University of Maryland Graduate School

This course will provide a rigorous analysis of scientific writing on the sentence and paragraph level. Students will master basic principles of effective science writing, both through analyzing previously published scientific writing and through applying these principles in their own writing. Students will be developing a short research proposal throughout the course on a topic of their choice. The goal is to practice these principles in their own writing, culminating in a small portfolio of their revised work produced in this class. Frequent instructor feedback will give students numerous opportunities to further hone their writing skills.

This course will provide students with a comprehensive overview of the process of writing for scholarly journals, focusing on the IMRD (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion) format commonly used for empirical work. Students will read and analyze articles from a variety of journals, focusing on both form and content of research articles, case studies, meta-analyses, theoretical articles, and book reviews. Students will apply the course content to their own writing throughout the course, culminating in a portfolio of their revised work based on extensive instructor feedback. Students can use their existing research to produce the various writing assignments during the course and use this as an opportunity to work on submitting an article for publication. 

This introductory course is designed to help students develop basic competencies in the grant application process for a broad range of funding agencies. Students will select a project that needs funding from a pool of already prepared projects. They will then research public and private funding agencies, and evaluate the objectives of these agencies. Students will “package” the potential grantee to highlight past achievements and demonstrate expertise, as well as describe how the proposed project will be executed and the expected outcomes. Students will read and critique examples of effective and flawed grant applications and identify key characteristics of a clear and compelling proposal. Students will prepare writing products for several crucial components of a grant application. They will also be introduced to the technical aspects of grant writing, such as how to communicate through graphics and how to generate and justify a budget. Students will write a complete grant application in this course and will have the basic skills to assist in grant preparation with their peers or workplace organizations.

This course is designed to help students develop basic proficiency in communicating with cross-disciplinary and general audiences. Students will read and critique various styles of writing for the public, including lay summaries, opinion editorials, magazine and newspaper articles, blogs, query letters, and popular science books. They will also be introduced to the business end of publishing, including working with editors and promotion of their work. An emphasis will be placed on learning specific techniques to communicate about research in a clear and engaging manner, as well as how to build a case for why their work matters to those outside their field. In addition, students will learn to identify and avoid common mistakes academic writers make when writing for the public. The course provides students ample opportunities to practice the skills they learn, to seek and incorporate lay person feedback, and to provide feedback to their peers. At the end of the course, students will have created a writing product for a general audience that is ready to submit for publication.