Study Programmes 2015-2016
RAVT3021-1  
Literature and scientific communication
Duration :
14h Th
Number of credits :
Specialised master in plant and animal resource management in tropical environment2
Lecturer :
Sandrina Vandenput
Language(s) of instruction :
French language
Organisation and examination :
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Course contents :
Being information literate (on the identification of the needs for to the good use of relevant information) and having a thorough knowledge of the basic principles of scientific communication are indispensable in a process of competence improvement.
The course aims to (i) render postgraduate master students autonomous in their information search (literacy research methodology, selection of relevant data, and critical appraisal) and (ii) enable them to master scientific communication principles.
Learning outcomes of the course :
At the end of the training, students will be able to:
  • carry out information search in an autonomous way (formulation of the request, choice and use of the appropriate search tools, access to primary documents),
  • select relevant data through the analysis of information,
  • apprehend scientific communication: process and stakes of scientific publishing, principles of scientific writing and oral scientific communication,
  • synthesize and organize the information obtained ; understand and apply the rules of citations and bibliographical references in scientific writing.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills :
There are no prerequisites for this course. However, the habit of using computers and a minimum knowledge of scientific English are pluses.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
The theoretical course (12 hours) is organized in such a way that everybody can participate actively.
Practical training consists of compulsory online exercises progressively made available during the year. These will be completed by an in-class Q&A feedback session at the end of the training. 
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
In-class course. See « Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods » section.
Recommended or required readings :
The course notes (Power Point slideshows of the theoretical course) are available on MyULg.
The reference books mentioned in the course notes are available in the Life Sciences library.
Assessment methods and criteria :
The assessment of the course is based on a written paper that is defended orally by the student (in January). The topic of the assignment is chosen freely (though related with the Specialized Master's dissertation) but a template is imposed for the examination.
The purposes of the assignment are essentially to assess the student's ability to:
  • define a search strategy by using appropriate keywords, defining ans setting limits in accordance with appropriate search tools,
  • select the most relevant documents to answer the question on the basis of objective criteria,
  • find information like the impact factor of a journal or the abbreviation of its title according to international list,
  • make references within a text and bibliographical references at the end of a paper following the instructions to authors of a given journal.
Work placement(s) :
Organizational remarks :
Contacts :
Sandrine Vandenput, DVM, PhD
Life Sciences Library Email : S.Vandenput@ulg.ac.be
Please always use your ULg email address when sending emails and mention the course code (RAVT3021) in the email object field.
Items online :
the textbook : Lire et écrire la littérature scientifique
Pochet B., 2012. Lire et écrire la littérature scientifique. Gembloux : Presses agronomiques de Gembloux (2014 electronic version)