Free Intensive Course: Scientific Methodology and Writing for Publication
| In order to be successful, scientists must be able to communicate their findings to their colleagues, scientists in other areas of research, and to people without science training. The ability to prepare and publish good quality manuscripts relatively quickly is a major asset to a scientific career. Of all the potential problems that can cause a scientific manuscript to be rejected for publication, the most common relate to poor experimental design or inappropriate analysis and use of the experimental data. These issues, as well as legal and ethical issues related to research procedures, and the reporting, preparation, and submission of original manuscripts for publication will be addressed. Because racticing scientists will often be asked to objectively review other scientist’s manuscripts for publication, practical and ethical issues relating to serving as a reviewer of other researchers’ manuscripts for publication will also be addressed.These lectures will be based on 50 years of research and publishing experience of Prof. Errol Zeiger, and are designed to familiarize students and more established scientists with the concepts and approaches to designing and interpreting scientific experiments, and the writing, organizing, submitting, and reviewing of scientific manuscripts. The information that will be presented in this course, and the exercises, will help the participants improve the design, analysis, and presentation of their research, which will then help the quality and acceptance rate of their publications. The course will consist of lectures and short, practical writing and reviewing exercises. |
Prof. Errol Zeiger
(see Curriculum here Zeiger-cv-June-2015)
|
The course will be in English (with no simultaneous
translation) and will occur at the School
of Technology (Room PA07) located in the Campus
I/UNICAMP Limeira during Oct
26th-30th and Nov 2nd-6th. This will be a
30h-course with 2h-lectures per day and short, practical writing and
reviewing exercises plus 1h of self-study per day.
Schedule
| Day/time |
Topic(s) |
| Oct 26th 12:30-2:30pm Monday |
– Introduction to the course – who am I? – why the information in this course is important – the scientific career – public perception of scientists and scientific research – the scientific method – hypothesis testing vs. data mining – the roles and responsibilities of the scientist |
| Oct 27th 12:30-2:30pm Tuesday |
Experimental design and interpretation – requirements for a good experiment – research collaborations – experiment design – controls – replication of results – decision criteria |
| Oct 28th 8:00-12:00am WednesdayHolliday but we will have class |
Experimental design and interpretation (continued) – data interpretation issues – the role and use of statistics – reporting results Laboratory recordkeeping – laboratory notebooks – good laboratory practices (GLPs) – potential legal issues |
| Oct 29th 12:30-2:30pm Thursday |
Ethical issues – objective testing of the hypothesis – animal research issues – human research issues – data evaluation criteria – the use (and misuse) of statistics Research misconduct – data falsification – selective recording of data |
| Oct 30th 12:30-2:30pm Friday |
Case studies Student discussions – experiment design and research issues – scientific misconduct issues -other issues |
| Nov 2nd |
Holliday – no class |
| Nov 3rd 12:30-2:30pm Tuesday |
The scientific publication process – why publish? – types of scientific publications and their implications – role of the Editor – responsibilities of the authors – early view of accepted/in press manuscripts – the current state of publishing electronic publishing open access Preparing a publication – purpose of the publication – form of the publication – the parts of the manuscript and their purposes – authorship issues – selection of data to include – ethical issues scientific misconduct plagiarism double publication conflicts of interest |
| Nov 4th 12:30-2:30pm Wednesday |
Preparing a publication (continued) – submitting the manuscript – the on-line submission process – corresponding authorship – post-acceptance requirement Peer review – Receiving the peer review the author’s options responding to the reviewers what to do and what not to do – Serving as a peer reviewer the purpose of the review qualifications confidentiality form of the review correspondence with the Editor |
| Nov 5th 12:30-2:30pm Thursday |
Student exercises Questions and discussions |
| Nov 6th 9:00-11:00 am Friday |
Questions and discussions (continued) Summary of the course Available resources – literature search sites – test guideline sites – animal use guidelines – human research guidelines – research misconduct – good laboratory practices – other |
Financial Support:
International Relations Office –
UNICAMP
Intensive Course 2015 Program
For more information:
Prof. Vitor R. Coluci (Organizer)
vitor@ft.unicamp.br
(19) 2113 3416