Tools & Strategies for Effective Science Writing
Course Description
In order to go from a set of data to a published paper, it’s key to learn the framework of the manuscript building process, develop skills in writing, and find a community of peers who can help you articulate the importance of your research. In this Nanocourse, Dr. Marie Bao (BCMP, Harvard Medical School; former Editor-In-Chief of Developmental Cell), Dr. Milka Kostic (Chemical Biology, DFCI; former Senior Editor of Cell Chemical Biology & Structure), and Dr. Vivian Siegel (Scientific Communications, Biology, MIT; former Editor-In-Chief of Cell, Molecular Cell, & Developmental Cell; Founder of the Center for Science Communication, Vanderbilt University) will apply their decades of experience as editors at high profile journals to better explain the editorial process, advise you on developing writing strategies, and help you build resources within your community that will support you in putting together compelling manuscripts that clearly communicate your findings to their intended audience. While this course will focus on manuscript writing, the principles and concepts discussed can be applied to other forms of scientific writing. You will be directly applying what you learn to your own writing during the course, so you will need to bring a writing project, such as a manuscript, a research proposal, or even an abstract. This can be a draft in the very preliminary stages or something more polished.
Course Objectives
By the end of this nanocourse, participants should be able to:
- Describe the manuscript presubmission, submission, and evaluation process
- Determine the characteristics of effective science writing
- Tailor different components of the manuscript and cover letter to its different audiences for effective communication of the scientific message
- Recognize common pitfalls in manuscript writing, such as leaps in logic and sentence ambiguity, inaccurate portrayal of the significance of the work, and unclear alignment of stated hypotheses with given experiments
- Align individual components of the manuscript to its message
- Apply strategies to explicitly advocate for their work
- Be an effective peer reviewer and be able to identify peer reviewers in their community to guide each other in effective writing
Session dates, times & locations
Session one | Editorial Process & Publishing
Thursday May 4 2023, 1-4pm, TMEC 106
Session two | Honing the message and creating individual manuscript components
Thursday May 11 2023, 2-4pm, TMEC 106
Session three | Communicating and championing your science
Thursday May 18 2023, 2-4pm, TMEC 106
Enrollment Limit
The maximum number of participants for this course is 24, and the minimum number is 12. Please note that if the minimum enrollment is not met by April 21 the course will be postponed.
Milestone credit
Priority will be given to graduate students taking the course for credit. Postdocs can register, too and they will be granted access to the course as space allows.
To receive a milestone credit for this nanocourse, Harvard graduate students must attend all the sessions and complete all the assignments. You can bundle multiple nanocourses together to receive a full course credit. Students who have taken and met the milestone credit requirements of a total of three nanocourses, can register for CELLBIO300qc and receive a quarter course credit. More info can be found here.
Course Director
Davie Van Vactor, PhD
Course Instructors
Marie Bao, PhD (HMS)
Milka Kostic, PhD (DFCI)
Vivian Siegel, PhD (MIT)
Curriculum Fellow
Xiuqi “Jade” Li, PhD
Curriculum Advisor
Jelena Patrnogić, PhD
REGISTER HERE TO ATTEND THIS NANOCOURSE