Good luck with your academic endeavours!!!

Dear all,

First, I must say it was a real pleasure to work with you this term, plus a learning experience too!!! Teaching this course not being a scientist implies trying to understand a little of your science, which is not easy at all, and it sometimes proves impossible!!!

But, as this has been a "joint venture" with great scientists like Lisette, I have had the chance to face this challenge up more prepared, and you too have been of great help. Thank you very much!!

Before finishing, I would like to congratulate you all for the progress made. Some of you have really impressed me and Lisette too. Clearly, learning how to communicate science in written and oral English is a long and never ending process (sorry to be so candid-honest). But the ones who are systematic and work hard learn fast. This is key to making progress. So, if you join Dr. Leyton's seminar next term, there will be more chances to keep improving. If you don´t, here go some suggestions:

1. Keep editing and revising what you write (you may decide to keep using this blog if you wanted).

2. Use the dictionaries that are linked to this blog or any other you may deem useful.

3. Try to get together and discuss issues in English (it may seem awkward at the beginning, but it will prove to be useful in the end).

4. Check vocabulary and expressions on the links provided when you have doubts.

5. Listen to talks and podscasts, the radio, etc.

6. Be creative and find your own ways to improve....

Good luck!!

Best wishes,

Claudia

Cover letter drafting, final version, pronunciation, etc.

Dear all,

A few reminders..

First, those of you who didn't write the cover letter draft before deadline (Thursday June, 10), please do now. I will take a look at all cover letters on Monday and will make comments for you to improve them. You may decide to write your final version due for Thursday 17. But I strongly suggest you to write your draft first (and write comments to two other people with suggestions to improve their letters).

Second, 3 or 4 people didn't write their commentary on the issue of creativity, schooling and mental health. The idea was to listen to Sir Ken Robinson's talk (see previous posts), and relate it to the article by the Karolinska Institute's team. Please finish the task (read the three last posts, if needed, to refresh your minds).

Also, here goes a link to a webpage with rules about the pronunciation of regular verbs in the past and other stuff that might be useful. As we normally run short of time, I suggest you to take a look yourselves. Anyway, I will refer to the rules on our next session when we do the pending exercises.

http://esl.about.com/od/beginnerpronunciation/a/past_pronounce.htm

On a different note , next session Juan, Paula, Pablo, Jonathan, Rodrigo and Rocío have to present their reasons why their study should be published. Because of time constraints, people will have 5 minutes each plus 5 minutes for questions. Let me also take advantage of this message to congratulate Edgardo, Leslie, Clarita, Raúl and Carlos for their presentations. I know for many of you this is the first time to present and discuss your research in English. So, despite the fact that there is still a lot of room for improvement, I'm happy to see how well you're doing!.

Finally, I would like to thank Lisette for taking the time to check all the abstracts and provide very insightful and useful comments.

See you next week,

Claudia

Instructions to write first draft cover letter

Dear all,

Here go some suggested instructions to write your cover letter (Pablo and Clarita may decide to make changes after these instructions, but do not delete the previous version, please).

First, remember that it's important to follow the journal's instructions and guidelines. So, the following suggestions are meant to be general enough to be adapted to any editor/journal. Start like this: Dear Dr. xxxx.

1. Introduce the name of the article you are submitting, example: We are submitting "xxxx" to (name of journal) etc.

2. Name the authors and, in a few but catchy words, provide a short but powerful description of the article and its aims.

3. Write a short summary to introduce the significance of the article, its main contributions to the field, including results. AND THE CONCLUSIONS. Use words to hook the reader!!!

4. Refer to publication plans (it's important that you mention that the article has not been submitted for publication elsewhere, and that there is no conflict of interests).

5. Finish your letter using standard formulaic language like "Sincerely," and then include your name, title (PhD student at the ..... including all necessary contact details).

Remember that the editors may only read your cover letter and abstract. If they are happy with them, then you may stand a chance of getting published!!!

Jonahtan has kindly sent a link with examples and recommendations for us to use. Here it goes (Thank you Jonathan!!).

http://www.lwwonline.com/pt/re/lwwonline/coverChecklist

Deadline: Thursday 10 (together with the commentary on the talk and the article about creativity and mental health).

Finally, please remember that we have the second listening quiz on Friday.

Best,

Claudia

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

Dear all,

Here goes a talk related to the article about creativity that we are discussing today.

Please listen to it and write a commentary on your blog. You should make a link between the Örjan's et. al. article and the talk by Sir Ken Robinson.

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity Video on TED.com

Your commentary should be about 250 words, and you are expected to write 2 comments on somebody else's commentary.

Deadline, Thursday June 10.

Enjoy!!

Claudia

Cover letter checklist

Dear all,

Last session we discussed the linguistic and stylistic features of a cover letter for submitting a research article. We analysed the dos and don'ts, i.e. what is acceptable or unacceptable to include in such a letter, both in terms of language use and appropriateness.

As you may have realized, there are cultural issues involved. What may seem normal in Spanish, may be totally inappropriate or rude in English (by the way, remember to bring the exercise about the use of should, may, etc.).

