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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Writing in the Sciences by Stanford University

4.9
stars
8,321 ratings

About the Course

This course teaches scientists to become more effective writers, using practical examples and exercises. Topics include: principles of good writing, tricks for writing faster and with less anxiety, the format of a scientific manuscript, peer review, grant writing, ethical issues in scientific publication, and writing for general audiences....

Top reviews

SD

Feb 25, 2020

Respected Dr.kristiani sainani madam and coursera.

I thank you for the wonderful classes and presentations, it really didn't made me feel that i was learning online course but as in class learning.

AL

Jun 3, 2019

This was an amazing course that really helped me with my medical writing skills and understanding how making things clear for all audiences can help in spreading scientific knowledge across the world.

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101 - 125 of 2,766 Reviews for Writing in the Sciences

By Damary D C C

•

Jun 26, 2019

The best

By jonstivers

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Oct 8, 2023

The teaching content of the course is first class, as you would expect from Stanford. However, the quality of some of the text images was poor. Trying to read some of the sample articles that were presented as part of the lecture was difficult and caused eyestrain. Some of the articles were reproduced better than others. This is ironic as part of the course stressed the need for top-quality graphics. In spite of this inconvenience, I highly recommend the course to those who want to improve their writing, especially science or medical writing. The price is right, as well.

By Paresh K

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Jun 2, 2019

Very good course. I have been doing medical writing for past 5 years and I was already good at it. I was looking for a course for my wife and then I came across this one. Still, I took this course and I learned a lot from it.

The course is good at what it gives but it should focus also on how to write the paper as well. The course right now is more focussed on editing part and not about the actual writing.

By R.E. B

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Apr 16, 2019

Very good course, I wish I did it by the time I was doing my Master studies in The Netherlands. It would have been quite useful. The insights I gained here are superior to what I got from the writing labs at Wageningen.

By T

•

Aug 29, 2023

The course is really informative but it has an error in Honors Assignment. Many students have completed it but has not received the Honors Recognition yet, including me.

By M R T

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May 1, 2019

I struggled listening to the lectures, I struggled taking some of the tests as many as 6-8x's, I was upset when the course made me wait a week for it to "start" so I could take some of the tests. I completed the work in 2 weeks, then had to wait for other people to catch up so I could leave feedback. I was also upset to have spent money on this, and felt like I wasn't going to retain any of it. And while that is likely partially true, I then had to help a friend improve their letter of intent for school. We cut 3 pages down to a solid one, removed the fluff and got down to the point. It now reads like a professional letter. I think this course definitely improved my writing.

By Jason M

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May 15, 2019

I decided to give this course 3 stars because the science content was a little overboard for my purposes. I could have benefited more with more examples of how and when to use grammar, style and structure. Instead, I felt like I needed to be a scientist to understand those examples.

By Pam P

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Mar 15, 2022

Best part for me was the first several weeks. I really needed the refreshers on basic and not-so-basic writing principles. The later weeks were less relevant for me - manuscripts, talking to press, etc. Instructor was very skilled and professional. Thank you!

By gehad g

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Dec 8, 2018

i am waiting along time for the peer review to open, then to be reviewed by peers, i am still waiting for a submission to review, despite thet i have finished the course and all quizz for along time.

By Carrie W

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Jun 23, 2023

I took this course as a career development goal following the thought process that it is better for a person to further improve their strengths rather than try to turn a weakness into a strength. Since I have been writing scientific documents and revising and editing scientific documents from colleagues for several years, I was initially hesitant to take this course for fear that I wouldn't learn anything new.

I highly recommend this course, even for scientists with good writing and editing skills. If anything, it serves a succinct, yet comprehensive, review of good writing techniques and grammar tips. I suggest watching all of the optional demo videos in which the professor walks you through her edits. I found these to be the most valuable part of the course. I really enjoyed Weeks 1-6. I have learned and already put into practice many of the concepts the professor shared, specifically cutting the clutter (I can't convey how important this step is--you'll just need to take the course!) and removing clunky nouns by turning them into active verbs.

I found all of the practice exercises extremely helpful and encourage everyone who takes this course to try the practice edit before watching the professor's edit. This is when I learned how to put what I had been taught into a functional exercise, and I think it was this step of forcing myself to do the edit first before watching her suggestions that I truly made the connections of how to write, revise, and edit more easily and with better word choices.

One suggestion for future students--please take the time to really evaluate your peers' assignments. I spent at least 5 minutes on each review that I did making sure to point out what the student did well and where they could improve, based on the specific writing and grammar tips of that module. In turn, I received reviews that couldn't have taken more than 15 or 30 seconds to write and did not explain what I did well and specifically what I could improve on. It was disheartening to put so much effort into my peer reviews to receive basically no review at all.

