Before joining Paper Writing Academy (PWA), I had published an article in a journal with an impact factor of 5.8. However, I was really struggling with the writing process without any specific strategies. After taking PWA, I realised, wow, this course is exactly what I was looking for. It explores all aspects of academic writing in depth and comprehensively, ensuring a thorough understanding and coverage of key concepts, techniques, and strategies essential for success in international academic writing. Now, I am working on my second publication; everything is much clearer, and I am confident in the clarity of my goals, reasonable time management, and concrete writing skills.

The Paper Writing Academy has been super useful to me. When I wrote my paper sections during the course, I always checked the PWA guides and used them to clean up and improve my writing and this is how I have greatly benefited from the course. I have to say your course is super well-structured, very good job.

The Paper Writing Academy has greatly assisted me in making progress with my current paper. Gunther provided excellent tips that alleviate fears and help save time during the writing process. I learned things I didn’t know before, such as how the peer-review process works exactly. I also learned how to structure the paper correctly and gained a great boost of motivation. Before participating in the course, I believed that, after writing my master’s thesis, I would already know a lot. However, each module introduced new insights that significantly helped me improve my writing skills. I highly recommend this course to all early-career scientists!

I just published the paper that I have been working on during Paper Writing Academy! You can find it on Researchgate. Thank you so much again for your helpful course!

The paper I chose to write for Paper Writing Academy (PWA) is my first scientific paper as a first author, and the weekly PWA videos have been tremendously beneficial in guiding me through this process. Developing a publishing plan and following the weekly tasks have enabled me to stay on track with my writing, and the biweekly meetings have served as effective ‘deadlines’ to advance my writing progress. Overall, I am super happy with the course.

I found the PWA digital course to be incredibly convenient for learning all the essential steps of academic writing, from scratch to publication, without having to leave the comfort of home or worry about specific time constraints. The detailed and straightforward instructions provided by Gunther were very helpful in understanding the entire process. Thank you!

Thank you, Gunther, for all your help and support! Paper Writing Academy is a very useful and well-structured course. Before PWA, I was stuck on the paper I was working on and had no clear idea where I was in the paper writing process. PWA has helped me move forward and significantly restructure the paper I am working on. I still have several steps to take to complete my paper, but it is a relief to know where I am and have a clear methodology to follow. I am now confident that I can go through the process to complete the paper.

The Paper Writing Academy (PWA) was very helpful for me. The paper I was working on during PWA was accepted for publication in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science within 10 weeks of submission. My paper went through only one round of review and the revisions were really minor. It was surely due to PWA that I had prepared a good manuscript that got accepted easily. (Access the paper)

Paper Writing Academy has been the best paper writing course I have ever taken. The explanation of academic paper writing is very comprehensive. Every part is explained and very detailed. I really learned how to draft academic papers systematically.

Paper Writing Academy (PWA) was a life-saver course for me. I deeply desired to learn how to write a professional academic article. I took out a loan to do this course and have not regretted doing so. The worksheets are perfect for me because they help me to identify the must-have parts of the paper sections. I was able to complete a previously problematic manuscript, and I feel confident that I am on the path to making it a professional paper. I owe that confidence to PWA, where the presentations and materials were easy to follow and understand. This class has given me an in-depth insight into journal-article writing. Thank you so much for offering this course, it is so beneficial to me now, and will continue to be in the future.

The PWA course was very helpful for learning how to write and publish journal articles efficiently. What I learned in the course was helpful with my current article and will continue to be so for articles to come. Thank you for the great course.

I have been struggling with finishing my first article for almost two years. There were always new things to do or modify, but I never knew exactly how to do it, nor had I been told how to do it. Now, after taking Paper Writing Academy, I have made all the necessary modifications knowing exactly what I am doing. My article is now finished and will be submitted soon.

Thank you, Gunther, for a really well-organised course! It provided a clear overview of the entire process of paper-writing. I listened with great interest, not only as an author but also as someone who works as a reviewer and member of editorial boards. The lessons are well structured and the material provides a solid foundation to begin each exercise. It is also great that real-life examples of abstracts, review responses, etc. were discussed in the group. This made it clear that the whole process of writing, reviewing, editing, and publishing articles is not an easy task with quick solutions for everyone involved. (Connect on LinkedIn)

