COURSE GOALSThis course is for advanced students in life sciences who want to develop a better understanding of scientific writing and to improve their personal writing skills. It emphasizes content and structure of scientific journal articles, and explores other forms of writing such as grants, popular press, or writing for the web. It also addresses issues of style and readability in scientific writing, including formatting for print or screen. This course will help you master both the content and the style of your writing.

TEXTSThere is no assigned text. Exercises and readings will be provided. Appropriate reference books for the scientific writer will be recommended.

FORMATClasses involve lectures, discussions, and many in-class exercises. This is a graduate collaborative workshop and you may inform the content and direction of classroom sessions. Class size is small and office hours are liberal to promote work on individual writing problems.
We will discuss the content and form of scientific papers, from title to literature citation, and the ways in which papers are written, from first draft to published paper. We will also discuss other forms of scientific writing, such as the thesis, reviews, and grants. We will develop a professional style that is correct, simple, and lucid. You will write regularly, for practice and review. Performance standards and expectations will be very high.

GRADESYou will have many written assignments, following a detailed schedule to be distributed in class. You are expected to attend all classes, to be prepared and to participate, and to finish assignments on time.

PREREQUISITESThe course is intended for graduate student or seniors intent on graduate school. Students for whom English is a second language are most welcome and I am willing to work with you on ESL-related writing problems, although this is not intended to be an ESL course.

CLASSROOM SCHEDULEM-W-F, 10 to 10:50, Room 341 Woodward

Preamble

Week 1 (January 19-21)

The Course. Goals, syllabus, grades, procedures, and attitudes.

Science and Culture. The influence of western science and the Scientific Method on writing. (more)

The Writer's Bookshelf. Dictionary, Thesaurus, Style Manuals, Grammars, and books on writing. (more)

Assignments:

1—Guides to Authors (Assigned 1/19; due 1/24)

2—Components of the Introduction (Assigned 1/21; due 1/24)

Part I: The Refereed Journal Article—What Should I Write?

Week 2 (January 24-28)

The journal article. Where do I start? To whom am I writing? Choosing a journal for your work. Journal guidelines for authors.

IMRAD. Journal article structure: Introduction, methods, results, and discussion.

Introduction. Opening the inquiry by connecting to the past. Setting the stage for the present. Literature: What to include and why. What not to include. Should I say anything about methods, results, or conclusions in my introduction? (more)

Tense in scientific artiles. Tense? Relax! The rules are simple. (more)

Materials and methods. Creating parallel structures in methods and results. How much detail? Responsibility to science and your readers.

Assignment:

3—Paring Down an Introduction (Assigned 1/26; due 1/28, with further work in class)

Week 3 (January 31 - February 4)

Results. Tables. Figures. Computer-generated graphs.

Discussion. Closing the inquiry. Multiple hypotheses. Is good science compatible with good writing?

Assignments:

4—Presenting Results (Assigned 1/31; due 2/2)

5—Discussion (Assigned 2/2; due 2/4)

Week 4 (February 7-11)

Giving due credit.Reference citations. Authorship versus acknowledgment.

Publication process.Submitting for publication. Post acceptance: The galley, revisions, ordering reprints.

Editorial round table (Friday, 2/11). Mini Journal Article.

Assignment:

6—Mini Journal Article (Assigned 2/4; due 2/11, with copies, for use in in-class workshop)

Part II: Style and Readability—How Should I Write?

Week 5 (February 14-18)

Readability.An introduction to style and readability. What does “putting the reader first” mean in practice?

Efficiency. How to I measure efficiency. Efficiency from the user's perspective.

Elements of sentence structure. Active and passive voice. Use of pronouns.

Keeping it simple. Pretentious writing, jargon, and euphemism. Why is it okay to write simply? (more)

Editorial round table. Workshop on topics of the week.

Week 6 (February 21-25)

Useful grammatical rules. Person, tense, and number. Sentence length and complexity. Readability formulas.

Being concise. Branch length.

Editorial round table. workshop on topics of the week.

Week 7 (February 28 - March 4)

Pronouns. Specificity. Vague antecedents.

Modifiers. Dangling modifiers. Order for multiple adjectives and adverbs.

Abuses of the noun. Nominalizations. Noun clusters.

Editorial round table. workshop on topics of the week.

Part III: Alternative Ways to Write—How Else May I Write?

Week 8 (March 7-11)

The Review Article. Purpose. Who writes these? Structure.

The Thesis / Dissertation. Limits on speculation and creative thinking.

Editorial round table. Preparation for writing for the popular press.

Week 9 (March 21-25)

The Popular Press. On whales and rippling brooks: A discussion of variation in forms and styles for popular writing.

Writing for Oral Presentations.

Editorial round table. Topic TBA.

Week 10 (March 28 - April 1)

Strategic Plans. What they are supposed to do. How to write them.

Leadership. How to organize people to write in groups.

Vision and mission statements.SWOT. What will supporters be expected to do?

Editorial round table. A critique of vision and mission statements.

Week 11(April 4-8)

Grants. Form and Function. Identifying sources: Foundation and grant index services. The mechanics of applying for grants.

Grantsmanship. Finding funding sources. Meeting agency priorities. The difference between funding areas and what the agencies want to fund. Thinking like a reviewer. Paths to success.

Editorial round table. Writing a preproposal for a grant.

Week 12 (April 11-15)

Purpose Analysis. Thinking after you've written. Analyzing what you said and what you wanted to say. A strategy for moving, adding, or deleting pieces of writing.

Page Layout. Principles of designing layout for readability.

Editorial round table. Introduction to page layout technology.

Week 13 (April 18-22)

Your resume. Selling yourself: Getting that ego pumped up. Form and function for success.

Writing to get a job.Applying for professional positions. What works and doesn't. How much to say. Being effective.

Editorial round table. A mock proposal review panel.

Week 14 (April 25-29)

Writing for the web. Seven seconds and counting: getting and keeping site visitors.

Web design for useability. What web readers expect and will tolerate.

Web technology. What would I need to begin writing for the web?

Week 15 (May 2-6)

Teaching writing. Discourse communities. Writing across the curriculum. Who should teach writing, and how? Academic rewards for teaching writing.

Editorial round table. Topic TBA.

Week 16 (May 8)

Wrapping up.SET’s and open feedback to the instructor. Last day of class.