The Society for Ethnobotany

Fostering research and education on the past, present, and future uses of plants by people.

2022 - SEB Course on Writing Research Papers


Joshua Schimel, Writing Science   

The Society for Ethnobotany is offering a course in writing research papers to members who are students or recent graduates. We hope this course will improve your writing skills and allow you to meet your peers in SEB – establishing part of your life-time ethnobotany peer network. The course will meet online using Zoom. Each class period will be one hour long.

Course Schedule: The course will meet once a week for 10 weeks (11 January 2023 to 15 March 2023). There will be two sections with 12 students per section. We are offering sections at 7 a.m. Eastern Time (New York) and 7 p.m. Eastern Time (New York). By offering the course at two times participants in any time zone should be able to enroll.

Cost: The course is free and open only to members of the Society for Ethnobotany.

Text: Students will receive a free pdf copy of “Writing Science” by Joshua Schimel. Students will need to download free ebook software to use the pdf copy. Regular Adobe programs will not allow you to read the book.

Expectations: DO NOT ENROLL FOR THIS COURSE IF YOU CANNOT MAKE THE NECESSARY TIME COMMITMENT. The estimated out-of-class work time will be about 2 to 5 hours per week. The actual amount will vary depending upon the difficulty of the assignment and the student’s level of English language proficiency. Each week there will be a written assignment that will be peer-reviewed by other students. If you apply you should be ready to read, write, and submit your work by Saturday before the next Wednesday. You will be assigned the work of another student and you must complete your review by Monday at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Because other students depend on your participation your attendance is mandatory. You will only be allowed to miss one class period. Most of the class period will be spent discussing student work.

Registration: Apply on or before 10 December 2022 by sending an email to blairorr@ymail.com (note: ymail, not gmail) that includes:

your name:
your email address:
your current country of residence (not your nationality):
your nationality:
your current academic status:

Undergraduate
Graduate
Post-doc
Three or fewer years since graduation

preferred time:

Only 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time
Only 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time preferred, 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time second choice
7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time preferred, 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time second choice

One paragraph on what you hope to achieve in the course and how you plan to meet your goals:

Registration is not based upon the order we receive applications. Class time preference and a balance across Oceania, Asia, Africa, Europe, South America, and North America will be considered. Graduate students will be given preference while considering geographic balance.

Certification: Students who successfully complete the course will receive a Certificate of Completion.

You can find a syllabus here.

Blue Sage 
Blue Sage (Salvia azurea Michx. ex Lam.)

Instructor: Dr. Blair Orr. SEB treasurer. blairorr@ymail.com (Note, ymail, not gmail) (CV Here)
QUESTIONS? CONTACT BLAIR ORR AT blairorr@ymail.com (Note, ymail, not gmail)