205063 Writing club for budding biologists (V+Ü) (WiSe 2023/2024)

This weekly course is designed for biologists to develop their scientific writing skills. It aims at biologists at any stage of their university career from bachelor, to master and doctoral students. The course consists of four hours per week per semester. The course allocates two hours to in-person lectures and discussions on specific components of the scientific writing. These lectures and discussions are complemented with two hours of carefully-chosen exercises of diverse nature. The two-hour exercise component of the course takes place a time that suits the students, with the aim of accommodating the different schedules and writing pace and experience of each participant. The course will explore multiple examples of scientific writing, for instance, how to write BSc, MSc and PhD dissertations (depending on demand), but also how to write abstracts for manuscripts, conferences or grant proposals. Finally, the course will also explore writing of scientific manuscripts, preregistration reports and small funding proposals (e.g., how to write a National Geographic Early Career Grant). Students will have to hand in a written report at the end of the course to get the credits. Overall, the course offers a goal-orientated, hands-on approach to scientific writing, and will accommodate on-demand requests from the daily scientific work of the participants.

Bibliography

Heard, Stephen B. The scientist’s guide to writing: how to write more easily and effectively throughout your scientific career. Princeton University Press, 2022.