The course leader speaks English or Norwegian depending on participant needs. The training offered in autumn 2023 is online, apart from the 3-day course in October (in Oslo Science Park).
Target audience: Researchers, experienced or inexperienced, who wish to improve (quality and writing process) their ability to write and supervise others who write research papers
Number of participants: Maximum 12 in the 3-day course and six in the workshop
Aims for the course and workshop: To strengthen competence, capacity and confidence about how to best develop high-quality research papers that are read and understood and to become a critical reader of content AND presentation
The course material is in English and covers what the course leader presents during the course.
The course leader has worked with publications of research for more than 20 years, as an employee in pharmaceutical industry and as a freelance. She has given writing courses to professional writers and academics in Norway and abroad for more than 10 years. The workshop Scientific writing – from good to excellent (advanced level), which is given at most EMWA (European Medical Writers Association www.emwa.org) conferencces (twice a year), has been full (20 participants) since it was first given in Florence in 2014.
Sharpen up your scientific writing – make it crystal clear, concise and engaging (3 days)
The course content is developed to be as concrete and useful as possible. You will learn to write papers that clarify and simplify complex themes and meet criteria for discourse – a text with purpose, unity and meaning – as well as to develop a storyline from problem statement through research question to conclusion. To make the training relevant, examples are used from papers that participants send the course leader before the course.
Course program and content
Day 1. Constituents of coherent discourse. The course leader uses an IMRaD structured paper for which distractions are named and systematized, and sentences analysed and revised. The first day is focused on beginnings – titles, keywords and abstracts – as well as English language challenges.
You will also learn about:
−how to convey meaningful messages to a defined target audience
−different reading techniques and how they can improve writing
−characteristics of easy-vs-not-so-easy-to-read papers
Day 2. Developing the intellectual content – a stepwise process to increase effectiveness and quality. Learn about a 6-step goal-directed-publication-planning-and-writing process that helps to overcome writer’s block, to tackle different challenges at different times in the process, and issues concerning the methods and results sections.
You will also learn about:
−outlining to capture substantial content
−to write a good conclusion in concordance with a strong purpose statement
−Cs of communication
−a six-step publication-planning-and-writing process
Day 3. Contextualisation. Tops and tails of manuscripts – how to effectively structure an argument within the discussion. About focusing on the research question and methods in the context sections introduction and discussion, argue logically in the discussion and discriminate clearly between those sections.
You will also learn about:
−How to write an introduction that shows the importance and novelty of the research question
−Contextualisation exemplified through research papers chosen by the participants
−On Toulmin argumentation in the discussion
Scientific writing from good to excellent (1-day workshop focused on participants’ own texts)
The participants are encouraged to use the tools taught in the 3-day course to write an abstract for own research (does not require completed results), for which they receive feedback from course participants and the course leader. Tailored training and time for in-depth discussions and practice reinforce points conveyed in the course.