Guest Post: From the 2016 Intensive Course in Research Writing

[This post is by Dr. Dinesh Fernando, of Sri Lanka, who recently completed the intensive course. Thank you, Dinesh! —Barbara]

I was very fortunate to receive a grant from INASP, Oxford, UK, to attend the 3-week intensive course in research writing conducted by Dr. Barbara Gastel, at Texas A&M University, USA. The course ran from 27 June through 15 July 2016. There were 12 participants, most of whom were from Mexico. There were two of us from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and two graduate students from Texas A&M.

The course, as the name implies, was intensive. Class met every morning from 9:00 to noon. Almost every afternoon or evening, we had to read up on the next day’s topic and draft or revise a particular section of our scientific paper. The draft of each section was discussed with two peers in the group, who contributed valuable suggestions. Thereafter, Dr. Colin Young met individually with us to discuss our draft of this section, which was then revised.

Over the period of the course, the rough diamond that I started with was cut and polished into a publishable paper. The guidance of Dr. Gastel, Dr. Young, and Gina Wadas is gratefully acknowledged. Introduction to, and assistance in the use of, EndNote by Dr. Roberto Tuda is much appreciated. I especially benefitted from the lessons on writing a full paper, making an oral presentation, and preparing a poster. Very valuable tips on making an oral presentation were given by Dr. Weston Porter. In addition, learning about the editorial process was helpful.

As well as publishing more papers in recognised international journals, I hope to share the knowledge gained over the past 3 weeks with colleagues in the faculty of medicine and elsewhere at the University of Peradeniya.

[Note from Barbara: The syllabus and main slides from the 2016 intensive course can be accessed from the AuthorAID Resource Library. Also, information about the 2017 intensive course is now available.]