality for the world's top journals. It is particularly aimed at early-career scientists who are new to the world of scientific publishing. Participants will learn the writing techniques necessary to best construct and explain their ideas and the editing skills to refine and polish their work. The course covers how top journals handle submissions and offers tips for dealing with editors at these publications. Participants should leave the workshop with a reasonably detailed outline of a scientific paper suitable for a journal of their choice. Structure: The course includes the following elements:

How high-profile journals such as Nature and Science choose the papers they publish

Types of scientific paper and their structures

The structure of titles and abstracts

How to express complex ideas in clear, emphatic sentences

The structure of paragraphs

New media and the future of scientific publishing

Editing skills

Exercises with feedback

Exercise

There are two exercises.

The first is this: Using a piece of research with which you are familiar (it can be your own, but doesn't have to be), write a one-paragraph abstract of no more than 300 words describing the work for readers in other disciplines. The paragraph should start with a basic introduction of two or three sentences and include a statement of the general problem being addressed. You should follow this with a one-sentence statement of the main conclusions starting 'Here we show' and then finish with two to three sentences putting the main findings in a general context. Provide a title for a scientific paper about the work you describe.„