Scientific Writing Workshop
Dr. Kathy Astrahantseff
The 1-day Scientific Writing workshop is geared towards young scientists and medical professionals working in biology, translational medicine, applied medicine, chemistry, molecular biology and bioinformatics. Participation of more experienced scientists is not unusual, and can easily be integrated into this workshop format.
The focus is on (1) mistakes that are commonly made by non-native English speakers in scientific writing; (2) the proper construction of paragraphs and sentences in an English scientific text; (3) a how-to approach to paper writing with tips for getting started, overcoming writer's block, how to focus your paper/abstract to your audience, things you should know before you start, critical areas of a paper and how to choose wording for the correct strength of a statement. This how-to portion spends more time in some of these areas than others depending on the experience level of the group.
Some of the common problems for non-native English speakers that I discuss include how to choose the strength of the adjective or adverb when presenting sensitive results, the importance of good English paragraph structuring to clearly present scientific ideas and structure papers and grants, how to use attention-getting words (therefore, however, etc.) correctly and not overuse them and commonly misused/misunderstood English words and phrases.
Methods
The workshop will be presented in 2 3-hour blocks separated by a 1-hour break for lunch. It is designed to be interactive and flexible, and questions are encouraged throughout. The workshop will be held in English language.
Introduction of Workshop Trainer Dr. Kathy Astrahantseff
The science writing workshop is led by Dr. Kathy Astrahantseff. She has worked as an experimental scientist in the areas of developmental and cellular biology, molecular biology and cancer research since 1987, and runs a free-lance business correcting scientific and technical English texts and coaching grant and paper writing since 2004. She is a native English speaker who, having lived and worked in Germany since 1994, is also fluent in the German language. She has over 25 years experience in writing and revising scientific manuscripts and grants in addition to technical product descriptions and webpages. These texts issued not only from the areas of biological and medical research, but also computer science, physics and chemistry.