Course Description 

Francis Crick, who won the Nobel Prize for his co-discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule, famously wrote, “There is no form of prose more difficult to understand and more tedious to read than the average scientific paper.”  The same certainly applies to grant proposals as well.

The focus of this four-week course is on learning techniques that are indispensable for achieving clarity and brevity in scientific writing, both for publication and grant proposals. Starting from the premise that it is the author’s job to make sure the reader doesn’t have to struggle to understand what the author is trying to say, this four-week course covers 1) principles of choosing words carefully, 2) designing well-constructed sentences, 3) building structured paragraphs, and 4) displaying scientific thinking clearly and effectively. There will be some in-class work for each session. The material is cumulative, so participants should attend all four sessions to derive the maximum benefit.

Class dates: July 10, July 17, July 24, and July 31, 2023 from 3:00-4:30 pm Pacific (Monday afternoons)

Instructor: Pamela Derish, M.A. Director, Publications Core, UCSF Department of Surgery (see bio below)

Learning Objectives 

By carefully deconstructing published examples and their own writing, by the end of this course, participants will be able to demonstrate the following:

• How precise word choice can eliminate jargon and ambiguities
• How simple, direct sentences can describe complex science
• How organizing and developing ideas into paragraph form makes scientific writing logical and persuasive
   

What This Course Will and Won't Cover

The course will cover writing techniques that emphasize clarity and brevity. These writing skills cut across all disciplines and skill levels and apply to writing for publication as well as grant proposals. Four areas will be covered: 1) principles of choosing words carefully, 2) designing well-constructed sentences, 3) building structured paragraphs, and 4) displaying scientific thinking clearly and effectively. 

This course will not cover the basic sections of the research paper (See Writing Research Articles from UCSF OCPD for guidance) or the requirements of peer-reviewed journal manuscript preparation. One-on-one editing assistance for writings-in-progress will not be provided. 
 

Eligibility & Requirements 

This course is funded by the UCSF Academic Senate via the Chancellor's Fund.

1. Registration is limited to faculty in all series and at all ranks. Volunteer Professors are included.
2. Participants are expected to attend all four sessions (July 10, 17, 24, and 31). Classes will be recorded and made available to the UCSF community.
3. Participants would ideally be working on writing an abstract, article manuscript, or grant proposal to ensure reinforcement of the skills learned in class.
4. Registrants will be asked to provide sample sentences from their writing-in-progress to help the instructor include relevant examples during the course.
5. To ensure that registrants plan to attend all four meetings and do not hold up a seat for someone on the wait list, registrants will be asked to confirm their planned attendance prior to the first meeting.

Due to the high number of waitlist registrants for this course, a second course was added on Wednesday afternoons of the same weeks for waitlist registrants.

Instructor

Pamela Derish, M.A. Director, Publications Core, UCSF Department of Surgery
Pamela established the Department of Surgery's Scientific Publications Core in 2004. Since scientific writing is often a rate-limiting step in the development of a successful academic career, the Core's approach is to offer a long-term perspective on writing that begins with an intensive course in expository writing with subsequent maintenance via individualized editing for investigators at all levels. Pamela also gives lectures, workshops, and courses on scientific writing for faculty and trainees in the UCSF School of Medicine and School of Nursing. She has given annual workshops as part of the research-capacity building efforts of several initiatives within UCSF's Institute for Global Health Sciences, including the International Traineeships in AIDS Prevention Science Program, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, the UCSF Pandemic Initiative for Equity & Action, and the CDC Health Equity Science Fellowship Program. Since 2012, she has taught a week-long scientific writing course annually for postdocs and faculty in the Institute of Medicine at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Pamela is consulted by other departments and institutions interested in offering similar programs to support their faculty and trainees. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UC Berkeley in 1981and earned her MA in biology from Stony Brook University in 1987.