SUBJECT

Writing Scientific Papers in English

lecture

master

Faculty of Science

Biology MSc

2

Semesters 1-4

Autumn/Spring semester

1) Why should we publish, conceptual and practical considerations. What can we publish, when do we get to the stage of paper preparation? Where should we publish, how to choose target journal?. What is originality, copyright? Why should we publish in English?

2) Typs of scientific publications. Differences beween popular and scientific publications: theoretical and sturctural aspects. What is reproducibility? The policy of review writing. Properties of Nature or Science type papers. The importance and structure of regular papers. The importance of "short" and "rapid" communications.

3) How to get instructions for the authors, what do they contain? How to choose co-authors? What is the meaning of the order of names, how to decide it? How to share to work among the co-authors? What should be the order of the job? What happens to a manuscript from the submission (uploading) and publication in referred, international journals? Details of the structures of regular papers, chapters. Differences between regular papers, short communications, methodical papers and reviews.

4) How to formulate the title of the paper? What should it contain? Grammatical aspects. The logics, the content and structure of the "Summary" (Abstract). The importance of the key words, how to choose them? Analysis of titles, summaries and keywords collected from the literature.

5) The aim of the "Introduction", logics and structure: showing contradictory statements, gaps in the knowledge. The types of references in the text, moral aspects in choosing a reference. Chronology or logics? The last paragraph is almost always standard: the aim of the work or the summary of the paper: examples from the literature.

6) The aim, and content of the "Materials and Methods". Regulations in its form, accuracy - reproducibility questions. The usage of "SI", statistical procedures. Regulations about the descriptions of chemicals and other lab materials, equipments.

7) Figure editing softwares, advantages and problems. Usual errors and problems in figures and tables.: examples from the literature.

8) The stucture of "Results". How to connect the figures, tables logically?, The relations of figures to tables, how to show statistical treatments?

9) The structure and content of the "Discussion". How to create a "model, how to shoe the explicit opinion of the authors, how to describe general conclusions. The rules of writing "Results and Discussion" combined chapter, its problems, the necessity of the "Conclusions" chapter or paragraph in this case.

10) Grammar structures in the scientific text. How to use the grammar time. Hyperboles and expressions to avoid. Common "Hunglish" problems.

11) The formal regulations of the "full bibliography". How to edit it, how to use literature databases?

12) Electronic publishing. Uploading the manuscript. What to check?

13) Correspondence with the editor. The comments of the reviewers: their questionnare. How to answer the critical comments?

14) What is the proof? What are the common symbols used in proof correction? What is the "copyright transfer": loyal and moral aspects. What can we order: reprint of pdf file? Publishing policy at given journals, acceptance/rejection rates.

15) Consultation, preparation to the exam. Examination and discussion of manuscripts or papers brought by the students.

• M. Alley: The Craft of Scientific Writing. Springer 1998 3rd edition ISBN 0-387-94766-3

• R. Murray: Writing for Academic Journals. Open University Press 2005 ISBN: 0 335 21392 8