[EMSTU] Scientific writing
Section outline
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Objectives
This course provides practical training in writing scientific papers (in English) and submitting them to international peer-reviewed journals. The aim is to provide practical tools for producing a coherent, well-structured, illustrated and documented text. The course will be accompanied by practical exercises and computer sessions. The course is taught in English.
Prerequisites
This course is specifically designed for PhD students in the natural sciences (EMSTU, MIPTIS and SSBCV graduate schools) who are writing or about to write their first article. We do NOT recommend this course for PhD students in the humanities (S&L and SSTED graduate schools) as some of their criteria for writing a good article are not the same.
Contents
This course will address different aspects of scientific writing:
- The basics of writing a good scientific document: preparing and structuring a document, the criteria for good scientific writing, etc.
- The different types of documents and what to pay attention to: article, thesis manuscript, funding proposal, etc.
- A brief reminder about typography, styles, layout, etc. Differences between French and English (emphasis will be placed on English).
- Literature search and how to organise references. Examples will be given with Zotero and LaTeX.
- Ethical aspects (fraud, conflicts of interest, funding, etc.) and predatory publishers. How to use AI.
- Open science and open publishing.
- The choice of the journal and what to pay attention to.
- The submission process, including revision and refereeing.
Instructors
Jean-Louis ROUET (UFR Sciences & Techniques)Pascale SOLON (University Library)Thierry DUDOK de WIT (OSUC).Evaluation
The validation of this course is based on attendance + validation of a practical exercise in which a mini-article will be written and then submitted and evaluated anonymously.All sessions will be held in room P122 on the first floor of the Physics-Chemistry building, which is located right next to the tram stop "Université - Parc Floral".Schedule in 2026
- Monday 19 January : 10:15-12:15
- Monday 19 January : 13:30-15:30
- Monday 26 January : 10:15-12:15
- Monday 26 January : 13:30-15:30
- Monday 2 February : 10:15-12:15
- Monday 2 February : 13:30-15:30
- Monday 9 February : 10:15-12:15
- Monday 9 February : 13:30-15:30
- Monday 16 February : 10:15-12:15
- Monday 8 June : 13:30-15:30
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Useful links - writing
- Passport for Open Science ouverte: A pratical guide for PhD Students
- English language guide for authors [https://www.aanda.org/images/stories/author/EnglishGuide.pdf] while written for authors for Astronomy and Astrophysics, this excellent guide applies to other disciplines
- Madison Wisconsin Writing Lab for Scientific Reports, including suggestions for each of the six parts of a paper (or scientific report). [https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/assignments/sciencereport/]
- A list of common errors and advice by a professor of English at Washington State University, Paul Brians. [https://brians.wsu.edu/]
- Guide to Grammar and Writing is a resource by Capital Community College in Hartford Connecticut [http://www.guidetogrammar.org/grammar/index.htm]
- The alarming rise of predatory conferences [https://eos.org/opinions/the-alarming-rise-of-predatory-conferences]
- Article by F. Crameri on the proper use of colour in scientific articles [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19160-7]
- Webinar on how to write a research paper (one hour, by Ken Carlslaw) :
Useful links - submitting
- Two articles on the growing problem with predatory journals [https://eos.org/opinions/avoiding-predators-in-publishing] and with predatory conferences [https://eos.org/opinions/the-alarming-rise-of-predatory-conferences]
- Online tool for determining whether a journal is a predatory one [https://app.lib.uliege.be/compass-to-publish/]
- Why open science matters [https://www.ouvrirlascience.fr/home/]
- I publish - what are my rights ? [https://www.ouvrirlascience.fr/je-publie-quels-sont-mes-droits/] (in French)
- ORCID [https://orcid.org/]
