Topics for essays

Последнее изменение: 23/11/2020 11:33:55

General remarks

1. Each topic can be chosen by several (maximum four) PhD students provided that they work independently of each other.

2. The essay should not be long (maximum 12 pages) and should reflect your own understanding of the issue under discussion.

3. The essay should be written in English.

Deadline and file format

Please send your essay by December 28th, 2019 to m dot v dot volkov at urfu dot ru as an attached pdf file.

Possible topics

Read Goldreich's essay. What do you agree with? What do you disagree with? What is your own understanding of a scientists' social duties (if any)?

The topic has been chosen by: Anindita Mukherjee, Ephraim Bonah Agyekum

  • Working with Springer Nature's online-tutorial for authors and reviewers.

Work through the sections "Writing a journal manuscript", "Submitting to a journal and peer review", "Writing in English". Have you found anything useful? novel? unexpected? Answer the tests that you find at the end of each section. Tell me your results (honestly!). What do you think which of your answers were considered wrong and why?

Read Gian-Carlo Rota's essay. What do you agree with? What do you disagree with? What do you find unexpected? (Observe that some of Rota's advices are intentionally stated in a provocative style.) Could you state, from the summit of your present-day experience, 10 advices to a beginner which you wish you had been told?

The topic has been chosen by: Kangha Leyinda, Hosseny Wessam, James Okrah

  • An overview of Jean-Luc Lebrun's book "Scientific Writing 2.0: A Reader and Writer’s Guide"

Lebrun's book was first published by World Scientific in 2007; the second edition appeared in 2011. The book s written in a clear and vibrant language, contains many examples, exercises and diagrams, and in itself is an excellent example of how to make the presentation of complex material entertaining without sacrificing clarity and rigor. With those who want to choose this topic for an essay, I will share information on how to access Lebrun’s book. You will need to highlight such questions: with what recommendations of Lebrun do you agree? Which seemed to you controversial or inapplicable to publications in your area? did you manage to improve your own article (dissertation, abstract), following the advices in the book?

The topic has been chosen by: Md Rasel Miah

Jean-Luc Lebrun is a professional coach in the field of scientific presentations. His blog "When the scientist presents" has been underway since January 2009 and is intended to complement a book of the same name published by World Scientific. However, the blog can be read independently of the book; it contains lots of interesting materials and is well structured. You will need to highlight several topics that seem most interesting and formulate your opinion about Lebrun's conclusions and recommendations.

Read the lecture. Have you found anything useful? novel? unexpected? Can you add any further character to the list of "badasses" in the lecture? If so, try to formulate the corresponding defensive strategy.

The topic has been chosen by: Dita Puspitasari, Ismaiel Ahmed