Academic Writing in the Natural and Life Sciences

Writing is an essential part of the successful researcher’s skillset. However, writing at the standard necessary to publish in peer-reviewed journals can be challenging. This two-day writing workshop is for PhD students in the natural sciences who wish to improve their academic writing skills in English.

This practical workshop will focus on the structure of an English paper and abstract and how to improve the style and readability of an academic text. Participants are encouraged to bring along a sample of their current writing that will be the basis for peer review on the second day of the course. In addition, participants should bring at least two examples of research articles from the field of natural sciences (written by native English speakers if possible).

Participants can send the instructor some text for individual feedback and correction.

Learning Outcomes

Participants will learn the tools and techniques that make English text more engaging and readable. Ideally everyone should come away from the course and the follow-up coaching with a well-written abstract and/or introduction to a paper.

Contents

• The writing process
• Cultural differences in writing and reader expectations
• Introducing a narrative into an academic text
• Structuring an English paper (with focus on the introduction)
• Composing well-structured paragraphs and sentences
• Identifying typical mistakes and how to avoid them
• Punctuating an English text
• Writing abstracts and titles
• Understanding what reviewers are looking for
• Working with a model paper
• Editing your own work

Methods

This workshop is intended to be lively with plenty of discussion, pair work and group exercises. There will be time on the second day for participants to focus on their personal writing projects. Participants will also receive individual feedback and corrections on their writing following the workshop.