Scientific and Academic Writing

Even for those who have attained a high level of written English, there are many small points of grammar and style that can confuse and hamper the non-native writer. We will focus on these and other language questions in a systematic manner, while building on your store of academic vocabulary and expressions. There are regular writing tasks to practice the skills learnt, with feedback following each exercise.

We will examine:

• Appropriate levels of formality
• Tips for writing productivity
• Achieving a good ‘flow’ of ideas and expression
• Accuracy in definition
• Describing problems, solutions and outcomes
• Presenting data and data commentary
• Understanding the most common mistakes
• Avoiding Plagiarism: Note-taking techniques

All of these writing skills will be examined in the context of a variety of types of writing: general-specific texts, problem-process-solution texts and data commentary texts. In this course, the option exists for the participants to spend the second half-day of the course in a writing workshop – examining and editing a short piece of their own writing (500–600 words – for example, an abstract or an extract from the introduction, a key passage or conclusion). This will require the participants to be sent a pre-course briefing during the week preceding the course.