Rose

Presentation Skills Summer 2023 (PSC23)

*What*: The "theory" portion of the course will cover the basics of scientific presentations, including content and organization, introductions and conclusions, slide design, delivery, and how to prepare for a conference talk. The "practice" portion of the class will give students several chances to practice their presentation skills, get immediate feedback from their peers, and watch themselves on video. *Who*: The course is open to PhD students and postdocs, as well as visitors who will be around for the full length of the course. Typically PhD students take the presentation course once they have been at MPI for at least one semester and they are done with their course requirements. As long as you have made enough research project to give a short presentation on your research, then you are ready for the presentation course! Postdocs are also encouraged to attend. Even postdocs who have previously taken a presentation skills course have told me that they learned a lot in this course. *When*: We will meet once a week for two hours at a time. I am tentatively planning to start the presentation class in late April, but the exact start date will depend on participants' constraints. *Workload*: The main out-of-class workload will be preparing two talks: a short talk (about 8 minutes) and a longer conference-style talk (about 20 minutes). You will prepare the talk, present it in class, revise it to address the feedback you receive, and present it a second time. You will also be expected to write up self-evaluations after each presentation, summarizing the feedback you received and how you addressed it. *Where*: Zoom

English Reading Group

The English Reading Group meets once a week throughout the year to focus on improving general verbal communication skills, pronunciation, and non-technical vocabulary.

Common activities include:

- Reading fiction and non-fiction pieces such as news articles, book chapters, and short stories to discuss in addition to examining vocabulary and language use.
- Grammar topics including phrasal verbs, idioms, and articles (a/ an and the).
- Practice and guidance with difficult pronunciation.
- Non-technical writing practice and editing.
- Other topics of student choice. 

Presentation Skills Summer 2021

*What*: The "theory" portion of the course will cover the basics of scientific presentations, including content and organization, introductions and conclusions, slide design, delivery, and how to prepare for a conference talk. The "practice" portion of the class will give students several chances to practice their presentation skills, get immediate feedback from their peers, and watch themselves on video. *Who*: The course is open to PhD students and postdocs, as well as visitors who will be around for the full length of the course. Typically PhD students take the presentation course once they have been at MPI for at least one semester and they are done with their course requirements. As long as you have made enough research project to give a short presentation on your research, then you are ready for the presentation course! Postdocs are also encouraged to attend. Even postdocs who have previously taken a presentation skills course have told me that they learned a lot in this course. *When*: We will meet once a week for two hours at a time. I am tentatively planning to start the presentation class in late April, but the exact start date will depend on participants' constraints. *Workload*: The main out-of-class workload will be preparing two talks: a short talk (about 8 minutes) and a longer conference-style talk (about 20 minutes). You will prepare the talk, present it in class, revise it to address the feedback you receive, and present it a second time. You will also be expected to write up self-evaluations after each presentation, summarizing the feedback you received and how you addressed it. *Where*: Zoom

Presentation Skills Summer 2022 (PSC22)

*What*: The "theory" portion of the course will cover the basics of scientific presentations, including content and organization, introductions and conclusions, slide design, delivery, and how to prepare for a conference talk. The "practice" portion of the class will give students several chances to practice their presentation skills, get immediate feedback from their peers, and watch themselves on video. *Who*: The course is open to PhD students and postdocs, as well as visitors who will be around for the full length of the course. Typically PhD students take the presentation course once they have been at MPI for at least one semester and they are done with their course requirements. As long as you have made enough research project to give a short presentation on your research, then you are ready for the presentation course! Postdocs are also encouraged to attend. Even postdocs who have previously taken a presentation skills course have told me that they learned a lot in this course. *When*: We will meet once a week for two hours at a time. I am tentatively planning to start the presentation class in late April, but the exact start date will depend on participants' constraints. *Workload*: The main out-of-class workload will be preparing two talks: a short talk (about 8 minutes) and a longer conference-style talk (about 20 minutes). You will prepare the talk, present it in class, revise it to address the feedback you receive, and present it a second time. You will also be expected to write up self-evaluations after each presentation, summarizing the feedback you received and how you addressed it. *Where*: Zoom

Scientific Writing 2018/19

This course will cover both the writing process and the writing product. You will learn writing principles that will you help you to create text that is coherent, cohesive, and clear. A primary goal of this course is to teach you how to "escape" your own expertise in order to identify the parts of your text that will cause a reader difficulties. 

