How to write a paper and talk about science

A highly interactive and practical course to learn firsthand how to write a scientific article and techniques for oral presentations

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CIVIS focus area
Health
Open to
  • Bachelor's
  • Master's
  • PhD candidates/ students
Field of studies
  • Medicine and Health
Type
  • Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP)
Course dates
7 April - 4 July 2025

This course offers a unique insight into the writing process and emphasises what to include in each section of the paper, as well as the publication process. The teachers will share their expert insight into scientific writing skills to create each part of a manuscript ready for publication. Techniques for oral presentations in conference format will also be practiced.

Highly interactive and practical

Every workshop is delivered by teachers/ scientists, so to offer students first-hand insight into the writing process. The participants will have the chance to interact one-on-one with teachers and create their own manuscripts & talks. Lectures will be interspersed with practical exercises, group discussions, and Q&A with the teachers, in order to put the learned content into practice and promote active learning. 

Main topics addressed

  1.  Writing Scientific papers
  2. Preparing Scientific oral presentations

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, the students will be able to:  

  • write and format a research paper section by section, including basic analyses,   develop figures, discuss and interpret results;
  • perform all the steps for paper submission;
  • design a research project;
  • create a scientific poster and give an oral presentation;
  • describe academic honesty and authorship attribution and accountability; 
  • conduct an international search of relevant scientific literature and create an annotated bibliography.   

Moreover, the BIP will strongly contribute to the students' internalization and networking capabilities, boostering the educational opportunities within the CIVIS alliance framework. 

Dates: 7 April - 4 July 2025 Total workload: 79 hours
Format: Blended ECTS: 3*
Location: Madrid, Spain Language: English (B2)
Contact: mariajose.calzada@uam.es  

*Recognition of ECTS depends on your home university.

Physical mobility

The physical mobility part will take place between 30 June - 4 July 2025, in Madrid - Spain and will cover the following topics:

  • Approaches for effective presentation of results 
  • Writing practices for the different sections of a scientific article (work in pairs, groups and individually)
  • Peer review of the sections worked on in class (work in pairs)
  • Speaking practices (group work) 
  • Individual oral presentation in class

Virtual part

The virtual part will run from 7 April to 27 June 2025. It will be taught during 10 theoretical sessions and a final tutorial. Classes will be held on Friday mornings (1:30h-2 hours long), covering the following topics:  

  • Criteria for attribution of authorship in a research paper 
  • How to do a bibliographic search and organize a library using reference management software  
  • How to write the different parts of an original research article  
  • How to organize a poster or a short presentation 
  • The importance of dissemination to a non-specialized audience  
  • How to deal with the submission process  
  • How to write the cover and a rebuttal letter
  • How to design and write a research project
  • Important ethical issues in research 
  • Open education resources

Requirements

This course is open to Bachelor's, Master's and PhD's students in Biomedical sciences at CIVIS member universities, (Medicine, Biochemistry, Biology).

Also, the participants should have:

  • excellent English skills (B2),
  • critical thinking,
  • the ability of assessing and interpretation of research findings;
  • the ability of data analysis;
  • scientific writing and speaking skills;
  • the ability to describe academic honesty and authorship attribution and accountability. 

NB: Visiting Students - Erasmus Funding Eligibility

To be eligible for your selected CIVIS programme, you must be a fully enrolled student at your CIVIS home university at the time you will be undertaking the programme. Click here to learn more about the eligibility criteria.

This course is also open to students with the same academic profile, who are enrolled at a CIVIS strategic partner university in Africa. Please check here, if you can apply and this particular course is open to applications from your university. Successful applicants will receive an Erasmus+ grant covering travel and subsistence costs during their stay. Applicants should be willing to extend their stay at the host university for 1-3 weeks for additional research and/or training purposes. 

Application process

Send your application by filling in the online application form by 31 October 2024, including:

  • CV
  • Motivation letter

  • Level of english (According to CEFR)

The main evaluation criteria will take into account:

  • educational level: PhD student, Master's student or Bachelor's, prioritized in this order;
  • student's motivation to take the course;
  • language proficiency (minimum CEFR B2 required).

Apply now

Assessment

Student´s evaluation will rely on a set of tasks guided by tutors in both the classroom and online modules.  

Online module evaluation (60%):   

The assessment of the trainees on the virtual modules will comprise three elements: 

  • participation and assistance during the tutoring process in class (20%)  
  • performance on activities and results on homework and classwork (60%)  
  • multiple-choice tests off class (20%).   

Physical mobility evaluation (40%): 

  • participation and assistance during the tutoring process in class (30%)  
  • performance on activities and classwork, and a brief oral presentation of the research conducted during writing assignments.  Students will be asked to prepare in advance a short (5 min) powerpoint or Genial.ly presentation for a topic of their choice and will receive constructive feedback from both from their peers and the professors (70%). 

*As a blended learning approach, virtual and face-to-face components are both integral parts of the course. However, they can also stand alone, and participants have the flexibility to engage only in the virtual module or in both virtual plus face-to-face components. Each part module will be evaluated separately. 

Blended Intensive Programme

This CIVIS course is a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP): a new format of Erasmus+ mobility which combines online teaching with a short trip to another campus to learn alongside students and professors across Europe. Click here to learn more about CIVIS BIPs.

GDPR Consent

The CIVIS alliance and its member universities will treat the information you provide with respect. Please refer to our privacy policy for more information on our privacy practices. By applying to this course you agree that we may process your information in accordance with these terms.

The lecturers on this course have an international reputation with extensive research experience in different fields of biomedicine, have led research projects and contributed to a large number of scientific publications:

  • María Calzada and Gemma Dominguez - Scientific communication and innovative teaching approaches;
  • Daniela Cucu has developed and taught a course in scientific writing since 2004;
  • Esteban Gurzov teaches Basics of Preclinical Research and the CIVIS BIP Program, both including grant writing and project developing;
  • Riadh Benmansour - development of scientific writing courses for undergraduate and graduate students; innovative learning tools and Open Educational Resources.