To educate the students in the principles and practice of analysing the relevant scientific literature, organizing the results of scientific experimentation and analysis and reporting the information in a format suitable for presentation at conferences and publication in the scientific literature as well as in reports, theses etc.

Objectives and characteristics of scientific reporting. Standard practices in presentation of scientific information: introduction, experimental methodology, results, analysis, discussion, and conclusions. Review and critical analysis of the relevant scientific literature; searching digital library databases. Organizing and communicating experimental methodology; appropriate levels of detail in reporting of procedures; identifying and describing essential principles of measurements, equipment and procedures used. Presentation of results and conclusions: qualitative and quantitative results. Data presentation; use of graphics including plots, diagrams, schematics, micrographs and pictures. Integration of graphics with text. Accuracy and internal consistency; comparison with relevant literature. Structure of documents such as theses, journal papers, conference abstracts, literature reviews and reports. Standard writing practices, terminology and formatting: titles, table and figure captions, references. Structure of scientific text; sentences and paragraphs; organization, coherence and emphasis. Dealing with numbers, units, symbols, formulas and mathematical English; punctuation, acronyms and formatting. Grammatical issues in scientific writing: parts of speech; simple, compound and complex sentences; coordinate and subordinate clauses; prepositional, participial, gerund and infinitive phrases; appropriate tense.

On completion of this module students will be able to demonstrate the following:Understand how to structure theses, papers and reports. Understand how to review and critically analyse of the relevant scientific literature Discuss standard practices in presentation of scientific information. Implement standard writing practices, terminology and formatting Present results with properly structured sentences, paragraphs, sections and chapters. Understand grammatical issues in scientific writing, including parts of speech, phrases and clauses.

On completion of this module students will be able to demonstrate the following: Critically discuss the relevant scientific literature. Discuss the importance of structure, style, grammar, formatting and punctuation in scientific writing.

On completion of this module students will be able to demonstrate the following: Write a scientific article, thesis or report. Carry out a literature search using digital library databases.

Students will learn via online lectures and tutorials and problem based private study.