Research writing MOOCs

Who is this course for?

The course is designed for researchers in developing countries working in the social sciences. It is particularly suitable for early career researchers, or those with limited experience in publishing papers in reputable peer-reviewed journals.

There is no cost to participate in this course. It is offered as an open online course by INASP.

Why join this course?

• Improve your knowledge and skills in research writing via one of the few online courses tailored for social science researchers
• Share your learning journey and make new research connections with hundreds of researchers from around the world via interactive discussion forums
• Receive expert advice from an international team of experienced guest facilitators
• Learn with instructional materials designed for Southern researchers and grounded in a neutral point of view

What did previous participants say about the content in this course?

• "I learnt a lot more about writing for the social sciences. At the moment there are very few people to guide us in this matter so this was helpful. The material provided is useful and can be referred to [following course completion]."
• "The discussion activities helped to reduce my inhibition about publication. Noticing similar experiences among others I have now realized what needs to be done."
• "I really liked the contents of each lesson and the inclusion of real examples from published papers. Even though I had taken other courses on research publication, this has been my favourite and the most useful one."
• "The mini quizzes and reflection-type questions tested my knowledge and helped me focus on important concepts."

What will you learn?

On completion of this course, you will have developed or improved your skills in:

• Using appropriate pathways to access published research literature
• Describing the key issues in research and publication ethics
• Using quantitative and qualitative data in the social sciences
• Identifying suitable target journals for publishing their research
• Drafting a research manuscript by following journal guidelines
• Dealing with the peer review process

Length of the course

7 weeks

Topics covered

• Unit 1 / Week 1: Embarking on a research project
• Unit 2 / Week 2: Doing and reporting research ethically
• Unit 3 / Week 3: Developing an evidence base for your research
• Unit 4 / Week 4: Preparing to write your research paper
• Unit 5 / Week 5: Writing your research paper
• Unit 6 / Week 6: Publishing your paper in a peer-reviewed journal

The seventh week is for wrap-up activities.

Expected time commitment

5 hours per week

Learning resources and activities

Text-based learning resources with mini quizzes; activity to share reflections on each unit; writing activities including peer assessment; discussion forums with facilitator support; end-of-course quiz.

Note:

• This is a largely asynchronous course: you can study in your own time and engage on the forums whenever you'd like to. Unless you are notified about live video sessions, please assume that there will not be any such events.
• There will be firm deadlines for the writing activities. You will be notified about the deadlines well in advance.

What support you can expect

We usually have a team of guest facilitators who will respond to questions on the course forums. Our guest facilitators may not be able to respond to every single question, but most participants in our previous courses have reported high satisfaction with the responses they received on the forums from not only the facilitators but also their fellow course participants.

When the course begins, limited technical support will be available on the “technical support” forum in the course. Unfortunately we will not be able to respond to individual email requests for support before or during the course.

What feedback you can expect

There will be two writing activities that include peer assessment. To take part in these activities, you should submit your work and assess a few of your course colleagues’ submissions that are allocated to you. At the end of these activities, you can expect to see feedback on your work from your course colleagues. Please note that you will not get feedback on your work from the guest facilitators.

Completion criteria

Basic completion criteria: Going through the learning resources, writing and sharing your reflections on each unit, and attaining a passing score in the end-of-course quiz. If you complete the writing activities as well, you will receive a "Merit" grade.

You will receive a certificate from INASP if you meet the course completion criteria. The certificate will contain a code that can be used to verify its authenticity.

Internet and device requirements

To make the most of this course, you should ideally have reliable access to the internet for the duration of the course. The course materials are not particularly heavy as they are text based (videos are given optional resources), so the course will not consume a significant amount of internet data.

We recommend a computer for the coursework. You may also use a browser on your smartphone to access the course materials, but please note that some elements of the course might not be displayed well on a small screen.

Is there any advice on how to learn online?

This PDF document may be useful to help you prepare to learn online. It also contains answers to frequently asked questions.

Can the learning resources be reused or adapted?

Yes. The learning resources have been developed by INASP and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

You should first be logged in to this site. Create an account for yourself on this site (if you don't have one) or log in with your existing account. Click the 'Log in' link on the top right hand corner to proceed.

After you have logged in with your account, come back to this page, that is, the page you are reading now. Bookmark this page in your browser to come back to it easily. You will see a field to enter an enrolment key. Enter the following key and click 'Enrol me'.

AA-MOOC-2022

Copy the enrolment key carefully and paste it in the enrolment key box, making sure there are no spaces or other characters.

The course will start on 5 July 2022, and if you are interested in the course you should enrol before that date.

Note: If you have been invited to join a special cohort in the course sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), please do not use the above key. Instead, you should enter the special enrolment key given in the RGS invite or webpage.