Fundamentals of Scientific Writing III (2014) Syllabus

Course objectives:
The ultimate goal of this course is to obtain scientific writing skills that scientists need in order to present their research internationally. The course is designed to provide opportunities for self-development of students as independent researchers.

Prerequisites: None
Contents:
This year's course is called "The Craft of Editing".  Although a few "natural" writers can produce well organized and clearly presented first drafts, for most of us, writing is often laborious and frustrating. We will discuss and practice implementing methods to identify weaknesses and improve technical writing. Class topics are shown in the schedule below.

Time: See below

Place: National Institute of Genetics, B201 (Library 2nd floor seminar room)
Course organizer: Hiroshi AKASHI Participating faculty
Appropriate grade level and Eligible Departments: (x) 1, (x) 2, (x) 3, (x) 4, (x) 5:
( ) School of Life ScienceC (x) All DepartmentsC( ) Other

Schedule:

3/2 (Mon) 15:30-17:10: Introductory lecture and discussion: Defining good writing (H. Akashi)Students will be asked to submit examples of what they consider to be good technical writing. The class will discuss general features of well-written science.

3/9 (Mon) 15:30-17:10: Common issues in less effective writing (H. Akashi) We will discuss examples of writing that could be improved and determine common issues that impair clarity and communication. Sentence diagramming and other approaches will be considered.

3/16 (Mon) 15:30-17:10: Workshop: critiques and rewrites (H. Akashi)Class members will be asked to rewrite short sections of text and will explain how they sought to improve the presentation. General methods to enhance writing will be discussed.

3/23 (Mon) 15:30-17:10: Scientific scholarship (H. Akashi / guest lecturer TBA)Sound scholarship is a central element in good scientific writing. We will discuss methods for maintaining and organizing papers and how to reference/paraphrase to avoid plagiarism.

Grades:
To obtain credit one must attend at least three of the classes and complete all course assignments. Grades will be on a A-D scale.



Participating faculty:

name email
(xxxx[at]nig.ac.jp) 		phone
(055-981-xxxx) 		office
Hiroshi AKASHI hiakashi 6793 C611


Previous year's courses

 Scientific Writing 2012
Scientific Writing 2010
Scientific Writing 2008
Scientific Writing 2006
Scientific Writing 2004
Course and workshops on Scientific Writing

 

last updated 141112