Academic Writing
Since 2012, I have been teaching academic writing, first in a master program, and then at PhD level.
In 2024, my book on 'Academic Writing - a practical approach to communicate about your science ' should come out. It is a self guided manual to make scientists practise with real examples and make them understand structure, flow and style, and how to process scientific articles.
If you are interested in lectures on academic writing at your institution, don't hesitate to contact me at pgaclaeys (a) comillas.edu . The course is tailor made to the needs of your audience, and involves a lot of practical exercises for participants.
One of my main interests is in how language can be used to shape ideas and convince others, not just in economics, but in all scientific and policy fields. Language - even scientific one - is a tool that scientists need to communicate, both to their peers, but also the public. Scientists should be aware of the ways bad language use can turn against them, not just in terms of publications or grants, but also endanger their influence in the public debate.
The objective of my courses on academic writing is:
to bring scientists - starting or veteran ones - up to date with text structures
to teach how to use dynamic structure to improve text flow, highlighting
to teach how scientific readers expect key information to be on key places in a paper, and guide them
how to structure the writing process so as to support the main argument, and speed up the writing and review
how to use elements of style to increase readibility.
The course is not - even if it does include a part on it - just about the use of English, or some tips & tricks to apply in all cases. It is really about formulating the research, and conveying its content.