Communication Skills

These three workshops will focus on two critical professional skills – written and oral communication. Through a combination of lectures, active learning exercises, and discussions, you will learn how to improve your research presentations: how to communicate your ideas more effectively in a research seminar, and how to take your ideas and data and convert them into a manuscript. As part of the workshop, we will discuss issues of responsible conduct, including topics such as authorship. Participation is open to everyone who has an interest in the topic – including students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty, and staff. For maximum benefit, we encourage you to attend all three of the workshops, but this is not required. The workshops will be taught by Michael J. Zigmond, PhD (Professor of Neurology and Editor-in-Chief of Progress in Neurobiology) and Beth A. Fischer, PhD (Assistant Professor of Family Medicine) from the University of Pittsburgh, USA.


7 December 2009
Session 1: Oral Communication (2 hr)
- Presenting your research effectively
- Using visual aids to convey your results
- Dealing with last minute problems
- Answering questions


9 December 2009
Session 2: Developing the Components of a Research Article (1.5 hr)
- The components of a research article
- Selecting a journal
- Determining authorship
- Common pitfalls in composing a manuscript


10 December 2009
Session 3: The Process of Writing and Submitting a Manuscript for Publication (1.5 hr)
- Advice on the writing process: Outlining, drafting, and editing
- Presenting data in tables and figures
- How manuscripts are evaluated
- Responding to reviewer’s comments