Type of course

Admission requirements

PhD course. It is available as a singular course.

PhD students and students at the Student Research Program at UiT The Arctic University of Norway register for class and exam in Studentweb by September 1st.

Other applicants apply for the right to study by June 1st. Application is sent through SøknadsWeb. Please use the application code "9301 - Singular courses at the PhD level". If granted admission to the course students must register for class and exam in Studentweb by September 1st.

Course content

The course aims at enhancing and improving the writing skills of those already familiar with the process. It contains lectures, group work, discussions in plenum and an individual assignment (abstract).

Lecture topics include;

• The scientific language and academic writing traditions
• Structure: constraints, organization, and emphasis
• Editors’ and reviewers’ views on submitted manuscripts
• Language: being clear, concise, and correct
• Shaping your text - telling a story
• Efficient scientific writing - how to write a lot
• Scientific writing and artificial writing assistants - what to do?
• Publish or perish? Publication Ethics
• Reference lists and how to cite properly
• How to write a review paper - tips for your home assignment

Group work and discussion topics include;

• Critical editing of Abstracts submitted before the course
• The housekeeping of scientific writing - read the paper and "dissect it"

Objectives of the course

Knowledge and understanding

On successful completion of the course, the student should:

• know the structure of a scientific manuscript
• know the key criteria for good manuscripts
• be able to critically judge which parts of their scientific work to include in a manuscript and how to evaluate their own writing against external criteria

Skills and abilities

On successful completion of the course, the student should be able to:

• communicate and disseminate scientific results from health research efficiently in writing
• master practical tasks on how to write efficiently and to overcome hurdles for writing
• respond to reviewers’ comments and revise manuscripts
• critically read and evaluate scientific articles within health sciences

Judgment and approach

On successful completion of the course, the student should:

• Demonstrate insight into the review process and the craft of scientific writing focusing on health sciences

Language of instruction and examination

Teaching methods

2 Credits. 60 hours of work divided as follows:

• Approx. 3 hours before the course writing an abstract
• 19 hours lectures/group work
• 3 hours reading and working with course literature (200 pages)

35 hours for home exam. The course will include didactic teaching including lectures and power-point presentations, small group-working and interactive discussions and feedback sessions. There will be a mixture of teacher-led and student-led activities throughout each day of the course.

Students are expected to take an active and dynamic part in all coursework. Individual reading towards knowledge assimilation will also be a requirement. Pre-coursework in the form of submitting an abstract before the course, as well as providing feedback to other students during the course and presenting orally is also compulsory.

Recommended reading/syllabus