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. We emphasizes content and structure of journal articles and explores other forms of writing such as grants, popular press, or writing for the web. We also address 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.

TEXTSThe instructor will provide affordable used copies of the 8th edition of the Little, Brown Handbook for use in a review of grammar and syntax (Fowler, R. and J. Aaron. 2001. The Little, Brown handbook. Addison-Wesley). Exercises and readings will be provided. Appropriate reference books for the scientific writer's bookshelf will be recommended but are not required.

FORMATClasses involve lectures, discussions, and in-class exercises. This is a graduate collaborative workshop and students will 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.

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, 220 Washburn

Introduction

Week 1 (January 22-26)

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 1/22; due 1/26)

2—Components of the Introduction (Assigned 1/24; due 1/31)

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

Week 2 (January 29-February 2)

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 articles. 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.

Results. Tables. Figures. Computer-generated graphs.

Giving due credit.Reference citations. Authorship versus acknowledgment.

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

Assignment:

3—Paring Down an Introduction (Assigned 1/29; due 1/31, with further work in class)

4—Discussion (Assigned 2/1; due 2/3)

Week 3 (February 5 - 9)

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

Workshop. Preliminary draft of journal article. Process in drafting. Refering back to the audience and purpose for the article.

Assignment:

5—Mini Journal Article (Assigned 2/12; due 2/19, with copies, for use in in-class workshop)

Week 4 (February 12-16)

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

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.

Workshop. In-class edit of final draft of journal article.

Week 5 (February 19-23)

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

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

Being concise. Branch length.

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

6—Style and Readability exercises (assigned 2/19; due ~3/5)

Week 6 (February 26- March 2)

Comma splices...(under revision, 2/26/07)

Week 7 (March 5-9)

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.

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.

7—Job application materials (assigned 3/9; due ~3/28)

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

Week 8 (March 12-16)

Strategic Plans. An introduction to planning documents. What they are supposed to do. How to write them. (more)

Strategic plan vision and mission statements.SWOT. What will supporters be expected to do? (an example—MSword document)

Week 9 (March 26-30)

Grants. Traditional Grants Funding vs. Outcome Funding. The difference between funding areas and what the agencies want to fund. Thinking like a reviewer. Paths to success.

Grantsmanship. Finding funding sources. Meeting agency priorities.

8a—Strategic Planning (option 1—assigned 3/28; due 4/13)

8b—Grant (option 2—assigned 3/28; due 4/13)

Week 10 (April 2-6)

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

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

Writing for Oral Presentations.

Leadership. How to organize people to write in groups.

Week 11(April 9-13)

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

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.

Week 12 (April 16-20)

Page Layout. Principles of designing layout for readability.

InDesign and Pagemaker. Introduction to page layout technology.

Week 13 (April 23-27)

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?

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

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