Sharpen Your Skills
Grant Proposal Writing (Pilot project, Fall 2004)
This three-hour course was designed to provide participants with small group discussions and short exercises to improve persuasive writing skills in a grant proposal situation . Week 0 was an orientation where participants introduced themselves, and the instructors suggested tips for getting the most out of this teaching format, gave an overview of the material to be covered and dealt with technical issues with the Elluminate program. Week 1 placed the participants in the role of the reviewer (the reader's perspective).They read and rated anonymous proposal openings. The idea of writing persuasively was introduced. Week 2 focused on paragraph structure and how to help the reader better understand the proposal by writing with clarity. The focal point of Week 3 was clarity at the sentence level and the importance of using active verbs.
The following links will take you to the recorded sessions. If this is the first time you have used Elluminate, the program will automatically download Java WebStart to your computer.
Scientific Writing (Spring, 2005)
This six-hour course covered concepts and methods that promote reader comprehension; such as coherence, precision, and illustration. It offered tools for drafting and, more important, revising the scientific article. Participants brought projects they were currently working on to which they could apply new tools and methods.