Storytelling Techniques for Scientific Writing

4 November 2022

Dr Diego Gonzalez

Dr Diego Gonzalez, Ambizione Fellowship, Microbiology Lab, University of Neuchâtel

This workshop aims at helping PhD students develop narrative skills to improve the overall structure and style of their scientific articles. It focuses on what we intuitively name the "story" behind a scientific research and explores different ways to tell it to a readership.

In the course of the workshop, students should develop a better understanding of the narrative dimension of scientific article writing, experience the effect of different narrative angles depending on the intended audience, and structure their work to highlight its significance for the scientific community and beyond.

The students will be given a pre-course writing assignment (count 3 to 6 hours), which includes an abstract and several article paragraphs. The workshop alternates theoretical modules, introducing the main concepts and analytic tools, and practical modules, during which the students will evaluate and improve their own texts with an input from other students and from the moderator.

The course discusses, among others, the following topics:

1. Humans as storytelling animals

2. Definitions of a story and specificities of scientific storytelling

3. Sentence-level storytelling techniques

4. Text-level storytelling techniques

5. Structure and flow

6. Audience and significance

7. Storytelling tricks and tips

Since this course is given within the CUSO Doctoral Program in Microbial Sciences, it will focus on examples and constraints specific to the field of microbiology.

Requirements:

Since the practical part of the workshop will be based on the participants' research and results, participants should have at least one article ready for publication or at a fairly advanced stage by the time the workshop takes place.

Program

The workshop is divided into three parts, each of which addresses storytelling at a different level. All three parts include a conceptual introduction and practical work on the texts produced by the students.

Room E326 Unimail

08:45: Registration

 9:00 - 10:30 Structuring a scientific story

• What is a story? - Actors, goals, and actions
• The specificities of scientific storytelling
• Practical work on abstracts.

10:30 - 10:45 Coffee break

10:45 - 12:15 Creating textual flow

• The ideal of classic style
• Ensuring continuity and coherence in a paragraph
• Practical work on individual sentences and paragraphs.

 13h30- 15h00 Choosing an audience and highlighting significance

• All stories are not fit for all audiences
• Singling out the impact of your research

15:00 - 15:15 Coffee break

15:15-16:30 Practical work on titles, significance statements, and editorial policies of scientific journals.

University of Neuchâtel - Unimail

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Assignments

The students are asked to send the following material to [email protected] latest by October 31st, 2022:

· an article title;

· an abstract of maximum 250 words summarizing their research;

· one paragraph (150 to 300 words) of introduction: either a paragraph presenting the topic of the article, or a paragraph introducing the gap of knowledge the article addresses;

· one paragraph (150 to 300 words) of discussion: either a paragraph addressing a limitation in the method or a contradiction in the results, or a paragraph integrating the newly produced knowledge with knowledge accepted in the field;

· one paragraph (150 to 250 words) of a cover letter to the editor highlighting the significance of their research;

· an intended journal and a justification for this choice.

Whenever possible, these texts should pertain to a same article. This material will be used as the starting point for the practical parts of the workshop.

 Location: University of Neuchâtel, Faculty of Science (Unimail). Room E326

Reimbursements for CUSO Microbiologie Students:
- Train ticket, 2°class, half-fare from your institution to the place of the activity.
- NO reimbursement for your meal expenses.

NEW from 2021: Reimbursement of your travel tickets can be asked online through your MyCUSO.
See HERE for the procedure.
For any question concerning reimbursement please contact the coordinators at microbiologie(at)cuso(dot)ch

Registration will open in September

Deadline for registration : 28.10.2022

To cancel your registration, please write to us at microbiologie(at)cuso(dot)ch

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In case of question, please contact us at microbiologie(at)cuso(dot)ch