5 ECTS credits
125 u studietijd
Aanbieding 1 met studiegidsnummer 4018805DNR voor alle studenten in het 1e en 2e semester met een inleidend master niveau.
This course aims at teaching MSc Students and PhD Researchers how to find and select essential scientific information to make a scientific presentation (e.g. preparation of research proposal, writing of an assignment, report or thesis, thesis findings to be presented in an international conference), under which form to present methods and results (text, tabulation, illustration and their content and layout) and how to defend them assertively. It also introduces common standards and practices and explains why it is important to follow them in Sciences. A huge chapter is spent to writing and layout skills and to plagiarism. This course also prepares you for stay within academia (academic career) or for the challenges young graduates face on the employment market (non-academic career).
The course targets first year or second year Master students from the disciplines of Biology, Bio-Engineering, Geography and Environmental Sciences and Management. However, being very generic, the course is open to all other science domains within the Faculty of Sciences and is highly recommended for students wondering what 'writing a thesis' means, what an 'academic career' is, or what to focus un if they intend to pursue a non-academic career. Ideally you follow the course in the first year (because the content will serve you for many other courses), but you validate it officially in the second year (because the evaluation is linked to your second year's thesis).
Table of contents :
1.Scientific proposals:
•Rationale / Background / Problem situation / Context of the subject
•Literature review (source types, Boolean and proximity operators)
•Use of the Internet (what can we trust out there ?)
•Research objectives (disambiguation of purpose, aim, goal, scope, objective, target and ambition)
•Scientific questions and hypotheses
•A selection of 24 examples of logical fallacies
•What does 'a model' mean and what is 'modelling' ?
•Planning a research strategy and schedule
2. Fieldwork, desk work and analysis in scientific research:
•What precedes my research ?
•Methodology
•Field- and labwork
•Samples and sampling strategies (categories)
•Analysis tools
•Making a deadline
•Back-up your data
3. Writing and layout skills:
•Basic components of a paper, thesis or proposal (in-depth overview per section from the front cover page to the back cover)
•Scientific and biological standards
•How to work and write scientifically (managing your work, scientific standards from different domains, ISO standards for official codes)
•Citation, paraphrasing and plagiarism (rigorous overview with examples, regulations and penalties)
•How to present data and how to present data badly (text and non-text illustrations in written documents and posters)
•Reference systems (Copyrights, Creative Commons, Plagiarism-detection software)
4. Scientific publication:
•Extracting a manuscript from a thesis
•The peer-review process (from what precedes writing of a paper to its final publication)
•Selecting an appropriate scientific journal (incl. Open Access and Open Source)
•Quality indices (common bibliometric measurements for evaluation of journals, researchers and institutes)
•Internet sources for scientific publishing and indexing
•Popular scientific articles
•Talking to the media
5. Pre- and post-research presentation and defence skills:
•Public speaking skills (from waht you say to how you say it))
•Public presentation of data
•Use of didactical material
•Presentation and defence (of proposals, of finished research)
•Q&A
6. Academic currencies:
•The academic career
•Grading systems
•Scientific publications (SLOSS, FIORI,...)
•Conference presentations
•Awards
•Curriculum vitae design for academic and non-academic purposes (how to advertise your skills ?)
•Time management
7. National and international funding:
•Privileged partners
•Conventions
•Networks
•Sources for funding
•Project budgets
Course entirely based on experience and course material available on the Internet. All information will be given in class.
Further reading :
Knisely, K. (2009). A Student Handbook for Writing in Biology. Third Edition. W.H. Freeman and Sinauer Associates. 224 pp.
Please consult the course descriptions on the TROPIMUNDO website for the most completed and updated course descriptions.
Education level: Basic
Ecosystem focus: Methods and tools
Upon finalising this course the student should master presentation skills (designed and spoken) and assertiveness in defending own research results. In addition the student should be fully aware of scientific standards and procedures in the career of a scientist or beyond academia.
De beoordeling bestaat uit volgende opdrachtcategorieën:
Examen Andere bepaalt 100% van het eindcijfer
Binnen de categorie Examen Andere dient men volgende opdrachten af te werken:
Oral and/or written presentation of the thesis, possibly including a scientific defence/rebuttal. This presentation is irrespective of the scientific level or difficulty. The evaluation can be in the form of a scheduled presentation and Q&A session (comparable to an oral presentation at a scientific symposium), in the form of an informal poster presentation with Q&A (comparable to a poster presentation at a scientific symposium), or in the form of assessment of the written thesis (without defence). The exact format will be communicated by the teacher at the start of the academic year and the VUB e-learning platform will enable upload of the thesis as an assignment.
PhD Researchers following this course will be exempted from the exam.
Deze aanbieding maakt deel uit van de volgende studieplannen:
Master of Biology: AR Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Tropical Biodiversity and Ecosystems, start at Brussels (enkel aangeboden in het Engels)
Master of Biology: AR Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Tropical Biodiversity and Ecosystems, start at Paris (enkel aangeboden in het Engels)
Master of Biology: AR Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Tropical Biodiversity and Ecosystems, start at Cayenne (enkel aangeboden in het Engels)