BIOS9500 ¨C Scientific Writing

Course content

Published scientific papers are the main format by which new ideas, concepts and results are communicated in the academic arena. The ability to write clear and understandable papers is therefore a prerequisite for every academic career. While writing scientific papers might feel daunting initially, this is a skill that can be learnt. ?Through eight mandatory workshops, this course gives an introduction to a range of concepts in scientific writing. The course introduces these concepts while developing a draft manuscript. The course covers a number of topics that include developing writing routines, selecting an appropriate journal/target audience, introducing a study, writing methods and results, improving scientific figure design, distilling the core findings in a discussion, and placing the work into a broader context, highlighting its novelty.

Students will write their manuscript throughout the course and will read, edit and provide feedback to manuscripts written by their peers. Students will be asked to give a short presentation to their peers. The course will be taught in English and the texts and exercises will be in English.

Learning outcome

• You?will learn to recognize different sections of a scientific paper
• You will draft and edit such different sections
• You will learn about sentence structure within paragraphs
• You will learn to improve the flow of your text
• You will learn basic theory behind scientific figure design
• You will learn to provide constructive feedback on written text
• You will learn to target your text to a specific audience

Admission to the course

PhD candidates from the University of Oslo should apply for classes and register for examinations through Studentweb.

If a course has limited intake capacity, priority will be given to PhD candidates who follow an individual education plan where this particular course is included. Some national researchers¡¯ schools may have specific rules for ranking applicants for courses with limited intake capacity.

PhD candidates who have been admitted to another higher education institution must apply for a position as a visiting student within a given deadline.

Applicants are ranked by the following criteria:

1. PhD candidates the Department of Bioscience who have the course as part of the approved curriculum.

2.?PhD candidates at the MN faculty who have the course as part of the approved curriculum.

3. Other PhD students and visiting PhD students.

Applicants are ranked by credits in each group; all applicants within 1st rank before applicants in 2nd etc. If admission is limited to a fixed number of participants, admission will be decided by drawing lots for students who are ranked equally.

Formal prerequisite knowledge

It is a prerequisite that applicants have sufficiently progressed with their data analysis and have made at least some of the figures for a manuscript.

Recommended previous knowledge

The course is most beneficial if you are ready to write up your study as first author.

Overlapping courses

• 5 credits overlap with BIOS5500 ¨C Science Writing (discontinued).
• 5 credits overlap with BIO4600 ¨C Science Writing (continued).
• 5 credits overlap with BIO9600 ¨C Science Writing (continued).

Teaching

• Eight? mandatory workshops that consist of lectures and active writing.
• Students will read, write and discuss the work of other students.
• Final assignment consists of writing a complete draft manuscript.
• You will be expected to show your work to your peers through oral presentation.

All course activities are mandatory. If you can not attend the first lecture, please send a note to studieinfo@ibv.uio.no, before the first lecture.

Examination

The assessment will be based on the completion of a draft manuscript.

Withdrawal from an examination

It will also be counted as one of the three attempts to sit the exam for this course, if you sit the exam for one of the following courses: BIO9600 ¨C Science Writing (continued), BIO4600 ¨C Science Writing (continued), BIOS5500 ¨C Science Writing (discontinued).

Examination support material

All examination support material is allowed.

Language of examination

The examination text is given in English, and you submit your response in English.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about the grading system.

Resit an examination

Re-scheduled examinations are not offered.

More about examinations at UiO

• Use of sources and citations
• Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
• Withdrawal from an exam
• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Explanation of grades and appeals
• Resitting an exam
• Cheating/attempted cheating

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.