By Talia E

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Oct 25, 2021

This course was extremely compelling. It made me look forward to writing! The material was presented in such an engaging way, even your voice was lively and drew me in to listening! It gave me confidence that I am in the right direction with the habits I have adopted as an early writer, such as organizing materials and investing more time in pre-writing. I loved the specific and personal examples, like how you began writing- I could picture your office with papers all over the place :) Every tip along the way was another tool in my writing basket. Learning how to write from a writers perspective but also from readers/editors perspective was great! After every module I felt that I learned so much and thought "what else could she possibly cover?", and then came another module just as interesting and important as the last! This course was so very thorough and is a MUST for students interested in scientific writing. This is a course I would love to do again just to always keep me on my toes. I will definitely refer back to the modules as I begin a career in professional scientific writing as a doctorate candidate. Thank you .

By Addis K

•

Nov 19, 2023

Dear Stanford University and Coursera, I wanted to take a moment to express my deepest gratitude for the opportunity to attend the Writing in the Sciences course and earn a certificate through your platform. The knowledge and skills I gained from this course have been invaluable to me, and I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to learn from such esteemed professors and experts in the field. The convenience and flexibility of being able to access the course materials and lectures online through Coursera made it possible for me to pursue this educational opportunity while balancing other responsibilities. I am truly thankful for the resources and support that Stanford University and Coursera have provided to make this learning experience possible. I am confident that the certificate I have earned will greatly benefit my personal and professional development. Thank you again for this incredible opportunity. I am deeply appreciative of your commitment to providing high-quality education to learners around the world. Sincerely, Addisu Hailu

By Juliana

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Nov 9, 2023

"This course stands out as a real game-changer. Dr. Kristin's teaching is top-notch—I wish I could have her as a regular professor. If you're a PhD student, this course is an absolute must. I was so impressed that I revisited it after two years to freshen up on what I'd learned. It covers every section of articles (introduction, M&M, results and discussion) and the entire publication process, and even discusses ethical considerations I hadn't previously considered. While the latter part of the course is less relevant to me, I understand its broad applicability for various writers. To truly benefit from this course, dedication and time are key. The hands-on editing exercises and submitting high-quality work truly make all the difference. But let me tell you, the effort is rewarding! I give this a firm 100% recommendation! If you're serious about refining your scientific writing skills, this course is for you.

By Zarima J

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May 10, 2020

This course was for me very useful and special. I have learned a lot and helps a lot for my PhD and career.

I am very grateful to Dr. Kristin Sainani, she is great professor, the way how she explains was very interesting, clear. I took her lessons with a great desire. I have a feeling that Dr. Kristin Sainani has beautiful vocal voice not monotonous and make you feel like in real classroom. She really knows how to motivate students. I didn’t feel that I was taking an online course because it was like real, not boring. Especially her exercises of each section very where very well developed because through exercises I could strength what I had learned. I believe this course is very fruitful, successful and after this course I have great desire to take more courses from COURSERA. Also, I would like to acknowledge for financial aid. Thanks that you are doing world brighter through the knowledge.

Zarima

By Gulya J S

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May 25, 2018

The instructor is very clear and not boring at all. She makes the course really interesting and engaging. I just loved all the knowledge she could pass on throughout the course.

I loved the fact that she taught not only scientific writing, but also writing an essay, reviewing articles - all of which is important in scientific career.

I also loved the presentation about Tweeting and Social Media. Although, i think she went too much into the details, which was not too relevant.

One thing i did not like was a presentation about grant-writing. The instructor made a voice presentation of 22 minutes with a monotonous voice. It was a bit boring and i got distracted because of it. So, i had to listen to her presentation at least two times to understand, which is difficult because i do not have much time.

Overall, great great great course!! Thanks to the main Professor!

By Ulka M

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Nov 8, 2020

Dr. Kristin Sainani has conducted the course on 'Writing in the Sciences' in an excellent manner. She is clear, understandable, makes her point well, gives good tips and presents the lessons well - a very good teacher and presenter - .

The course has been well formulated. I understand a personal interaction is not possible with every student, but I would love to hear Dr. Sainani's comments on me, how my writing panned out, my editorial and lay communication skills etc. I would much appreciate it, if such a 'certificate' is possible.

The help desks have not been really helpful in the sense, they are always showing a 'busy time', day or night. This, kind of hindered in getting some of my queries solved Overall, an enjoyable eight weeks. I look forward to more interesting courses, both from Coursera and in having Dr. Kristin Sainani as an instructor.

By Manuel M

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May 24, 2021

Thorough professional writing course tailored for scientific material, and that expected of it. Course material largely covers a variety of English-writing tips for quality and brevity where possible intended to assist the learner adopt a more concise and pleasant writing style for any future reader to review. With punctuation tips to maximize sometimes disparate information allotted to a single sentence correctly. And other guides inviting a learner into better habits to write for different audiences. Including standards for presentation and layout expected concerning the order of the information presented. And how to best write appropriately for each segment with respect to the intended reader; specialized professionals, academic institutions of similar or different areas, and that same investigative topic interpreted for a general public.

