Chevron Left
Back to Writing in the Sciences

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

4.9
stars
8,927 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

KK

Sep 14, 2020

Hello Kristin

Thank you for teaching me the basics of academic writing and editing with proper grammar. In this course, I was introduced to the scientific panel which further enriched my knowledge.

AA

Jan 11, 2023

The best course I attain in Coursera. I struggled a lot to write my first manuscript and it took a lot of time. This course is beneficial for all scientific students. I highly recommended this course.

Filter by:

201 - 225 of 2,919 Reviews for Writing in the Sciences

By Nam N

•

Oct 2, 2019

I recommend this course to all people who have engaged, or will engage, to write their own thesis. I wish I learned the course before I wrote my works, so it would be easier for me to do a good job. There are a lot of new interesting but surprising things that I realize when entering the course. It specifically impresses me with sections about how to write a manuscript and a personal statement as well as a letter of recommendation and its ethical issue. Thank you very much!

By Vikrant J

•

Aug 26, 2020

Writing has always terrified me, and it's far from being my strength. But this course really made me explore the concepts that I mostly did know already in a more organized and clear way. It also gave me great insights into the publication process which has been a mystery to me. I also loved the inclusion of writing for general audiences, personal statement writing, conducting interviews, and social media bits. I hope I can communicate my findings better in the future now!

By María L G

•

May 19, 2020

Going through the principles of good writing, I have learned different tricks to write more clearly, concisely and faster and, most important, to render a text easy and attractive for those who will read it. In addition, it wasn’t only the online lessons that I found really interesting and helpful but the exercises on writting and peer reviewing we were assesed. Working together with others participants have really contribute to make this course a great experience. THANKS!

By Khadim H C

•

Jun 7, 2018

Happy to complete WRITING IN THE SCIENCES which is my third course on coursera in 2018. I have really enjoyed this course, as it is my passion to write in science. I am so thankful to Dr Kristine Sainani and other professors and mentors associated with this program directly or indirectly. I am also so impressed and thus so thankful to senior professors who got interviewed by Dr Kristine Sainani where we were provided opportunity to get inspired.

Thank you

Khadim Chaudhary

By Diana G R A

•

Jul 26, 2019

As a very beginner writer, with no clue how or where to start, it is really useful and helpful take this course. I have much more confidence now to start writing (pre-writing) my first article. Thank you so much to Stanford University, especially Dr. Kristin Sainani for making the effort and drive this course for world wide scientific population. Also thank to my peers for taking the time to check on my texts. I really enjoyed sharing "virtual classroom" with all of you.

By Reem B

•

Jun 29, 2020

I enjoyed and benefited from this course a lot. For someone still in their preliminary stages of writing in science and looking to be published, this course provided formidable guidance. It also gave me new faith in how scientific writing should be in spite of the quality of what we sometimes see out there. Thank you so much Dr. Kristin, especially for your engaging manner of presenting the content and your belief in upholding ethical standards so essential to science,

By Sruthi R

•

Jun 14, 2020

This course was a wonderful journey through writing! Dr.Kristen has taught us the techniques and intricacies involved in writing professional scientific documents like reviews, research articles, grants and Letter of recommendations. Through step by step teaching and number of examples given, its a golden opportunity to sharpen your writing skills! Thank you Ma'am for the 8 week journey helping us realize the fun of professional writing! I surely recommend this course!

By zhang w

•

Dec 3, 2021

I really introduce this course for all students to learn the science writing, especially the non-native speakers. This course will give you the mind of structure, grammers and good sentences you should use in your writing. I really like the tips for writing and reviewing different parts of your papers like introduction, methods and results or discussion. It is very helpful if you want to publish. By the way, it is also a good way to practice your English listenning.

By amos a t

•

Aug 4, 2020

I can now write faster and better without anxiety. I have learnt the formats of writing a scientific manuscript, peer review, grant writing, ethical issues in scientific publication, and writing for general audiences. I can now present my facts and arguments in a better format without compromising. I believe all this would speed up my career goals and in no time - I would be one of the highly rated women in the animal science field that the world would reckon with.

By Marie B B

•

Apr 13, 2020

A really excellent course. Dr. Sainani explains clearly and without disturbing "clutter" how to write scientific papers, summaries for lay readers, science news articles and more. I wish, I had taken this course in my university days before writing my first science paper - but better late than never. There are a lot of opportunities for "learning by doing" in this course, and I feel it has improved my writing skills.

5 stars: I most definitely recommend this course!!

By Sandra P

•

Aug 24, 2020

This was an excellent course with a talented instructor, Dr. Kristin Sainani! I am able to add many tips to my writing, such as proper use of the semi-colon and the dash--which I rarely used in my writing prior to this course! I enjoyed the session on writing letters of recommendation, as I have been asked to write a few and now I appreciate the added knowledge given by Dr. Sainani. This is a valuable course that I would highly recommend! Thank you so much.

