By the end of the two-day course the learners will be able to:

• Formulate appropriate report structures in accordance with CSIR best practice and criteria.
• Understand and implement the correct use of data and statistics as justification of discussion and/or premises.
• Understand and effectively use correct scientific method in the construction of a report.
• Avoid all the pitfalls of ineffective empirical justification for findings (e.g. bias, replication and syllogism)
• Construct the most effective premises for the main assertion.
• Construct effective executive summaries.
• Conclude and recommend effectively.
• Write succinct, well structured introductions.
• Develop foci, titles and abstracts for scientific reports.
• Apply the best formats and practices for a professional presentation.
• Review and proofread reports effectively.

Who should attend:

Researchers, Scientists, Team Leaders and Strategists

Our thought leader:

Tony Lydall holds an Advanced Communication Certificate from Toastmasters International (TI), and is a director of the Southern African Toastmasters Leadership Institute. He is also a member of the Association of Skill Development Facilitators of SA. He has received awards from TI: the Southern African Speech Evaluation Champion’s Trophy in 2004, the ICSA Administrators’ Award in 2005 for his work on the audit and finance committees, the Helping Hand Award in 2005, for his work with people with disabilities, and a certificate of Excellence in Education in 2007 for the training programmes he developed and presented.

Course content outline

DAY 1

INITIAL CONSIDERATIONS

·            The scientific method.

·            The criteria for a good scientific report: falsifiability and causality.

·            Considerations of statistical    significance in advance of the report.

·            Reader profile considerations in advance of the report.

·            Appropriate lengths.

·            Avoiding pitfalls in statistical support, including replication and bias.

·             

DEVELOPMENT OF FOCUS FOR THE TITLE.

·            Questions or hypotheses.

·            Expressing ideas in testable form.

·            Formulating a title and subtitle.

·            Action verbs to use for an effective title.

DEVELOPMENT OF STRUCTURE

·            Brainstorming and categorizing.

·            Establishing premises, sections and flow of the argument.

·            Sequencing of premises based on Cartesian and De Bono models.

·            Mind mapping.