How to write a paper and talk about science

This course offers a unique insight into the writing process and emphasises what to include in each section of the paper, as well as the publication process. The teachers will share their expert insight into scientific writing skills to create each part of a manuscript ready for publication. Techniques for oral presentations in conference format will also be practiced.

Highly interactive and practical

Every workshop is delivered by teachers/ scientists, so to offer students first-hand insight into the writing process. The participants will have the chance to interact one-on-one with teachers and create their own manuscripts & talks. Lectures will be interspersed with practical exercises, group discussions, and Q&A with the teachers, in order to put the learned content into practice and promote active learning. 

• Writing Scientific papers
• Preparing Scientific oral presentations

By the end of this course, the students will be able to:  

• write and format a research paper section by section, including basic analyses,   develop figures, discuss and interpret results;
• perform all the steps for paper submission;
• design a research project;
• create a scientific poster and give an oral presentation;
• describe academic honesty and authorship attribution and accountability; 
• conduct an international search of relevant scientific literature and create an annotated bibliography.   

Moreover, the BIP will strongly contribute to the students' internalization and networking capabilities, boostering the educational opportunities within the CIVIS alliance framework. 

The physical mobility part will take place between 30 June - 4 July 2025, in Madrid - Spain and will cover the following topics:

• Approaches for effective presentation of results 
• Writing practices for the different sections of a scientific article (work in pairs, groups and individually)
• Peer review of the sections worked on in class (work in pairs)
• Speaking practices (group work) 
• Individual oral presentation in class

The virtual part will run from 7 April to 27 June 2025. It will be taught during 10 theoretical sessions and a final tutorial. Classes will be held on Friday mornings (1:30h-2 hours long), covering the following topics:  

• Criteria for attribution of authorship in a research paper 
• How to do a bibliographic search and organize a library using reference management software  
• How to write the different parts of an original research article  
• How to organize a poster or a short presentation 
• The importance of dissemination to a non-specialized audience  
• How to deal with the submission process  
• How to write the cover and a rebuttal letter
• How to design and write a research project
• Important ethical issues in research 
• Open education resources

Student´s evaluation will rely on a set of tasks guided by tutors in both the classroom and online modules.   Online module evaluation (60%):    The assessment of the trainees on the virtual modules will comprise three elements:  A) Participation and assistance during the tutoring process in class (20%)   B) Performance on activities and results on homework and classwork (60%)   C) Multiple-choice tests off class (20%).    Physical mobility evaluation (40%):  A) Participation and assistance during the tutoring process in class (30%)   B) Performance on activities and classwork, and a brief oral presentation of the research conducted during writing assignments.  Students will be asked to prepare in advance a short (5 min) powerpoint or Genial.ly presentation for a topic of their choice and will receive constructive feedback from both from their peers and the professors (70%).    * As a blended learning approach, virtual and face-to-face components are both integral parts of the course. However, they can also stand alone, and participants have the flexibility to engage only in the virtual module or in both virtual plus face-to-face components. Each part module will be evaluated separately. 

Motivation Letter

Level of english (According to CEFR)

CV

The main evaluation criteria will take into account:

• educational level: PhD student, Master's student or Bachelor's, prioritized in this order;
• student's motivation to take the course;
• language proficiency (minimum CEFR B2 required).

The lecturers on this course have an international reputation with extensive research experience in different fields of biomedicine, have led research projects and contributed to a large number of scientific publications:

• María Calzada and Gemma Dominguez - Scientific communication and innovative teaching approaches;
• Daniela Cucu has developed and taught a course in scientific writing since 2004;
• Esteban Gurzov teaches Basics of Preclinical Research and the CIVIS BIP Program, both including grant writing and project developing;
• Riadh Benmansour - development of scientific writing courses for undergraduate and graduate students; innovative learning tools and Open Educational Resources.