Guest Post: AuthorAID Workshop on Research Writing Skills and Publication at AAiT

[Note: This post is from Teklemichael T. Wordofa, of the Addis Ababa University Libraries, Ethiopia. Thank you, Tekle!]

A 2-day workshop on research writing skills for technologists, organized by the Addis Ababa Institute of Technology (AAiT) in collaboration with the Addis Ababa University Libraries, was held March 19 and 20. The workshop was attended by about 25 PhD students in engineering, who must publish at least 2 articles in peer reviewed international journals as part of their PhD studies.

Some of the main topics covered at the workshop were approaching a writing project, publishing a paper in a journal, writing various parts of a scientific research paper, ethical issues in scientific writing, and effective use of electronic information resources for research purposes. We used the presentation materials developed for the similar workshop conducted by AuthorAID in November 2011. We also provided a live demo of how to use some of the major electronic databases.

I found the participants very enthusiastic and actively engaged in the discussions and group activities. The response from participants confirms that the workshop was very useful to them and even suggests including such content in the master’s students’ curriculum.

In his opening remarks, Prof. Heiko Schroder, scientific director of AAiT, emphasized the importance and the rigorous work involved in research, which was a nice connection to the very topic of the workshop on research writing.

A group of people, including myself, were involved in facilitating and organizing this workshop. I particularly appreciate Ms. Bezaye Taye, the research coordinator of the Institute; Prof. Chandra Vanshi; Mr. Endawok Abite; and Dr. Getachew Bekele for their excellent presentations and logistical support of the workshop. I also would like to thank Dr. Eva Rose, the managing director of AAiT, for her financial support to organize the workshop.