Syllabus

PNG0086 Writing Scientific Papers, 5.0 Credits

Subjects

Education cycle

Grading scale

Language

Prior knowledge

Objectives

To get an overview and learn the basics on how to prepare and write a scientific paper for submission to an international, peer reviewed scientific journal. A special emphasis of the course is to consider and become familiar with the reviewing process.

Intended learning outcomes and objectives

After the course students should:

1. have the basic knowledge about strategies and reasons for publishing research.

2. be able to plan and implement all steps in the process of writing and submitting a manuscript.

3. be familiar with the reviewing procedure: both being a reviewer and receiving comments and suggestions from reviewers.

Content

Content and course structure

The course includes two parts:

The first part consists of five separate meetings where we discuss the writing process partly based on the content in the course book (Writing Scientific Research Articles, Strategy and Steps, 2nd ed. (2013) by M. Cargill and P. O’Connor) and additional literature provided during the course. Participants will read suggested literature and conduct assignments to prepare for the 5 discussion meetings:

1. Introduction; course plan, schedule, what is scientific writing, how to prepare, ethics, etc

2. Scientific style and Conference communications,

3. Tables, Graphs and Photographs, How to select a journal?

4. Preparing the text: Title Abstract-References and the role of the journal

5. Reading scientific papers with a reviewer’s eye. Language and the review process,

The second part of the course consists of review seminars with a group of 3 -5 students and one invited researcher where one of the student’s manuscript will be reviewed and discussed. The student providing a manuscript presents the manuscript objective, the main results and what journal the manuscript is intended for and the reasoning behind that choice. The fellow students present and discuss their comments, questions and suggestions. The discussion is moderated by the senior researcher.

Pedagogical form

Discussion seminars including assignments, based on the course book and suggested literature. The second part of the course includes reviewing fellow student’s manuscripts ready for submission and providing one own manuscript just about to be ready for submission and hosting that review seminar.

Responsible department

Department of Ecology