Writing course: Better together

A writing course to improve your writing with Mathew Stiller-Reeve 14 - 18 October 2019 in Bergen. Apply within 8 September to join.

Image may contain: product, text.

Course content

In this course, we work through the whole writing process together! We will cover some of the basics of clear and concise writing, and apply these skills directly to our own texts. The goal for each participant is to produce a short popular science article about their own research ready to publish online. This course is now 5 days long according to feedback from previous DEEP participants. We now have time to work through the whole writing process, which reduces the need for extensive preparation. 
During this course you will build a solid understanding of the basics of writing clear and concise texts. We will develop ideas on issues like structure, flow, active voice, and cutting clutter. After we discuss one or two issues, we will return to our articles and work together to develop them. You will be able to apply the skills you learn in this course to writing your all-important research articles. This course will emphasize how to write and how to give feedback. We will therefore develop as both writers and peer-reviewers. 
Before the course starts you will be expected to form some ideas about what you can write about during the course. We will also provide suggestions for writing topics after the course registration closes.

Application

Please register in our online form within 8 September.

Program

Day 1 (9:00 - 15:00)

  • Writing topics and formulating main questions
  • Lecture about how to design the structure of the article, including it’s style.
  • Participants design the flow of their article

Day 2 (9:00 - 15:00)

  • Lecture: reminder on flow and structure          
  • Group work giving feedback on structural plans
  • Individual work: writing the full articles (3-500 words) using the structural plans

Day 3 (9:00 - 15:00)

  • Continued work on articles under Stiller-Reeve’s supervision
  • Lecture on active voice
  • Group work giving feedback on flow and on active voice in the texts

Day 4 (9:00 - 15:00)

  • Lecture on cutting clutter in writing
  • Group work giving feedback on clutter in the articles
  • Continued polishing of the texts

Day 5 (9:00 - 12:00)

  • Group discussion on long article - applying the lessons learnt to analyse an article similar in length to a peer-reviewed paper.
  •  The final review. Articles are exchanged between groups so that participants get more feedback and practice on peer-reviewing.

The instructor

Mathew Stiller-Reeve has a PhD in Meteorology and has published several peer-reviewed articles on the monsoon as well as interdisciplinary and communication issues. He founded the SciSnack writing community in 2012 when he developed a collaborative writing process and helped start several writing groups around the world. He and 12 international co-authors published this process in 2016, and since then it has been used by summer schools and communication initiatives around the world. Recently, he has become a Thematic Editor of the Geoscience Communication journal and has developed a peer-review process that he recently published on Nature.com. He has held writing seminars and courses over the past 3 years, both in Uganda and Norway.

Expenses for DEEP members

DEEP will organice and cover the travel and accommodation for all members. Please note that registration is binding and that cancellations after 1 October 2019 may be charged up to 2000 NOK.

 

Published June 24, 2019 2:09 PM - Last modified Sep. 3, 2019 1:55 PM