Scientific writing seminars

A short set of seminars introducing students of science to the aims and technique of scientific writing. Seminars are typically 30–40 minutes of teaching and discussion, with a short break, followed by group exercises.

1. 1 Welcome and introduction

   What is the point (for the reader) of a scientific article, or scientific writing? What is distinctive about writing academically? Writing is treated as a scientific activity: straightforward, exact, rigorous, clear-headed and concise. Writing and thinking are inseparable.

   We are not teaching literary style. “Perfection is the enemy of good” is often a practical way forward: produce something workable, then improve it.

   • Exercise: list the kinds of writing a scientist is required to produce (dissertations, progress reports, journal papers, conference proceedings, proposals, popular science, minutes, lecture notes and so on).
   • Exercise: short questionnaire: students’ questions and experiences.

2. 2 Reading and the logical structure of articles

   Where to find articles (for astrophysics: arXiv and ADS). How articles are read in practice (often non-linear), and why the standard structure (abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, conclusions) exists.

   • Exercise: discuss good and bad titles by ranking a small set of preprints and explaining why.
   • Exercise: compare structures across writing types (press release, newspaper, popular science, journal article, dissertation, book).

3. 3 Abstracts and the body of an article

   What an abstract is for, what content belongs in it, and how to structure it. Then: sentences → paragraphs → sections, whitespace and flow.

   • Exercise: write a 300-word abstract, then have someone else reduce it to 150 words without losing meaning; discuss what was cut and why.
   • Exercise: write an introduction and conclusion for the same article outline, then peer review in small groups.

4. 4 Before you start: planning, brainstorming, crystallising ideas

   Planning an article (or dissertation), literature searching and note-keeping, turning raw material into a skeleton draft, and handling writer’s block. Also: Word vs LaTeX vs other tools, and what actually matters.

   • Exercise: brainstorm and outline an article on a topic students already know (eg quantum mechanics, thermodynamics), aimed at first-year undergraduates.

5. 5 Figures, tables, equations; concision and precision

   Figures, tables and equations are core communication units in papers, talks and posters. We discuss how to make them legible, informative, and aligned with the paper’s narrative, including captions and cross-referencing from the main text.

   • Exercise: in groups, make an infographic on a scientific subject and present it to the rest of the class.

6. 6 Information sources, citations, plagiarism and ethics; submission

   Sources of information, how and why we cite, where plagiarism boundaries sit, and what the submission process looks like in practice.

   • Exercise: discuss grey areas of plagiarism using short case studies.
   • Exercise: spot mistakes in a list of citations (format, missing information, obvious red flags).

7. 7 English and style 1: words, sentences, paragraphs, punctuation

   Not “English lessons”, but the recurrent issues that make scientific writing harder to read: clause structure, paragraph construction, transitions, prepositions, language editors, numbers, punctuation, and word choice.

   • Exercise: rewrite a short paragraph by varying sentence openings, improving transitions, and reducing ambiguity.

8. 8 English and style 2: jargon, flow and common mistakes

   Building on the previous session: style, cliché, jargon, and the flow of text through an argument. We focus on what helps the reader, not what sounds “academic”.

   • Exercise: identify jargon and acronyms in example texts, then propose alternatives that keep precision.

9. 9 Revision, criticism, peer review and AI

   Revision strategies, giving and receiving critique, and what peer review is trying (and failing) to do. We also discuss where current AI tools help, where they do not, and how to validate anything they produce.

   • Exercise: assess a colleague’s writing and provide detailed, actionable feedback.
   • Exercise: use an AI tool to draft text for a scientific question, then test whether you trust it, including checking any citations.

10. 10 Software for writing

    A practical discussion of writing toolchains (Word, LaTeX and related tools), collaboration, and reproducible workflows.