For next session, please remember to bring the speaking activity, the press release and the article by the Karolinska Institute's research team. Also, please write a checklist of the points you consider you should highlight to send a cover letter to XXX journal. Remember that the aim is to get your manuscript accepted and published.

See you on Friday,

Best,

Claudia

Cover letter and more

Dear all,

I hope you enjoyed the weekend and managed to rest.

Our next session will be devoted to discussing the features of well written covering letters. We are going to analyse examples of good and bad letters, or rather what things shouldn´t be/should be included in a letter when you submit your manuscript.

Also, you should bring the grammar exercises that are due for Friday. Could you also think why your manuscript should be accepted by the editors of XXX journal? (Notice the use of should and could in the previous sentences). The idea is that you convince us that your study is worth publishing (this is an informal oral exercise).

Finally, after Dr. Flores's talk, you will be given the marks of both your final abstract and listening quiz.

See you on Friday,
Claudia

Abstract - last version

Dear all,

This is a reminder so that you upload the last version of your abstract before Thursday midnight.

Apart from the suggestions discussed on our last session, I wish to remind you that the abstract outline that we have used is a model abstract, or rather the model of a standard abstract. Having said that, it´s important to point out that the abstract outline may change depending on the journal. That is to say, some journals have specific requirements that you should check before starting to write. But, most importantly, you know "your science" and what your research is or will be about.

Anyway, since this is a task which has a mark, I recommend you to use the model we have discussed so far. Also, please remember to bring all the grammar exercises that we didn´t finish last week.

Finally, remember that we have a listening quiz this Friday. And, we start working on the style and format of a cover letter for submitting a scientific article to a journal.

Best,

Claudia

The Run-on sentence exercise

Dear all,

Just to clarify what you have to do, here goes an example and a definition.

A run-on sentence is a sentence in which two or more independent clauses are written one after another with no punctuation. A comma splice is when two independent clauses are incorrectly joined by a comma without a coordinating conjunction (adapted from Oshima, A & Hogue A. (2006). Writing Academic English. Pearson Longman.)

Example: 1. A newly arrived international student faces several challenges. For example, he or she has to cope with a new culture.

Hope the former is helpful, (also take a look at the following post and check the comments made on your blogs).
See you tomorrow,
Claudia

Suggestions to improve your second draft

Dear all,

First of all, I wish to remind you to bring the grammar exercises due this Friday. The idea is to check them together, so bring them ready.

Additionally, I have read and corrected all the abstracts and have made comments on each person´s blog. Take a look at the suggestions and upload the second corrected version of your draft Thursday at midnight the latest:

See you then,

Claudia

Question samples

Dear all,

As promised here go some sample questions adapted from a version that Dr. Leyton uses in her seminars. Take a look so that you use them after each talk.

How does this compound/protein work?

What does this compound/protein do?

How long did it take you to obtain these results?

How much medium/drug did you use?

Why didn't the first experiment work?

How many researchers were involved in this study?

What do you expect to do next?

Have you tried the same experiment with different proteins?

Hope these examples are helpful.

See you tomorrow,

Claudia

Task 2

Dear all,



I'm happy to see that most of you have managed to create your blog. The first post was an introduction, which most of you have done already. Those of you who haven´t completed the task yet, please catch up. Now, you should improve your introductory post having in mind all the corrections that we discussed on our last session. But, please do NOT delete the original introduction. Also, you should write your first draft of the abstract and upload it the latest on Thursday at 13.00. This is because you´re expected to write 3 comments on somebody else´s draft, so you need some time for that too. The comments are meant for you to express your opinions about what your classmates have written both in terms of content and form.



The first draft of your abstracts should be about 250 words long. I recommend you to follow these guidelines (adapted from Swales, J. and Feak, C. 2009. Abstracts and the Writing of Abstracts. The Michigan Series in English for Academic and Professional Purposes):



1. Write the title and keywords (even if you are not writing the full article now, it would be useful to refer to the title and keywords as reference).



2. Write a clear introduction, one or two sentences, in which you refer to what is known about the topic or field (use the Nature and the perinatology sample abstracts as examples or any other that you may find appropriate). (What do people know about this topic?)

3. Write the purpose of your research (What is your study about?)

4. Describe the methods/materials/procedures/informants etc. (How was your study done?)

5. Results/findings (What was discovered?)


6. Discussion, conclusion, implications and or recommendations (What do the findings mean?).

We will discuss and analyse some of the drafts in class.

Finally, I expect to upload some model questions that can be used as reference to ask the Professors after their talk.

Best,
Claudia

Your blogs

Dear all,

This is to remind you to write your first introductory post the latest at midnight. And, please remember to send me the link to your blog so that I can link it to mine.

See you on Friday,
Claudia

Welcome!!

Dear all,

Welcome to the course. This blog is meant for you to develop different written tasks that will be explained to you each session. The blog will also serve the purpose of recording authentic written samples designed and created by you which will be used for our discussions in class.

The first thing you have to do is create your blog and send the link to me. After that, please write a short introduction including information such as:

* who you are

* what you study and where

* what your research topic/field is

* Why your research is of interest, to whom?

* What your future gols are

* Your expectations of this seminar

* Anything else that you may want to say or share

Deadline to post is Wednesday 21 at midnight.

Enjoy!!

Best,

Claudia