The Structure and Logic of Scientific Articles & Writing Titles and Abstracts

24 September 2014

Dr Tanja Wranik; psyinfo

Writing good titles and abstracts requires both linguistic ability and basic communication skills. In particular, scientific English follows clear and simple rules with a specific structure and logic. Knowledge of how parts of speech and sentences form clear paragraphs is essential to writing abstracts that contain a great deal of information in less than 250 words. Understanding the audience and tailoring the message for a specific goal will also help ensure that the information is effective.

The purpose of this course is first to present the structure and logic of scientific English. We will start out with the parts of speech, discuss the verb tenses used in scientific English, and then discover the merits of using simple rather than complex sentences. Particular attention will be paid to prepositional phrases, adjectives, and adverbs, which are frequently used but rarely necessary. Finally, we will focus on paragraph structure in the English language. The paragraph is the primary unit of good scientific writing.

The second part of the course will focus on titles and abstracts. Titles are highly effective phrases, and abstracts are highly specialized paragraphs.

Target Group

The course will focus on the rules and techniques for writing and reading empirical articles, and is therefore applicable to doctoral candidates in any discipline who conduct empirical research with qualitative or quantitative data (e.g. field studies, case studies, laboratory experiments, observation, archives).

Participants should already have a completed and approved research proposal, and/or have run their first experiments or observations prior to the workshop.

Preparation for the Workshop

All participants are required to write a title and an abstract of 250 words or less, based on a  current research experiment or observation from their doctoral dissertation. If the participant is running multiple experiments for the doctoral dissertation, he or she should write the abstract about only one of the experiments. If the participant is conducting one large study or experiment, he or she should at least be finished with the planning stage and have a general idea about the method and expected outcomes before writing the abstract.

Participants should prepare their texts before the workshop and bring 5 copies of their work with them. These will be used to discuss common mistakes and best practices. Through small-group work and interactive discussion, participants will learn how to choose the best information for their titles and abstracts, depending on the audience and goals.

Lausanne COMPLET

Date: Wednesday, 24th September 2014

Schedule: 10h15 - 18h

Location: University of Lausanne

Niveau d'anglais: Dès B1. Les doctorants doivent pouvoir lire un article scientifique en anglais (et comprendre 60 à 70 %), écrire un "abstract" de 250 mots de leur recherche en anglais et être capable de comprendre une personne qui parle en anglais lentement. La formation sera donnée en anglais.

Instructor: Tanja Wranik obtained her PhD in Psychology from the University of Geneva and was a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University.  She taught Applied Psychology at the University of Geneva for six years and during this time helped develop the Master of Advanced Studies in Human Resources and Career Development, jointly run by the University of Geneva, Lausanne, Neuchâtel, and Fribourg. Tanja is a licensed work and organizational psychologist, FSP, APSYTRA, a certified coach, and provides consulting services to organizations throughout Switzerland and Europe. She also teaches postgraduate-level courses and workshops at several Universities and Business Schools.

Participants are eligible for reimbursement of incurred travel expenses by train between the town of their university and the location of the workshop (half-fare card, 2nd class).

15