When: 12-16 June 2023
Where: Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen
Credit: 2 ECTS
Lecturers: Dallas Murphy, Thomas Spengler/UiB
Target group : PhD students who already have a draft paper before the workshop
Maximum number of participants: 12
Registration deadline: 2 April
Course description:
Only the science matters in science papers. Often, however, good science is damaged by its unclear presentation in writing. Clarity is the science writer’s sole stylistic obligation. But without a cogent, carefully constructed literary structure, there can be no clarity; clarity is in structure. We will, therefore offer techniques and means of attaining structure that can be applied to the present paper, the next paper, and the next.
Format
—We can accommodate a maximum of 12 students.
—Each participant will submit a draft of their paper one week before the workshop begins.
—As a group, we will rigorously examine the abstracts, introductions, and conclusions for each paper, asking, first, are they clear? We will address three papers per day, leaving Friday open for rewrites.
—Working together as a group, we will help improve the paper at hand. But that alone is not enough. We will use the papers as a starting point to establish the foundations of a practical writing process—of thinking like a writer about science writing—that will produce better papers, but also alleviate some of the stress most students feel about writing.
—Different faculty scientists will participate in each session to help students clarify the science itself.
*************************************
Dallas Murphy is a professional writer, author of nine books, a mix of fiction and nonfiction, and two plays. He conducts science-writing workshops at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, University of Hamburg, Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, University of Miami, and Bergen Geophysical Institute.