Module P0 - Scientific Skills

Coordinator

Prof. Dr. Christoph Biskup

Lecturers

Biomolecular Photonics Group: Prof. Dr. Christoph Biskup, Dr. Birgit Hoffmann

Content

Working in science does not only require knowledge, but also various scientific skills. This module aims at giving you some useful skills necessary to survive in science. Topics of this module include:

What do we know? Some theory of knowledge
True facts or fake news? Which information can you trust? How to search for reliable scientific information.
All about scientific writing: How to write of scientific texts. How to write a master's thesis. How to use features of word processors for writing scientific texts
Bringing your science to the public: How to present scientific information. How to defend a master's thesis
Good scientific practice
Some soft skills
Writing job applications

Lectures / Seminars

Lectures / seminars take place on Tuesdays (starting from October 28th) at 10.15 a.m in the seminar room Kollegiengasse.

Preliminary time table and overview of the seminar's topics

Week	Lecturer	Subject and content	Links
1 Tuesday 28.10.2025 10.15 a.m.	Biskup	Seminar Epistemology - The theory of knowledge What do we know? What is knowledge?	See the download page for a copy of the lecture slides
2 Tuesday 25.11.2025 10.15 a.m.	Biskup	Seminar Finding scientific information Which information can we trust? Structure of a good scientific paper How to find/identify a "good" journal Predatory journals	See the download page for a copy of the lecture slides
3 Tuesday 02.12.2025 10.15 a.m.	Biskup	Seminar Literature search Library databases Search engines Biomedical databases Chemical databases Using AI in literature research	See the download page for a copy of the lecture slides
4 Tuesday 09.12.2025 10.15 a.m.	Biskup	Seminar Scientific writing I Structure of a scientific paper (Cont.) Literature search (Cont.) Brainstorming Using features of MS Word for writing scientific texts Please, bring a computer to the lecture with MS Word (preferably MS Word 365) installed on it. Note: Students of the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena can obtain a licence of Microsoft Office 365 (including MS Word) free of charge for the duration of their studies. Please, follow this link for detailed instructions about how to obtain the license.	See the download page for a copy of the lecture slides
5 Tuesday 16.12.2025 10.15 a.m.	Hoffmann	Seminar Creative writing techniques Project planning Self motivation	See the download page for a copy of the lecture slides
6 Tuesday 06.01.2026 10.15 a.m.	Biskup	Seminar Scientific writing II Using features of MS Word for writing scientific texts (Cont) Please, bring a computer to the lecture with MS Word (preferably MS Word 365) installed on it.
7 Tuesday 13.01.2026 10.15 a.m.	Biskup	Seminar Scientific writing III How to handle references Introduction into reference managers (Endnote, Citavi, Zotero) Please, bring a computer to the lecture with MS Word (preferably MS Word 365) installed on it.
8 Tuesday 20.01.2026 10.15 a.m.	Biskup	Seminar Bringing your science to the public How to present scientific data Using PowerPoint to present your work	See the download page for a copy of the lecture slides
9 Tuesday 27.01.2026 10.15 a.m.	Biskup	Seminar Good scientific practice Rules for good scientific practice Lab protocol files, data management Authorship Scientific misconduct Getting help	See the download page for a copy of the lecture slides
10 Tuesday 03.02.2026 10.15 a.m.	Hoffmann	Seminar Scientific writing using AI tools Overview, examples and pitfalls Ethical and legal issues Please, bring a computer to the lecture.