The course format will vary from week-to-week, and will include a mix of mini-lectures, exercises, one-on-one feedback, and group discussions of part of a paper (usually written by a course participant but sometimes selected from the literature). In order to get the most out of the class, participants will be expected to do substantial out-of-class writing (about one to two hours per week). The precise content of the course will be tailored to the course participants.

Prerequisites

This course is intended for PhD students and postdocs in Computer Science. For PhD students, I typically prefer that students have already taken my course on how to give scientific presentations. I do make exceptions, but students need to demonstrate that they already have basic competence at communicating scientific ideas verbally.


Scientific Writing 2020/21

This course will cover both the writing process and the writing product. You will learn writing principles that will you help you to create text that is coherent, cohesive, and clear. A primary goal of this course is to teach you how to "escape" your own expertise in order to identify the parts of your text that will cause a reader difficulties. 

The course format will vary from week-to-week, and will include a mix of mini-lectures, exercises, one-on-one feedback, and group discussions of part of a paper (usually written by a course participant but sometimes selected from the literature). In order to get the most out of the class, participants will be expected to do substantial out-of-class writing (about one to two hours per week). The precise content of the course will be tailored to the course participants.

Prerequisites

This course is intended for PhD students and postdocs in Computer Science. For PhD students, I typically prefer that students have already taken my course on how to give scientific presentations. I do make exceptions, but students need to demonstrate that they already have basic competence at communicating scientific ideas verbally.


Scientific Writing 2021/22

This course will cover both the writing process and the writing product. You will learn writing principles that will you help you to create text that is coherent, cohesive, and clear. A primary goal of this course is to teach you how to "escape" your own expertise in order to identify the parts of your text that will cause a reader difficulties. 

The course format will vary from week-to-week, and will include a mix of mini-lectures, exercises, one-on-one feedback, and group discussions of part of a paper (usually written by a course participant but sometimes selected from the literature). In order to get the most out of the class, participants will be expected to do substantial out-of-class writing (about one to two hours per week). The precise content of the course will be tailored to the course participants.

Prerequisites

This course is intended for PhD students and postdocs in Computer Science. For PhD students, I typically prefer that students have already taken my course on how to give scientific presentations. I do make exceptions, but students need to demonstrate that they already have basic competence at communicating scientific ideas verbally.


Scientific Writing Winter 2022/23

This course will cover both the writing process and the writing product. You will learn writing principles that will you help you to create text that is coherent, cohesive, and clear. A primary goal of this course is to teach you how to "escape" your own expertise in order to identify the parts of your text that will cause a reader difficulties. 

The course format will vary from week-to-week, and will include a mix of mini-lectures, exercises, one-on-one feedback, and group discussions of part of a paper (usually written by a course participant but sometimes selected from the literature). In order to get the most out of the class, participants will be expected to do substantial out-of-class writing (about one to two hours per week). The precise content of the course will be tailored to the course participants.

Prerequisites

This course is intended for PhD students and postdocs in Computer Science. For PhD students, I typically prefer that students have already taken my course on how to give scientific presentations. I do make exceptions, but students need to demonstrate that they already have basic competence at communicating scientific ideas verbally.


Writing effective emails (2021 tutorial)

What: In this tutorial we will discuss how to write effective emails. I'll explain the differences between formal and informal emails in English (including openings, closings, and common polite expressions) and provide many examples of well-written and poorly written emails. We'll cover the most common mistakes that both native- and non-native speakers make when writing emails, and give feedback to course participants on sample emails that they have selected for critique. When: This will be a two-part tutorial most likely taking place sometime in April or early May. Each meeting will last two hours. In the first meeting we will focus on high-level issues including formality, etiquette, organization, and structure. In the second meeting we will cover low-level English expressions and grammar errors that come up often in emails. You may attend both of the meetings or just one. Who: All institute members are welcome to attend, including both scientific and non-scientific staff. Where: Zoom