AuthorAID News

Greetings from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where I’m facilitating an AuthorAID workshop on proposal writing.

Just as I was about to board the plane, I received e-mail stating that the new recipients of AuthorAID workshop grants had been confirmed. I’m pleased to introduce the 4 recipients:

• Mr. Kul Prasad Limbu (Lecturer, Tribhuvan University, Biratnagar, Nepal), for a workshop to instruct master’s degree students in the biological sciences on preparing research …

Hello again. Recently I learned of some articles that can help researchers communicate with policymakers and the public. I’m now featuring these articles as our Resource of the Week.

These articles are from SciDev.Net—the Science and Development Network. SciDev.Net describes itself as “a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to providing reliable and authoritative information about science and technology for the developing …

To aid understanding, consider not using double negatives in the same sentence. For example, instead of writing "Our results were not unlike previous findings," write "Our results resembled previous findings." (Note: Similarly, in the first sentence of this tip, "consider avoiding double negatives" would have been clearer than "consider not using double negatives.")

Greetings again. I hope that May has started well for you.

I just returned from Lahore, Pakistan. I was there, along with Sioux Cumming from INASP, on behalf of AuthorAID.

First we participated in the IADSR International Conference 2012. This conference was titled “Fundamentals of Conducting & Reporting Research: Biological, Pharmaceutical, Medical & Dental Sciences”. It was organized by the

Hello again. A few days ago, at a workshop that I gave in Pakistan, someone mentioned seeking a checklist to use in evaluating poster presentations.

Some Internet searching led me to a website that includes links to checklists for this purpose. The site, which is titled Creating Effective Poster Presentations, also contains other guidance.

The links are in the

AuthorAID and the International Foundation for Science (IFS) are going to hold a 5-day joint workshop on scientific writing in Nairobi, Kenya, from 28 May to 1 June 2012. The purpose of the workshop is for early career scientists to build their capabilities in scientific writing. The workshop is intended for early career scientists dealing with various areas related to biological and water resources …

Greetings again. I hope you’re doing well.

A few days ago, one of my graduate students told me about a conversation with her friend. Her friend had recently heard about Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières), an international organization that delivers medical aid in many countries.

“I wish I could volunteer to do something like that,” the friend said. “But I’m a …

Some journals ask authors to provide keywords for their articles. When you think of possible keywords, try to use them in literature searches. If they yield articles with content similar to yours, they probably are good choices.

Proofreading is a useful step in the writing process. To avoid distraction while proofreading, ensure you are in a quiet place.

If others have provided help with your paper but do not qualify as authors, thank them in the acknowledgments. However, before doing so, obtain their permission.