By Paulien v d B

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May 26, 2020

I wish this course was taught in the first year of my bachelor, or even every scientific bachelor - it would certainly make scientific literature more readable. The instructor, Dr. Kristin Sainani, is excellent; she explains every subject clearly, engagingly, and illustrated with examples. You can directly apply what you have learned to your own writing, be it scientific or more personal. The course not only addresses linguistics and the scientific manuscript, but also the writing process itself (with the often overlooked but oh-so precious pre-writing step), peer reviews, and writings beyond the scientific publications. I would highly recommend this course to everyone working in science, but especially to undergraduates; this course will teach you incredible useful writing skills that you probably will not learn during your bachelor.

By Ho H T L

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Apr 17, 2020

I really like this course and I am really appreciated Dr. Kristin Sainani for all your hard work to bring this online course to us. I have learned a lot from the very basic idea of a good writing to a very big picture - how to speak in front of social media. I have never thought of that because I have never been taught as details as what I have learned from this course. Also, this course is divided in different part, which is easy for me to practice the skills and catch up with the gradually expanding topic. I also love the way Dr. Sainani gave presentation, her voice, her intonation. She just made everything just so interesting and clearly to me. Thank you a lot Dr. Sainani. I am going to move to the US and follow my dream to become a pharmacist. I hope to see you in person one day, and I could say thank you to you again :)

By havaoman

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May 15, 2023

I believe everyone - from high school kids to students and NEETs, from youngsters to old people - literally everyone should take this course! Writing is the second most basic and most used skill after speaking, and it's a shame that we aren't taught these skills in-depth in our secondary and tertiary schools. This course has sparked my interest in journalism, statistics, storytelling, data visualization, and even in writing for fellowship grants. Writing had always seemed to me like an exhausting and daunting task, but now I tackle it with enthusiasm and confidence. I've become generally a more confident person after taking this course. I immensely appreciate the time and effort the professors of Stanford University invested to create course and thank you for making this brilliant course free for everyone!

By KJ K K

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Jun 12, 2023

Firs of all, I would like to thank Coursera and Dr. Kristin of Stanford for having given me this cance to learn at this Course. Through all 8 Units, you can learn how to write different types of texts in the Science, specific techniques to focuse on, edit, summarize and so on. The teaching method is highly professional and you can enjoy learninf from rich learning materials including video, PPT, transciptions, examples, demo presentations and so on. As the learning process is phased manner through Unit 1 to 8, you can learn the necessary knowledge and skills step by step. Even now I cannot believe this is a free course despite its quality.

I strongly recommend for anyone who want to improve their writing skills not only in the Science but for writing in any fields.

By Quang-Huy N

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Jul 29, 2021

This is probably the most challenging, energy-consuming, yet intriguing class I have ever taken. Through eight weeks of studying, I've learned how to write in a concise, effective, and engaging way—from choosing words; writing sentences, paragraphs, essays, applying them for academic articles. The first half of this course is very interesting, with lots of examples and exercises to help you improve your writing skills, while the second half gives you the technique of writing compelling academic manuscripts and other types of articles. Certainly, it takes time for me to fully adopt these techniques in honing my writing skill for my future career. But now I am just proud of myself for passing this course (with honor) and achieve the remarkable certification.

By xinyu w

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Jan 11, 2021

Kristin must be an excellent teacher and writer! In this course, she taught me how to write clearly and briefly, with well-organised contents, vivid teaching styles, interesting examples. Needless to say, scientists, especially for the young, are not good at expressing, even though the quality is essential. Given this, kris engaged in logical flow, cutting clutters, rather than grammars and sentence, which requires strong language base. I think I learned how to write happily, without concerning unknown grammars. Only writers know much about writing can give out such useful and interesting contents, kris must be a good writer as well!!!!!!! Highly recommend this course, for those who are in need to learn writing but lack of an English background.

By Reshma S

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Nov 26, 2020

Well, I took this course to see what Stanford had to offer and I must say it was a very insightful course for epidemiologists. We all have an inbuilt nature to think "yeah well, I am an epidemiologist, I can write English". Well this course definitely changed my opinion of how an epidemiologist should write and should not write. They also touch base on how to write articles in lay man's terms. How to handle media exposure about your reserach articles as well as how to grade your peers work and your subordinate's work with appropriate comments. I am very glad to have taken this course and achieved a grade of 90%. I would recommend this to all epidemiologists, experienced or not. Finally I thank Dr.Sainani for her insights and awesome teaching.

By Nagla Z

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Oct 6, 2022

I'd like to thank you all for this amazing course, it has changed my prespective regarding writing as a whole process.

Despite my illness - I'm a lupus patient with all the flares I get - I was able to complete this course at my own pace.

I finally did it, and Iam delighted because my knowledge has improved which will affect my research skills and improve my writing as a future post graduate student.

I started to write differently, my writing got more concised, focused and structered.

Also I started to review and edit my relatives public posts and writings upon their request to give better outcomes to their audiences

I'm looking forward to attend another spectacular course by Stanford University.

Yours Sincerly,

Dr.Nagla Zubeidi