- Forum on ethical issues in publication [https://publicationethics.org/]
- Article submission check list [https://celene.univ-orleans.fr/pluginfile.php/116447/course/section/30578/checklist_en.pdf?time=1679407968845]
Useful links - reviewing
- 10 tips for reviewing an article : [https://www.elsevier.com/connect/10-tips-for-reviewing-scientific-manuscripts-and-5-red-flags]
- How to review an article [https://dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/advice-how-to-review-a-manuscript-for-a-journal/]
Useful links - accessing articles
- Plugin to find the free version of an article if it exists (Firefox/Chrome) : [http://unpaywall.org]
- One of the best (and non-commercial) search engines is the Bielefeld Academic Search Engine. This link [https://www-base-search-net.ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/] uses a proxy to ease download from the library at the Universit of Orléans. The main portal is [https://www.base-search.net/]
- Two (commercial) alternatives to Google Scholar : Scinapse [https://www.scinapse.io/] and Carrot2 [https://search.carrot2.org/#/search/web]
- Zotero to collect and organise citations [https://www.zotero.org/]
- Tutorial to refer to if you have questions after our Zotero sessions [https://research.library.gsu.edu/zotero]
- Tips from the Monash University Library on citing and referencing [https://guides.lib.monash.edu/citing-referencing]
Useful books
- Andrew Johnson and John Sumpter, How to be a better scientist, Routledge, 2020. (addresses all aspects of the professional life of a PhD student, with a short chapter too on scientific writing. Highly recommended) [available at the BU Sciences]
- Stephen Heard, The scientist's guide to writing : how to write more easily and effectively throughout your scientific career, Princeton University Press, 2016 [available at the BU Sciences]
- Charles-François Boudouresque, Manuel de rédaction et de communication scientifiques et techniques, Presses de l'Université de Provence, 2017
- Michel Bruneau et Catherine Potel, Présenter un rapport scientifique à l'écrit, à l'oral : conseils pratiques: l'art de la formule expliqué aux scientifiques, Cépaduès éditions, 2018 [available at the BU Sciences]
- Eric Lichtfouse, Rédiger pour être publié ! Conseils pratiques pour les scientifiques, Springer Verlag, 2012 [available at the BU Sciences]
- David Lindsay, Guide de rédaction scientifique : l'hypothèse, clé de voûte de l'article scientifique , Eyrolles, Paris, 2011 [available at the BU Sciences]
- Robert Day, How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, Cambridge University Press, 2012
LaTeX
- Nicola L. C. Talbot, Using LaTeX to Write a PhD Thesis, [https://www.dickimaw-books.com/latex/thesis/]
- Submit your thesis at the university of Orléans (useful links, LaTeX templates) [https://www.univ-orleans.fr/fr/scd/la-recherche/deposer-sa-these]
- Repository of LaTeX templates [http://www.latextemplates.com/]
- LaTeX templates for theses in English [http://uk.tug.org/training/thesis/]. There are many on GitHub and in online repositories of collaborative editors, such as [https://www.sharelatex.com/templates/thesis/] and [https://www.overleaf.com/gallery/tagged/thesis]
- The Not so short introduction to LaTeX [https://tobi.oetiker.ch/lshort/lshort.pdf]
- The main webpage of LaTeX [https://www.latex-project.org/]
- LaTeX distribution for Macintosh (TeXshop) [https://pages.uoregon.edu/koch/texshop/]
- LaTeX distribution for Windows. There are several, see [https://www.latex-project.org/get/]
- LaTeX distribution for Linux (TeXlive) [https://www.tug.org/texlive/]
- TeXMaker editor [https://www.xm1math.net/texmaker/]
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Collect 2 or 3 references of each document type indicated below on a subject linked to your doctoral project :
- Book
- Journal article (choose different journals)
- Preprint articles
- Book chapter (from different books ; the chapter's author is different from the book editor)
- PhD thesis (from different sources)
Edit the bibliography including all references twice using two of the following citation styles and paste them in a text editor :
- APA
- IEEE
- Vancouver (numeric or author-date)Submit the PDF containing your bibliographies by February 11.