Type of course

Admission requirements

Application code 9301.

This course is aimed at PhD candidates from all scientific disciplines, but is open for postdoc fellows if seats are available. If PhD candidates aim to include the credits from the course in their 30 mandatory PhD ECTS, they should discuss it with their supervisor.

PhD candidates from UiT and other universities in Norway may be admitted to the course. PhD candidates not registered at UiT must upload a document from their university, stating that there are registered PhD candidates. This group of applicants does not have to prove English proficiency and are exempt from semester fee.

Proficiency in English must be documented - list of countries

Proficiency in English - PhD level studies

Maximum 30 participants.

If more than 30 applicants, priority will be given as follows:

• Participants admitted to the PhD programme at UiT that are in the 2nd to 4th year of their PhD project
• Participants admitted to the PhD programme at UiT that that are in the 1st year of their PhD project
• PhD candidates from other universities
• People with a minimum of a Master´s degree (or equivalent), who have not been admitted to a PhD programme. Holders of a Master´s degree must upload a Master´s Diploma with Diploma Supplement / English translation of the diploma and must document proficiency in English. A detailed list of various criteria to qualify for English language proficiency can be found here: English proficiency

Please contact Ingjerd Gauslaa Nilsen at the BFE-faculty if you have troubles or questions regarding registration to the course. 

The course will be cancelled if less than 10 participants.

Course content

This course is designed to provide PhD candidates with knowledge and skills to critically evaluate and produce academic text in their disciplines. Lectures, seminars, assignments focus on three separate yet interrelated aspects:

• Academic English - how to become a confident academic writer in English? Lectures, activities and assignments focus on common problem areas, such as text structure, clarity, argumentation, revising and editing strategies. As this is an interdisciplinary course, and the various research disciplines have their own terminology and conventions, mentors active in the disciplines will provide feedback on your text.
• The writing process - writing takes time and is a natural part of the everyday life of PhD research fellows. In the course, we want participants to reflect on the following questions: How do you integrate writing into your work-life; which writing habits do you have? Do you work together with others on text editing? How can you provide helpful feedback to peers? Course participants will practice giving and receiving feedback in writing groups.
• Publication - there are many decisions to make before and during the process of submitting your manuscript to a research journal: Who should be included as authors? What is the role of the journal editor? How does the peer review process work? How should you describe and document the research data that underpin your published analyses?

When and why should PhD candidates take this course?

One important element of this course is that you will work on your own manuscript throughout the autumn semester. Each participant must have a manuscript draft ready for submission 1 week after the registration deadline, The manuscript draft may be at an early or more advanced stage but should at least contain an introduction and the methodology of the planned manuscript. It is not necessary to have finished the data analysis or to have created a dataset. Each participant’s manuscript will be constructively reviewed by a mentor from their discipline and receive feedback during group work with fellow PhD candidates. This gives participants the opportunity to progress in their writing process and significantly improve the manuscripts throughout the course.

Recommended prerequisites

Objectives of the course

Knowledge:

• Understand how to efficiently write an academic manuscript
• Explain the purpose of describing and documenting own research data
• Understand general Academic English conventions and genres, including structure
• Adapt general knowledge of Academic English to discipline-specific terminology and conventions
• Explain sound guidelines and practices behind authorship and peer review processes

Skills:

• Critically evaluate, develop and revise own text in line with academic conventions
• Apply and adapt templates for readme files when documenting own datasets
• Provide peer review of the academic text written by peers
• Critically evaluate the use of artificial writing assistants

General competence:

• Develop strategies to become aware of and adjust writing behavior and habits
• Reflect on role as an academic author in presenting and publishing research work

Language of instruction and examination

Teaching methods

Information to incoming exchange students

This course is open to incoming exchange students.

Study Level: Ph.D.

This course has admission prerequisites, which are listed under the Admission requirements section. Please review this information carefully before adding the course to your Learning Agreement.

For details on how to apply for exchange, course selection guidelines, or to contact the Incoming Admissions Team, please visit: Admissions for Student Exchange.