112101 Scientific working and writing
- Type
- Lecture and exercise
- Semester hours
- 2
- Lecturer (assistant)
- Organisation
- Offered in
- Wintersemester 2022/23
- Languages of instruction
- Englisch
- Content
-
The main goal of this course is the writing of a mini publication based on the fundamental structure of a scientific paper in the natural sciences. You will learn about the writing process, identify a topic relevant for you and create a mini paper with all core elements of a real scientific publication.
We start with a theoretical part with short practice exercises:
• Becoming familiar with the scientific method
• Who makes science why?
• Science Ethics
• Brief history of the development of modern science
• Deduction vs. induction
• Hypothesis, theory, law, paradigm
• Basics of scientific working and writing
• Selected types of scientific texts (scientific journal publication, review, abstract, Bachelor-thesis, Master-thesis)
• The writing process
• How do I read a scientific paper? Structured decoding the content of a scientific publication
• Structure of a scientific publication
• Appropriate referencing/citing and plagiarism
• Adding captions to tables and graphs correctly
• Definition of individual research questions
• Tools of self-management (principles of brain-oriented working and learning, personal learning environment, mind-mapping and project management with Mindjet MindManager, Pomodoro technique, OneNote, task management with Trello)
This is followed by the practical part with a short theoretical input:
• Writing of a mini-publication (Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References) based on elementary structural guidelines
• Literature research using Scopus and Google scholar
• Management of references & pdf files using Citavi/Endnote
• Formatting of citations according to the Harvard Style using Citavi/Endnote
• Structured reading of academic publications
• Excerpting & paraphrasing of the content of publications
• Peer Review
• Creation of a poster based on the elaborated publication as a special kind of scientific communication following selected fundamental guidelines / templates
- Objective (expected results of study and acquired competences)
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Development of academic writing skills by writing a mini-publication (Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References) based on elementary structure specifications, learning the basics of designing scientific posters, developing competences in the field of self-organized learning and working ("Self Leadership")
Graduates of the course
• Know and master the scientific method as a working tool for scientific working and learning
• Can identify the main epistemological principles of science and are able to judge the possibilities and limitations of science ("What can we know?"), with a focus on the evolutionary epistemology and on the historical development of methodology in "modern" science
• Understand the principles of ethics in sciences and apply this to their own work
• Understand the theory and phases of the writing process, and are able to better control their own writing process
• Practise of clustering (as opposed to mind-mapping) as a method to find one's own research theme, and are thus able to define research topics and questions related to their interests
• Can quickly read scientific publications in a structured way and capture the essential content of scientific publications
• Master scientific literature research with the major search engines
• Master the import of citations in a reference management program (Endnote)
• Master citation styles (Chicago and Harvard styles) for academic work, and are able to use the "CiteWhileYouWrite" function of EndNote for building an automatic bibliography
•Can reproduce their own scientific activity in the context of the formal basic structure of a scientific work, taking into account the internal structure (inner formal structure, use of times, etc.) of the individual chapters (title, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, acknowledgments)
• Are able to label and reference figures and tables correctly
•Are able to carry out the practical skills of planning and executing scientific papers themselves by writing their own scientific mini-publication
•Learn to give and receive structured feedback in the context of the peer review process
• Can create a scientific poster based on fundamental design criteria
• Can selectively apply selected methods of self-control iand management n learning and working
You can find more details like the schedule or information about exams on the course-page in BOKUonline.