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