Scientific Writing Seminars

Welcome and introduction

This first seminar welcomes the students, introduces the overall topic and provides an overview of the course, including the course structure. Open with a discussion: what is the point, for the reader, of a scientific article or or scientific writing? We can all write at some level, so what is special about writing academically? Outline the scientific principles. Writing should be: straightforward, exact, rigorous, clear-headed, concise : these are scientific skills! Writing and thinking are inseparable. We are not teaching literary style – nor are we qualified so to do. It may help to be able to phrase a sentence perfectly, but it is not necessary. "Perfection is the enemy of good" as a way forward. Some examples of imperfect, and what to do about them.

Exercise ask the participants to list the kinds of writing a scientist is required to produce: e.g. dissertations, progress reports, journal papers, conference proceedings, case histories (in medicine), review articles, book reviews, project proposals/grant applications, popular science articles, minutes, (lecture) notes and handouts.
Exercise questionnaire, student questions and experiences.

Abstracts and the body of an article

What are abstracts and why do we need them? What is a good abstract structure? What content goes into an abstract?

Exercise first each person writes a 300-word abstract on a subject of their choice. They then pass this to someone else who should reduce the number of words from 300 to 150, without losing any meaning (if possible!). The group then assesses their long and short abstracts to discuss the pros and cons of long and short abstracts. The group members then suggest a list of keywords to go with your abstract based on the international list of keywords.

From sentences to paragraphs: how do we write most of the content in an article. We look at sentences, word choice, paragraphs, whitespace, sections and subsections and subsubsections. What should go in a standard “introduction – method – results – discussion” type article

Exercises Multiple choice quiz about choosing the best sentences. Write the introduction and conclusion to the article from the previous seminar, then peer review this in groups.

Before you start: planning, brainstorming, crystallising ideas

Recap the main sections in an article: Abstract, Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion, Conclusions (and why it is as it is). Differences in a dissertation. Planning an article. How to brainstorm. Literature searches and how to store the material. The path from raw material to a skeleton article. Paragraphs make your point and only one (overall) point per paragraph. Writer's block: freewriting as a way around, reward yourself. Software: Word or LaTeX or something else?

Exercise brainstorming to outline an article on a subject the students know something about from their previous studies, e.g. quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, Hamiltonian mechanics, etc. Aim the article at first year undergraduate students (i.e. keep the level of technical details to a minimum).

Figures, tables, equations; concision and precision.

Figures, tables and equations are some of the main communication units in a paper and additionally in scientific talks and poster. Yet, we often see figures that are of such poor quality that they only hinder the narrative of the paper. How can we make great figures such that each really is “worth a thousand words”? How might we caption the figures in a way that is useful to the reader or viewer? How should we refer to figures and their content in our main text and how should we caption figures?

Exercise in groups, make an infographic on a scientific subject of your choice and present it to the other participants.

Information sources, citations, plagiarism and ethics. The submission process.

What are the main sources of information and citations in science? How do you cite in a paper? Plagiarism and how to avoid it. The paper submission process.

Exercises what is plagiarism and where do you draw the line? Given a list of citations, can you spot the mistakes and the fakes? Real-life case studies.

English and Style 1: From words to sentences to paragraphs, punctuation.

This course is not about how to write in English, but there are some things that, particularly new, writers get wrong and that we can easily address in a scientific-writing context. In this seminar we look at the structure of clauses in sentences, how to construct effective paragraphs, transitions, prepositions (and their misuse), language editors (and their misuse!), and how errors affect readers. We address numbers, punctuation, choice of words especially how to use nouns and verbs with meaning.

Exercises Varying the openings to sentences and being fluid in writing.

English and Style 2: Style, jargon, flow and avoiding common mistakes.

We finish the previous seminar's discussion of nouns and verbs, before we discuss style, cliche, jargon and the flow of text in a paper.

Exercises Try to decipher some common acronyms and identify jargon in example texts. Suggest improvements.

Revision, criticism, peer review and AI

Revision of a paper is often a length process: so what are good, and bad, ways to do it? What do you, as the writer, have to do before you send it? What must your colleagues do? When should you submit your article? What happens next, and how to deal with success and rejection?

Exercise: assess a colleague's writing, providing detailed feedback.

What next in scientific writing and writing in general? Already AI is having a major influence, so we look at that and try to predict the future.

Exercise: Use ChatGPT, or similar, to generate text to answer a scientific question, including detailed citations. Repeat the question … do you trust what you see? What is AI currently good for, and what will it be good for in the future?

Software for writing

We look at the various pieces of software available for writing, and debate their pros and cons.