Qualifizierungsportal der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

The lingua franca of science today is English and thus the advancement of an academic career often involves submitting papers in English.This workshop is aimed at up-and-coming academics who are in the process of writing or intend to hand in papers for conferences and publication.

Putting ideas on paper in English may seem more straight forward than it actually is but success is not solely a matter of good translation skills. There are profound stylistic differences when presenting ideas in English, particularly in written form.

Many Germans find that reading papers by English native speakers is often easier despite the language obstacle. We will be looking closely at the reasons for this. It is certainly not a case of clarity at the expense of content. And then there is the issue of the choice of words beyond immediate terminology. In order to expound the importance of cultural style we shall be studying a number of texts from the academic world and elsewhere. We shall also be looking at formal requirements which differ slightly from those in German and will also be reviewing abstracts to pave the way for future acceptance.

Participants are encouraged to send in extracts from their own work prior to meeting so that they can be discussed during the workshop.