Course description
Scientific writing is not simply a matter of “writing up” a study. As Robert A. Day emphasises in How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, a scientific paper is a highly structured form of communication. Its purpose is not literary expression, but clear, precise, and efficient reporting of new knowledge.
There are two common ways of approaching manuscript writing: one may begin by writing the full text immediately, or one may first develop the structure of the paper. Most researchers use a combination of the two. This course focuses on the second approach: before drafting the full manuscript, participants will learn to clarify the central message, organise the argument, and build the paper's structure section by section.
During this two-day course, we will work through the main components of a scientific article using the IMRAD structure: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Each day will focus on one major section of the manuscript. In line with Day’s approach, emphasis will be placed on the function of each section: what problem the Introduction should present, what information the Methods must allow others to evaluate or reproduce, how Results should be organised around evidence rather than interpretation, and how the Discussion should explain the meaning, strengths, limitations, and implications of the study.
Examples will be provided throughout the course, but participants will also be encouraged to bring and use literature from their own field and “library”. The aim is not to teach a generic writing formula but to help participants develop a clear, publishable structure for their own scientific article.
The course is designed primarily for the reporting culture of quantitative medical research, including clinical and epidemiological studies. Although laboratory studies and qualitative studies may follow somewhat different conventions, many of the same principles apply: clarity of purpose, logical structure, transparent methods, and disciplined interpretation.
There are three requirements for participation:
You must work on one of your own manuscripts. The research question, objectives, and methods should therefore already be defined in reasonable detail. It is not necessary to have completed all analyses before the course. In fact, structuring the manuscript before finalising the analyses can often improve the paper's clarity.
At the latest, one week before the course, you must read the instructions on Itslearning and complete the obligatory pre-course task.
You must be present from the very beginning of the course.
Intended learning outcomes
At the end of the course, participants are expected to be able to:
- Understand the basic anatomy and function of a scientific article
- Structure a scientific manuscript according to the IMRAD format
- Distinguish clearly between background, methods, results, and interpretation
- Use principles from Robert A. Day’s approach to improve clarity, precision, and readability
- Provide constructive peer review of other participants’ manuscript structures with increased confidence.
Teaching methods
The pedagogical approach is: listen, understand, analyse, and use. The course combines short lectures, workshops, individual manuscript work, and peer review. Participants will receive reasonable individual feedback and assistance from the course leader.
Course fee
The course is free of charge for PhD students enrolled in Universities that have joined the Open market agreement and NorDoc
For other participants there is a course fee of:
DKK 2200
EUR 294