Academic Writing 2 Prerequisites

The PhD course Academic Writing 2: Writing a Scientific Paper with Impact requires that you fulfill three prerequisites. These are listed below, including additional information for each prerequisite:

Prerequisites & Additional Information

1. Completion of the GSLS PhD course "Academic Writing 1: Composing an Excellent Academic Text" is required.
If you have not taken Academic Writing 1, you may still join Academic Writing 2 if you have completed a comparable course during your master’s or PhD program: at least 1.5 EC dedicated to academic writing at the master’s level. The GSNS PhD course The Art of Scientific Writing (by Artesc) and the GSLS PhD course Writing a Scientific Paper are also sufficient preparation. If you are unsure whether a previous writing course meets the requirements, or if you have not taken a writing course before but have published at least two first-author papers, please contact coska@uu.nl to discuss your eligibility for the course.

2. You should be fully prepared to begin writing your paper at the start of the course, meaning all experimental results must be finalized before the course begins.
In the first week of the course, you should be able to submit a half-page draft summarizing your research goal, main results, and scientific conclusions. The course will then focus on the Results section (weeks 2-3), the Methods section (week 4), the Introduction (week 5), the Discussion (week 6), and finally the Title and Abstract (week 7). Week 8 is dedicated to finalizing your paper. Make sure you can meet these deadlines. 

3. You should be ready to write a paper using the IMRaD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) structure, or a format that closely follows this structure.
While the IMRaD structure is expected, slight variations are acceptable, such as combining the Results and Discussion sections. However, note that papers with a highly theoretical or mathematical focus may not be suitable for this course. If you are unsure whether your work fits, contact coska@uu.nl for guidance.