Soft-Skills seminars for the year 2010

The seminars are shown in reverse order of time.

November 3, 2010

 

Scientific Writing

Kerstin Kathy Meyer-Ross

When students are confronted with having to write a scientific paper, be it their thesis or later a piece of work for a journal or conference, they are often insecure as to what would be the best way to do this. Profound knowledge about the rules that are relevant for scientific writing can help prevent many mistakes and promote the project’s success.

This module consists of a detailed lecture, as well as practical exercises. The following issues are dealt with: how to adjust your work to a specific target group (audience), general structure of a paper with detailed explanations as to the purpose of each element and its realisation, i.e. the title, abstract, keywords, introduction, related works, body of the paper, the style, fonts and layout, results, discussion, conclusion, acknowledgements, and tables.

The last part of the lecture deals with the process of publishing a paper: rules for submitting a manuscript, dealing with the reviewers’ comments etc.

 

 

 

November 4, 2010

 

Job Applications

Kerstin Kathy Meyer-Ross

This module is tailor-made for the needs of students, providing them with a large amount of information, as well as practical training in the field of job application. The talk starts with issues like self-assessment and sources of information about orientation and career planning then moves on to the actual application process. The students are told about the best practice of application for an employment, including some less known details that enhance chances of success. The essential elements of a written application, such as the CV and cover letter, are discussed in detail as regards their layout and content, and also with consideration of variants in other countries (e.g. the United States). Next is a piece of advice on job interviews: the usual structure of the interview, general rules and hints concerning conduct, appearance and body language, and a sample assessment centre is introduced.

 A suitable real ad and matching CV and cover letter brought by the students are then used for realistic role-play sessions in which the participants go through job interviews and an assessment centre. Students are expected to dress up for the occasion. Everyone assumes at least once the role of interviewer and interviewee respectively, allowing the students to change perspectives. The role-plays are followed by specific suggestions for improvement and discussion.

Here is the related presentation.

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