Scientific & Academic Writing Certification — Foundation

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1. Module 1

   F1

   1 lesson

   1. Locked.Genre, venue and the shape of a research paperLocked

      On completion you will be able to

      • By the end, the learner can:
      • Name the principal article types and state what each is for. [R]
      • Explain IMRaD as a claim–support structure rather than a template. [R]
      • Extract the binding constraints from a target venue's author instructions before drafting. [A]
      • Identify, for a given study design, which reporting guideline applies, by locating it in the EQUATOR Network library rather than from memory. [A]

2. Module 2

   F2

   1 lesson

   1. Locked.The introduction as argumentLocked

      On completion you will be able to

      • Distinguish an abstract from an introduction on audience, tense, presence of findings, and standalone-ness. [R]
      • Write an introduction that moves from established context to a specific unresolved problem, to the consequence of leaving it unresolved, to the present work's response — and stops. [C]
      • Distinguish a gap from a problem and build on the latter. [An]
      • Select a defensible novelty claim from a graded set. [E]

3. Module 3

   F3

   1 lesson

   1. Locked.Methods as a reproducibility instrumentLocked

      On completion you will be able to

      • State the obligation a methods section owes to a future reader rather than to a reviewer. [R]
      • Draft a methods section from which a competent reader in the field could repeat the work or evaluate whether it was done well. [C]
      • Identify, in a published methods section, the omissions that make the work irreproducible. [An]

4. Module 4

   F4

   1 lesson

   1. Locked.Results and discussion: observation and inferenceLocked

      On completion you will be able to

      • Report results without interpreting them, and interpret them without re-reporting them. [C]
      • Locate, in a supplied results section, every sentence that crosses into inference. [An]
      • Structure a discussion that opens with the answer, relates it to prior work, states limitations a critical reader would raise, and concludes proportionately. [C]
      • Write a null result in language that does not overstate it. [A]

5. Module 5

   F5

   1 lesson

   1. Locked.Title, abstract and the summaries other people readLocked

      On completion you will be able to

      • Write a title that states the finding or the question, carries searchable terms, names the design where the venue expects it, and survives being read out of context. [C]
      • Write an unstructured abstract containing background, what was done, what was found with numbers, and what follows, within a word limit. [C]
      • Write a structured abstract to prescribed headings without losing the argument. [C]
      • Distinguish a plain-language summary from a regulatory lay summary and from an impact statement. [R]
      • Judge whether a graphical abstract states the paper's claim or decorates it. [E]

6. Module 6

   F6

   1 lesson

   1. Locked.Tables, figures and numbers in proseLocked

      On completion you will be able to

      • Decide whether a body of evidence should be a table, a figure or a sentence, and justify it. [E]
      • Write captions that let a table or figure be understood without the body text. [C]
      • Report an effect with its precision, its comparison and its direction. [A]
      • Identify the standard statistical misreports in supplied text. [An]

7. Module 7

   F7

   1 lesson

   1. Locked.Sources, citation practice and text reuseLocked

      On completion you will be able to

      • Cite the primary source of a claim, and cite a secondary source explicitly as such where the primary is genuinely unavailable. [A]
      • Verify that each cited work supports the claim attached to it. [A]
      • Operate a reference manager as a workflow. [A]
      • Distinguish plagiarism, text recycling, and redundant publication, and state the correct remedy for each. [An]

8. Module 8

   F8

   1 lesson

   1. Locked.Authorship, disclosure, AI, and getting the paper outLocked

      On completion you will be able to

      • State the four ICMJE authorship criteria and apply them, conjunctively, to a supplied contributor list. [A]
      • Place a disclosure of generative-AI use in the correct part of a manuscript under the target venue's current policy. [A]
      • Write a cover letter that tells an editor what the paper claims, why it fits the venue, and what declarations accompany it. [C]
      • Read a decision letter and separate the editor's instruction from the reviewers' opinions. [An]