Course "Mindful Academic Writing for Postdocs"
Date(s): February 26, 2024 (+ follow-up sessions from 1 to 2 p.m. on Mar 11, Mar 25, Apr 8, Apr 22)
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Platform: Zoom
Target group: GEOMAR Postdocs and Associated Researchers
Participants: max. 20
Trainer: Ana Pineda ('I focus and I write')
Registration: The course is fully booked. If you are interested, please contact pact@geomar.de and we will put you on the waiting list.
About the course
Mindful Scientific Writing is one of the signature courses of I focus and write. The overall goal is that by the end of the course, the postdocs will have a draft of their paper. But also, a strategy to write all their future articles. The course covers 3 main components: writing strategies and fundaments, time management and productivity, mindset and behavioral aspects of writing.
The course is tailored to the needs of the participants and takes into account that all participants already have experience in writing, with an extra insight on high-impact publishing. The course is design for IMPLEMENTATION. The objective is that you will write during the 8 weeks that the course lasts, and for that the participants should have
- Results analyzed for 1 (or more) papers. It’s normal that more analysis may be done during the writing, but 80 % of the data should be ready.
- Time to write. As an estimate, to write a paper in 8 weeks from scratch, you’d need to spend around 20 hours a week writing. However, this is an estimate. The time you need to write a first draft varies a lot depending on your writing experience, the complexity of the article, and the amount of text you already have.
The format
The course has different components designed to help the postdocs to write that manuscript:
1) Content: The full curriculum as detailed below, is hosted in an online platform where the participants will have lifetime access. The videos are around 10 min. and designed in a way that the participants will implement what they learn while writing their article. For further learning, workbooks and extra resources are also provided.
2) Slack channel for questions and interaction in-between our calls
3) Peer feedback. You’ll choose a partner to give and receive constructive feedback following every other week, applying what you’re learning in the course.
4) Live calls in Zoom: We’ll have a total of 5 calls that will be recorded in case someone needs to miss one, and distributed in the following way:
a) The first day we’ll do a 3.5 hour workshop (with breaks in between) to help you start with your writing. During this workshop we’ll share some of the common struggles when it comes to writing, and Ana Pineda will share the strategies around time management and the writing process that have been most successful with former participants.
b) The other 4 days, we’ll have a 1-hour call approx. where we discuss any questions the participants have as they advance in the online materials and in their writing. We will also do “live editing” of short pieces of text that the participants will send (e.g. abstract, last paragraph of the introduction…). Ana Pineda also shares about topics that are more related writing an opinion/review type of article on the style of high impact journals (Nature, Trends…).
The content
The program of the online material is organized into 4 modules, with a main focus of writing an experimental paper:
Module 1: Welcome / Starting to write / The last paragraph of the Intro/ Writing style / The rest of the Intro/ How to manage several papers in parallel
Module 2: Selecting the journal / References / Open Science/ Writing the title / Writing the Abstract / Productivity / Writing the Materials and Methods
Module 3: Editing and revising / Making Figures and Tables / Scientific Integrity / Writing the results
Module 4: Mental blocks / Strategy to write Discussion / Discussion sections / Writing with others / Your writing system
During the live classes, we'll also cover curriculum about the following topics around publishing opinion - type of papers for high impact journals:
Class 1: The introduction for the wider audience of these journals
Class 2: The 3-keyword framework and finding the timeliness, relevance, and novelty
Class 3: Story telling in academic writing
Class 4: Extra elements in a high impact papers
About Ana Pineda
In “I focus and write” I help scientists to have a more creative, productive, and happier academic life. To do that, I use a mindful approach (that is not spiritual) to overcome common mental and especially emotional struggles that scientists have, while they are getting things done. In my programs, I combine more than 15 years of my research experience, with the experience working as editor for top-tier journals, and with 4 years supporting scientists in “I focus and write”.