NKEA09010U Scientific Writing, Planning and Presentation

Volume 2024/2025
Education

MSc Programme in Agriculture
MSc Programme in Chemistry
MSc Programme in Chemistry with a minor subject
MSc Programme in Nanoscience

Content

The course addresses higher-level aspects of scientific communication (both written and oral) required by a master’s student. Scientific writing should be seen as a process, not a product, so the focus of the course is developing a personal writing process. There are lessons and workshops on topics such as prewriting, considering your audience, academic writing style, figures and graphics, and the structure of a scientific paper. There are four assignments, which culminate with a publication-quality paper. While these assignments are based on writing tasks that are typical for a chemist, the overarching principles taught will be useful to anyone who writes in science.

Learning Outcome

Knowledge:

  • how to structure a scientific paper
  • how to organize literature
  • how to integrate innovation into a publication strategy

 

Skills:

  • write clear sentences
  • compose unified and coherent paragraphs
  • make easily understood figures
  • give engaging presentations

 

Competency:

  • develop a writing process, for example, starting with an outline
  • make writing clear and engaging by telling a story
  • adapt writing to a specific audience
  • enhance the writing process with new technology
  • rely on peer feedback while revising
Literature

See Absalon for a list of course literature. We have previously enjoyed using The Scientist’s Guide to Writing by Stephen B. Heard (2022), but we recommend waiting until the course begins to buy anything.

Academic qualifications equivalent to a BSc degree is recommended.
A mixture of lectures, group work, exercises, and student presentations
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 42
  • Preparation
  • 10
  • Practical exercises
  • 9
  • Project work
  • 145
  • Total
  • 206
Written
Oral
Individual
Collective
Continuous feedback during the course of the semester
Peer feedback (Students give each other feedback)
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Continuous assessment
Type of assessment details
Assignment 1 – Introduction to writing (15% of total grade)
Assignment 2 – Proposal (15% of total grade)
Assignment 3 – Outline (20% of total grade)
Assignment 4 – Paper (40% of total grade)
Workshop participation and in-class presentation (10% of total grade)

Each part is assessed and weighted individually, and the final grade is determined based on this. Each part does not need to be passed individually to pass the overall exam.
Aid
All aids allowed

The use of Large Language Models (LLM)/Large Multimodal Models (LMM) – such as ChatGPT and GPT-4 – is permitted in the preparation of the assignments.

Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Several internal examiners
Re-exam

The reexam is based on the submission of a single, new paper that counts as 100% of the final grade.

Criteria for exam assesment

The grading will be based on a combination of formal mistakes (spelling, grammar, etc.) and style.