The lingua franca of science today is English and consequently, the advancement of an academic career usually involves submitting articles to journals in English. This workshop aims to ease the transition from student to professional. 

What constitutes an engaging research paper? How do you write an intriguing abstract?  Why do some studies grab the spotlight while other equally deserving contributions are largely ignored? In other words, what makes an article successful?

Many Germans find that reading articles in English is easier despite the language barrier. We will be looking closely at the reasons for this. It is certainly not a case of clarity at the expense of content.  There is also the issue of the choice of words beyond terminology. To elaborate on this, we shall refer to articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Nature, Science, or PNAS to fully understand cultural style as well as the differences between journals. 

A reader will be supplied. We shall also refer to:

• How To Write & Publish A Scientific Paper, 9th Ed. (2022) Barbara Gastel & Robert Day (Greenwood Press, ISBN 978-1440878848)
• Getting it Across: An Effective Guide to Academic Writing 2nd ed. by Soren, Johnson (ISBN: 9789085940388)

Dr Sonja Price teaches Academic and Creative Writing as well as the more advanced English courses such as Cambridge Proficiency at Jena University, where she also worked as a research assistant at the Department of Intercultural Business Communication for five years. She has taught workshops at many universities in Germany including the LMU in Munich. She is the author of various academic papers and was also shortlisted for the Joan Hessayon Award for her novel ‘The Giants Look Down’.

The following themes will be dealt with according to the participants’ needs from 10 am to 5 pm:

• The influence of cultural style on writing
• Titles and the importance of a hook.
• Structuring your text: Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion, Conclusion 
• Word choice. Spotting and eradicating colloquialisms
• British versus American English  
• Germanisms and grammar minefields such as the use of articles  
• How to overcome Writer’s Block
•  Storytelling within the confines of science
• The importance of editing
• Decluttering your text, tightening your findings  
• Adapting articles for individual journals: formatting and style
• Peer review
• Coping with rejection and the long process of getting published

The number of participants is limited to a maximum of 12. Please register until April 9, 2024 via following registration form using your university e-mail-address if possible. 

Veranstaltung speichern (iCal)