Admission requirements
This course is obligatory for all MSc students Chemistry and all MSc students Life Science & Technology who started after August 2017. Students should follow the course Science Methodology in the same academic year.
The course Academic Writing will be taught three times in the academic year 2018/2019. Due to the overlap with the course Science Methodology, which is taught in period 3, AWR_1 consists of a course load in periods 1 and 3, AWR_2 in periods 2 and 3 and AWR_3 in periods 3 and 4. Students are required to register for one of the three courses; further information about registration will be available in August on the LIC MSc website.
Description
A good scientist will never be a great scientist without the ability to explain their work to other scientists. Therefore, it is vital that students learn to report on their work with easy to read manuscripts in proper academic English, with a clear and logical structure.
In this course, students will learn the essential writing skills for communicating scientific results. The principles are covered in lectures and put into practice with exercises during lectures and in homework assignments. To test the skills acquired in this course, three writing assignments are handed in and graded. These are an introduction to a research paper, a mini literature review and an essay that is written for the course Science Methodology. Students will improve their texts based on feedback from the lecturer and peer-review sessions.
At the end of the course students:
can critically read scientific literature
know the structure of a scientific paper and the function of each section
can use logical structure to build their narrative
can write a piece of scientific text using proper academic English
know how to source, use and cite scientific literature
can review and edit their own and their peers’ work
Mode of instruction
Lectures, homework exercises, workshops, peer-review and writing assignments.
Literature
All literature will be made available on blackboard:
Papers from the literature
Slides presented during the lectures
Background reading materials
Assessment
Final assessment is based on three writing assignments.
assignment 1 (introduction): 20%
assignment 2 (literature review): 50%
assignment 3 (essay): 30%
Attendance at lectures, workshops and participation in peer-review is mandatory.