By David E

•

Oct 13, 2020

As someone who grew up in an age where I was supposed to just learn writing by doing this course has been fantastic. It was recommended to me by one of my PhD supervisors and I am going to recommend this course to many of my colleagues.

Dr. Kristin Sainani explains things clearly, confidently and with examples from the scientific literature and science press. The scaffolding of learning material is perfect for learning remotely and I commend the course to you.

By Kaisa K

•

Jul 5, 2018

I greatly enjoyed this course. Even though there were aspects of the course that do not currently directly relate to what I'm doing every day (e.g., grant and proposal writing), there were many good examples of how to improve ANY writing. I generally review <10 manuscripts or clinical reports a year, so I'm only moderately involved in writing. However, this course covered many aspects of how to write better. I have recommended this course to several colleagues.

By Stephanie L

•

Jun 27, 2018

I fully recommend this course for students needing to comprehend, paraphrase or write scientifically! I use the Grammarly tool while writing essays, and it points out my greatest sins are wordiness and using the passive voice, without guiding me on how to improve. Many researchers write in this manner too, and it is hard to understand. This course is amazing as it helps the reader get to the gist of the topic by teaching how to paraphrase to the active voice.

By Bernd N

•

Dec 15, 2020

This course was just perfect for me! I took it while parallely writing my first scientific paper and it helped me a lot. Not only did it explain how to write the paper in clear and appropriate English (my native language is German so this was challenging!), there was so much more useful information such as how to structure the paper and how review processes work. I also enjoyed listening to the lecturer, Dr. Kristin Sainani, a very likeable and smart person.

By Ahmad J

•

May 7, 2024

I really loved this course. It was very interactive and well taught. I loved Dr. Sianani's enthusiasm and the great material (including the interviews) she put together in this course. I would love to be her student :) My favorite lessons were 7.5 and 7.6: I got a lot of useful tips to write my personal statement as I am currently applying for master's programs. One note on lesson 8.6 is it felt a bit outdated but other than that the material was great.

By Long H

•

Nov 2, 2018

I don't know what to say. Thank you Dr. Sainani for your wonderful course. You're an inspiring lecturer. The course covers the whole range of writing in the sciences and provides learners with basic yet essential knowledge on how to write effectively. I've come to realize that the principles of writing are the same regardless of to whom you are writing. I believe my writing will improve greatly in the future, thanks to your clear and concise explanation.

By Learning V

•

Jan 22, 2019

I would like to congratulate and appreciate Dr. Kristine, for such a brilliant course. Wonderful way of addressing the course and it took my attention till end. It contains essential and useful information for all the people who are related to scientific field. I have submitted my thesis recently. I am very confident to do proofreading for my colleagues in a wonderful manner after this course.

Thanks you so much!!!

Best wishes!

Misbah Noreen Yousry Hasan

By Christopher B

•

Jan 24, 2022

This course was excellent. It covers topics that are certain to be relevant to a wide range of science writers. I felt that the instructor explained the theory well, and I found the examples helped me understand how the theory could be applied in practice. Even though I have been writing scientific reports and manuscripts for many years, I am confident that this course will make my writing clearer, more concise, and more enjoyable to read. Thanks!

By Deleted A

•

Apr 12, 2023

This coures delivers much intuitive understaning of scientific writing: how to write, how to organize, and how to deliver science writing for the lay audience. The hardest part of scientific writing is making it as simple as the lay audience can understand and also not failing in the delivery of scientific principles required to understand the writing. It’s like serving two ends. Thanks for the instructors, staffs, and the reviewers in peer-review.

By Amita P

•

Oct 3, 2022

This was one of the best course I have taken in the last few years. Even though I have already turned in my PhD thesis and manuscripts, I wish I had known all of this information when I first started my academic career. I had no idea that scientific writing could be made simple and enjoyable. I'll most certainly let the juniors at my university know about this course. I advise everyone who wants to begin their graduate studies to take this course.

By Devesh D

•

Oct 14, 2021

"Writing in the Sciences" was one of the best courses that I have taken. The instructor is knowledgeable and the perfect person to teach this material. Through this course, I learned about the science of writing well, and the importance of being clear and simple in my writing. I have a learned a lot from this course about effective writing and plan to apply this learning in my future manuscripts. Again - thanks for offering this incredible course!

By 张凯旋

•

Oct 27, 2022

This course is very useful for me. About 2 years ago, I started this course because of the recommenfation of friend. There are many effective skills on writing, which helped me publish my essays on magazine and finish my graduation thesis. Though I got master in engineering from Sichuan University, but I learned from Stanford. So proud of me.I hope this course could be studied by more people from the world, baccuse the knowledge has no borders。

By Josh T

•

Jul 12, 2020

I can't recommend this course highly enough. I recently started a new role as a Science Writer so this course was highly relevant for me. Dr. Kristin Sainani manages to cover a wide range of topics related to scientific writing--from the writing process itself, to drafting a manuscript or grant application, to writing for a lay audience--using clear and interesting examples. I'll be referring to my notes from this course for many years to come.