This course consists of a plenary and a student-specific part. The plenary part consists of lectures with short writing assignments. It will cover guidelines on how to prepare, structure and write scientific articles. In addition, advice will be given on how to write reviews, letters of motivation, and grant/project proposals. The student-specific part of the course will consist of individual feedback on a writing sample: usually part of the student’s MSc thesis (but note that the thesis supervisor is responsible for the scientific content of the thesis; this course is concerned with writing skills only, and the final thesis will be evaluated separately). Writing samples will be reviewed by the other students following the course and by one of the teachers. Students will revise their sample on the basis of these reviews. They will then send in the rewritten sample with a “letter to the editor” explaining how they have dealt with the issues raised by their reviewers and then receive written feedback from the lecturers on all components of their assignments. The course will be graded as pass/fail. Note that this course is for second-year master students.