Scientific Writing

This repo contains the materials for IB 514 Scientific Writing, a graduate course in the Department of Integrative Biology at Oregon State University. The course will be taught for the first time in the Spring term of 2026 on Mondays and Wednesdays 12-1:20p, and every Spring term after that.

Official course description

Develops skills and strategies for producing clear, effective scientific manuscripts and professional documents. Covers the full writing process, including writing habits, workflow management, journal selection, and the peer review and publication process. Explores best practices for integrating literature, using reference managers, and adopting alternative writing and word-processing tools. Emphasizes practical, hands-on experience through real-world scientific writing, peer feedback, and collaborative accountability.

Unofficial requirement

Unofficial only because we can’t make it an official prerequisite.

You must be ready to start writing a scientific manuscript the first week of the term. What does “be ready” mean? That’s for you and your advisor(s) to decide. That said, being ready does not mean being 100% done with your analyses or having all your final figures drafted. (A key lesson of the course is that writing can and should start much earlier than that.) However, you do need to be far enough along to know what your paper’s main story arc and primary message will be. (Feel free to contact me if you’re unsure.)

Repository content

The repository's most relevant contents:

• course_info/
  • syllabus
  • assignments
  • rubrics
  • course_ToC - table of contents for all the course slides
  • course_slides - aggregated slide deck containing all course slides
• classes - sub-folders for each course topic (see topic-specific links in the schedule below);
• readings - pdfs of the required and suggested readings;

Schedule

Click on a topic to see the day's plan (incl. required before-class readings and to-do list).

The first 5-10 minutes of every Wednesday will be Accountabilibuddy check-ins.

Week	Day	Date	Topic
1	Mon	3/30	Welcome & Course Overview
	Wed	4/1	Project Proposal Presentations
2	Mon	4/6	Writing Habits
	Wed	4/8	Writing Workflows
3	Mon	4/13	Manuscript Structuring
	Wed	4/15	Exercises & Implementation - Paper Analysis
4	Mon	4/20	Exercises & Implementation - Structuring (outlining / self-analysis) (Mark gone to OIMB)
	Wed	4/22	Exercises & Implementation - Rainbow Paragraphs
5	Mon	4/27	Exercises & Implementation - Unfiltered Flow
	Wed	4/29	Literature Management
6	Mon	5/4	Collaboration & Collaborative Writing
	Wed	5/6	Exercises & Implementation - Reverse Outlining
7	Mon	5/11	Peer Review Process
	Wed	5/13	Exercises & Implementation - Peer Intro Analysis
8	Mon	5/18	Exercises & Implementation - Writing & Revising
	Wed	5/20	Journal Preparation & Submission
9	Mon	5/25	------ No class - Memorial Day ------
	Wed	5/27	Exercises & Implementation - Cover Letters
10	Mon	6/1	Exercises & Implementation - Writing & Revising
	Wed	6/3	Final Report Presentations & Wrap-up
11	Mon	6/7	Manuscripts due!

---

Potential topics, Broken links & Suggestions

If you would like to make suggestions for topics we should cover in the course, create an Issue or add your suggestions and comments to this GoogleDoc. If you find a broken link or typo, please create an Issue to let me know where it is! Please also create an Issue to leave feedback, pose questions, or suggest new or alternative materials (e.g., new publications) to include.

---