Writing convincing research proposals and effective scientific reports. Part B: scientific writing

Abstract

During one of the interactions between the management of the Capacity Strengthening Unit, and the Graduate Fellows of ILRI, the students identified the need for additional training in areas such as experimental design and data analysis, oral and poster presentation, scientific writing and proposal
writing, project management, and leadership training. ILRI also noted that although a large number of theses were produced by the Graduate Fellows, they were not prolific enough in writing scientific papers and journal articles. This module is a response to this request. The training module was primarily intended to assist the Graduate Fellows to write convincing proposals to access the available competitive funds, and also to write and publish the results of their work widely. Once the Graduate Fellows leave ILRI, we also want them to train their own colleagues in the systems they come from. To enable this, the learning module is designed to include learning objectives, handouts (teaching notes) and the PowerPoints used during the presentations for every session. Where relevant, exercises and additional references are also provided. The materials are presented in the form of ‘Reusable Learning Objects’ so that the users can make use of the relevant sections based on the target group and purpose. Although the primary audiences of this module are ILRI Graduate Fellows, the materials can be easily adapted by our national research partners. The users are expected to modify and change the content
to suit their specific context and need. We are planning to update this module periodically to respond to the changing needs and circumstances. Hence, any feedback and constructive comments from the users are very much appreciated.