Scientific English courses at NAIST, 2002
'Presentation skills in English' and 'Advanced scientific writing in English'
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During your scientific career, you will often need to communicate the results of your studies to an international audience. English is now the common language for international communications in science. So, if you want to publish your research in international journals, or to give presentations at international conferences, the ability to use 'scientific English' will play an important part in your career development.
I am pleased to invite you to attend these two courses, which will focus separately on spoken and written scientific communication. The courses will be conducted in English. Each course will last for one term, and we will meet once a week. These courses are highly practical in nature: you will use your own research data to produce realistic conference presentations and journal publications. An outline of the content and goals of each course is given below.
Presentation skills in English
Each student will prepare, rehearse, and deliver a 15-minute oral presentation of his or her research. We will look at the special skills that are needed to give an effective talk to an international audience: narrative flow, language formality, clarity of speech, data presentation (quality and quantity), handling of questions, and so on. The presentations themselves will be formal, and recorded, but otherwise this course will be highly interactive - it is, after all, intended to develop your verbal skills...
Advanced scientific writing in English
Each student will write a paper about her or his research for publication in an international journal. Again, we will examine the specialized skills required in scientific writing: structure and function of each section of a manuscript, relation of illustrations to text, scope of the Introduction and Discussion, revision of draft versions, and so on. This course will also be interactive - you will be expected to discuss the general content of your manuscript with your supervisor, and to work in pairs during the writing process in order to encourage peer evaluation and support.
Further information
♪ If you would like to discuss these courses in more detail, please come along to my office (Biosciences C102) or send me an e-mail (ismith@ad.aist-nara.ac.jp)
♪So that class sizes can be kept to a minimum, each course will be offered twice during 2002
♪When you have decided that you would like to take a course, please confirm this by sending me an e-mail not later than Friday 24th May. Please also indicate your current position (e.g. 2nd-year PhD student)
Ian Smith
Visiting Lecturer in Scientific English