Proposed Syllabus for Scientific Writing Tutorial

Goal:Instead of simply a grammar/English class, this tutorial will be more focused on the methods of writing a

Scientific Paper. Based on paper-writing courses taught in American Universities to students of biology and on experience from seasoned researchers, in this class, we will explore some of the tricks of the trade: like how and where to search for references, the order and the logic of writing the different sections of a research paper, and how to present one’s research orally in a concise yet precise way.

Structure:Slides and lectures will be in English to improve English aural comprehension and verbal fluency, but if

the class is uncomfortable, individuals can ask for clarification in Chinese. Slides will be distributed (days) ahead of each session, also, so those who are worried can preview the material.

Sessions will be divided into 3 parts, with a very small amount of additional outside work. The first part

of each session will be an overview of the session’s focal point (with slides and with sample writing). The second part will be an interactive analysis of student writing. The third part will be a 5-minute student oral presentation with 3 minutes for questions and critiques. Outside of the session, students will be asked to revise their own papers and skim over the student work we will analyze in the following session.

Interactive analysis:Each week we will collectively edit a particular section of one student’s paper. In the session before, that

student will present an overview of his/her paper and distribute a written copy to the class so each person will be prepared to read and discuss the paper during the following meeting. (If no one is interested, I will provide sample writings.)

Session 1: Introductions and ReferencesIntroductions of self, research topic, and progress on paper.References: All sections of the paper will require references. This session will focus on how to search for scientific papers, how to pick search key words, some sites (e.g. BLAST, genome databases, etc.) that one can use, and how to format references.

Session 2: Materials and MethodsThis is the easiest and most boring section to write. There are very strict rules for the M&M section, so it is often a good place to start your paper, since it is something that can be written before your results are collected. Presentation: Student for the next session (Results) will present his/her research topic and distribute the written paper to the class

Session 3: Results

Another of the easier sections. At face value, this is a rote recitation of observations. The key to a successful Results section is directing the reader’s focus to your conclusions. Analysis of student work.Presentation: Student for figures and legends (or student 2 for results)

Session 4: Figures and legendsDeceptively simple. There are requirements on figures and legends that vary by publication, but follow some of the same guiding principles. Legends should supplement figures but not state the obvious, and legends should relate to the results but not be redundant. The key for both figures and legends is CONCISENESS. Analysis of student work or my own pre-edit and post-edit figures.Presentation: Student 1 for discussion

Session 5: Discussion Part 1—results interpretationThis is the more straightforward section of the discussion. The writer offers his/her interpretations of the objective findings that were presented in the Results. The key is logical soundness and a solid basis of evidence for each conclusion. All of the sections up to this point are based on solely on one’s own experiment, with minimal outside sources for conceptual clarification. Analysis of student work.Presentation: Student for introduction

Session 6: Introduction Now, it is time to look beyond your own experiment. Both this session and the next session will discuss parts of the paper that serve as the “Public Relations” component of your research: why is your work important to the field? How does it fit into the existing works? What new insight does it offer? The introduction focuses on the “field” and the “existing works,” (you want to help readers narrow in on your area of interest), while only briefly mentioning the setup and hypothesis of your own work. Analysis of student work.Presentation: Student 2 for discussion

Session 7: Discussion Part 2—significance and relation to existing literatureOften the most difficult part to write well and what separates a good paper from a great paper. Whereas the introduction focused on the works of others, this section describes how the new insights you have gleaned will enhance the development of your field.Analysis of student work.Presentation: Student for abstract

Session 8: writing an abstract and overall editing These are respectively the quickest and most time-consuming parts! Writing the abstract can be frustrating due to the word limits that journals impose, but the basics couldn’t be simpler. A trick is just to heavily edit down your introduction. Since we wrote the paper out of order, editing from beginning to end will improve logical flow and reduce redundancy.