Academic Writing for Science

– Michael Alley, “The Craft of Scientific Writing”

“Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler.”

– Albert Einstein

The course, “Academic Writing for Science” aims to take the mystery out of scientific writing by providing knowledge and practice in the skills necessary to produce a well-written scientific paper in English. Our focus is on those qualities crucial to the positive reception of written work within the scientific community.

Class members are required to give a short presentation based on their assessment of a writing excerpt (maximum 2 pages) from a scientific text of their choice.

Participants learn what comprises clear, concise, and effective written expression. We practice identifying and resolving problems in areas that are often obstacles to good writing. In this sense, we target language and punctuation.

Course content also focuses on learning to design and structure sentences and paragraphs for the most effective presentation of written work.

The principles we practice will help improve all professional and academic writing. While acquiring the skills necessary to differentiate between strong and weak scientific writing, participants gain confidence in their own writing abilities. We apply what we have learned through coursework and writing exercises.  At the end of the course, students will be able to edit their own writing more effectively.