• Rhetorical and linguistic analysis of the main parts of scientific articles: introduction, methods, results, discussion, title and summary (abstract).

• Drafts of these main parts for one's own future publication.

• Peer review of other course participants' texts.

• Short written assignments (e.g. project proposal or other type of text linked to research career).

• Academic English: Word choice, grammar, sentence structure and stylistic register.

After passing the course, the student should be able to:

• identify good scientific style and text structure

• recognize and use rhetoric characteristic of academic writing in one's own research domain

• express oneself clearly, correctly and precisely in written English

• adapt content, text structure and word choice according to purpose and audience

• critically review one's own and others'scientific texts give and take constructive criticism on, e.g., audience adaptation, text structure, content, sentence structure, and stylistic register, as well as apply criticism in the revision of one's own texts.

The course consists of 10 class meetings of 3 hours. A major part of each meeting is devoted to group discussions and group work, for which you are expected to prepare by reading the course literature and studying the structure and language of texts in your own field. The discussions focus on, among other things:

• how papers in your own field are written. To explore useful expressions, students will use a self-compiled corpus of texts.
• possible solutions to tasks on e.g. sentence and paragraph structure. 
• feedback on drafts of a paper underway.

The course also contains Canvas quizzes (self-study) on grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary.

It is important that students have come so far in their doctoral education that they have results to write about. The course is unsuitable for students in their first term of studies

An important part of Writing Scientific Articles is the peer review of your own work. For this to run smoothly, it is important that you have an article underway during the course. If you are at the beginning of your doctoral studies and won’t be writing an article this term, please get in touch with us.

Course book (required):

Swales, John. M., and Christine B. Feak (2012) Academic Writing for Graduate Students, 3rd ed. Ann Arbor: Michigan.

Additional readings and tasks are made available on Canvas.

Recommended literature:

The KTH Guide to Scientific Writing, compiled by the course teachers

Hofmann, Angelika H. (2020) Scientific Writing and Communication. Papers, Proposals, and Presentations, 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

Caplan, Nigel A. (2019) Grammar Choices for Graduate and Professional Writers, 2nd ed. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Glasman-Deal, Hilary (2020) Science Research Writing for Native and Non-native Speakers of English. 2nd ed. London: World Scientific Publishing Ltd.

AntConc, found here: https://www.laurenceanthony.net/software/antconc/

A pdf-txt file converter of your choice

Students at KTH with a permanent disability can get support during studies from Funka:

Funka - compensatory support for students with disabilities

P, F

• INL1 - Written assignment, 5.0 credits, Grading scale: P, F

Based on recommendation from KTH’s coordinator for disabilities, the examiner will decide how to adapt an examination for students with documented disability.

The examiner may apply another examination format when re-examining individual students.

Requirements for passing the course

During the course:

• Completion of assigned tasks for preparation, and active participation in at least 75% of the course meetings
• Completion of peer reviews in small groups and brief reports from these sessions
• Completion of a written assignment, Mobility Grant Proposal, in three versions

After the course: 

• Individual tutorial with the teacher on a full research paper of your own, at any point in the coming few years
• A short written commentary on your article and your writing process

You are responsible for contacting the teacher or course convenor when you have a finished manuscript and are ready to book an appointment for the final tutorial. 

• Attendance at 75% of course meetings

• All written assignments passed.

• A completed research article of good rhetorical and linguistic quality, as well as a supervision session with a teacher to discuss the article.

75% attendance is required to pass the course. Students who miss one or more classes have the opportunity to take the class on another day of the week, or in a coming semester.

Students will be given their 5 credits within a couple of weeks of their final tutorial, provided all requirements have been fulfilled.

• All members of a group are responsible for the group's work.
• In any assessment, every student shall honestly disclose any help received and sources used.
• In an oral assessment, every student shall be able to present and answer questions about the entire assignment and solution.

Grammar and punctuation quizzes

As of autumn 2021, grammar, punctuation, and word choice tasks will be increasingly made available as quizzes on Canvas. You are strongly recommended to work with these quizzes as self-study and make sure you score at least 80% on each quiz. You have multiple attempts on each quiz.

Moving the more basic language tasks to Quizzes will free up class time for interesting discussions on grammar and punctuation choices and how grammar and punctuation can be used to change the meaning of a sentence. Also, most KTH doctoral students have an advanced level of English when they come to the course, which reduces the need for bringing up e.g. subject-verb agreement and prepositions in class.

Example texts and course material

In the coming few years,we are aiming to update the course with more recent, authentic examples from various KTH disciplines.