• VePub Press
Cost: 
This workshop, as with all Mitacs Step workshops, is free for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. However, the preauthorization of a valid credit card is required as part of the registration process. A $50 penalty will be applied to all late cancellations (cancellations that are not made 5 days or more before the workshop date), no shows, or incomplete attendance. These penalties are only charged after the completion of a workshop and no charges are ever made to interns who participate in full.

Description:

Make an impact with your scientific and technical writing skills! This two day, hands-on workshop is aimed at those with scientific and technical backgrounds. From structure and grammar to impact – get on-site expert feedback, a chance to work on a current, future, or past piece of your writing, and get exposure to many samples of writing, from atrocious to outstanding.

Workshop Objective:

To increase participant awareness and application of tools and exercises available to them to better present their research and knowledge in written form.

Learning Outcomes:

Through participating and completing this workshop, participants will:

  • Broaden their perspective on the importance of the writing process
  • Learn to analyze their audience and plan the writing process accordingly
  • Be able to identify all aspects of technical reports
  • Learn effective editing techniques
  • Understand how to use graphics to make an impact and support an argument

Key Topic Areas:

Overall writing process

  • common pitfalls, dealing with procrastination, staying motivated
  • the importance of the writing process (inventing, drafting, editing, and revising)
  • audience analysis, understanding purpose, tone, and genres
  • effectively organizing documents and using standard forms (i.e., theses, journal papers, poster presentation, other reports)
  • persuasive and informative writing
  • aspects of technical reports (i.e., abstracts, introductions, results, and conclusions)