Before joining Paper Writing Academy (PWA), I wasn’t sure whether the programme would be a good fit. I was looking for an online programme to improve my paper-writing, but also to become better at supporting my students and colleagues in writing papers. When I first saw PWA, I thought it might be like a MOOC, so I was unsure about joining. I tried a MOOC on the same topic but was not satisfied. MOOCs are free but are often rather general. PWA is so different from a MOOC and I’m so glad I finally joined. PWA is a high-quality programme and the material you get is very clear and so helpful. Gunther puts a lot of energy into the programme and I felt he really meant it when he offered to help us—that again is different from an academic MOOC. Before joining PWA, writing papers was an unclear task, and I had no structured approach to it. Now, I have a framework and a roadmap that I can use to write my papers so much easier. I wish I had the chance to join such a programme a few years earlier. (Connect on ResearchGate)

I really enjoyed participating in the Paper Writing Academy, it was fun even if it was hard work at the same time. Thanks to this course, I have established a regular writing session during my work days, and with all the material provided in this course, I know how to structure my writing process from the first ideas to the final draft. The opportunity to share experiences and problems with colleagues is very helpful at every stage of the course. Having some checklists and vocabulary lists also helps me overcome my writer’s block, which I often struggled with in the past. To wrap this up, I can only recommend this course to everyone who would like to improve their writing skills, being more efficient in paper writing or just need some motivation boost to start with writing!

Paper Writing Academy (PWA) has been a great training for me, and a real eye-opener on how to approach writing. It gave me a better understanding of how to write the content of the paper sections. I am happy that I took part in PWA. My paper is progressing: I have a better title and clear objectives. I managed to outline the structure and improve the Introduction, and I’m much more motivated to continue on the paper now than before. So I’m confident I will achieve my goal: to get a paper published this year! (Connect with Tatjana)

Paper Writing Academy (PWA) was very useful for me because it helped me improve my first paper which was rejected some time ago;I was very disappointed about it. Now, PWA has motivated me to start again, and I sent it to another journal one week ago. PWA also supported me in the general organisation of my ideas for academic writing and helped me already get started on my second paper. So, joining PWA was definitely a success for me. (Connect on LinkedIn)

I enjoyed Paper Writing Academy a lot and succeeded in my writing during the course. PWA helped to figure out what I should express and how to express my ideas precisely in each section, through the course modules and lessons. The live sessions are quite supportive because while discussing with other participants I learned what the shortcomings in my writing are, and I learned from others’ writing with good examples and also mistakes that I should avoid. In general, it’s very helpful for me since I was a total beginner in paper writing.

Before joining Paper Writing Academy (PWA), I had taken a really bad paper-writing course with lacking didactics and old-fashioned recommendations. Then, I heard from colleagues about PWA—they were all very enthusiastic when talking about it and I could hardly believe their positive statements. So I joined and noticed that they were right, it is really a very valuable course! The best thing about PWA is that you can study the material and watch the videos when it suits you, when you’ve got the time, and when you need it. The bi-weekly live sessions then keep you on track and motivate you to self-studying. The video format provides a great learning experience: you see the instructor face-to-face and it feels as if he’s talking to you right now, which makes learning much easier. I watched the videos even on my train journeys. The life-long access to those gives you the certainty to always re-watch them, whenever needed in the future. A great thing I learned in the course was how to edit your manuscript, specifically how to do paragraph-editing. If you follow the guidelines, your paper is so much easier to read and understand, very valuable! All in all, PWA provides a lot of practical information that you otherwise never would get, except if you choose to go the hard way through submissions and rejections yourself, like I did the 3 years before—so joining PWA in an earlier stage would have saved me a lot of headaches with my papers. I can fully recommend visiting PWA before starting to draft your first paper, but it is worth anytime! (Connect on LinkedIn)
A few months later: PS: Thanks to PWA, the paper that I worked on during the course, went very smoothly through the review process and even got published in the intended journal (doi.org/10.1242/jeb.244473). Next paper to come!

Paper Writing Academy is a must-attend for PhD candidates and early career researchers. Previously, the thought of writing academic articles frightend me. However, PWA has helped to demystify the voyage by providing a stepwise approach to achieving the same. I’m super excited to have participated in this online programme. The lifetime membership offered participants with unlimited access to resources is excellent. Special thanks to our amiable instructor and the entire team at PWA. (Connect on LinkedIn or Twitter)

In my PhD study I focussed so far on my monograph and wasn’t able to write journal papers, which I always wanted to do, but did not know how to do it. Paper Writing Academy answered this question by providing the roadmap and helping me develop all the skills needed to write papers. Honestly, I found PWA so helpful and enjoyed every part of it. Now, I am reviewing journal articles of my field with solid confidence and preparing to submit my paper for publishing. I recommend PWA to all early-career researchers for their joyful (and successful) academic journey.I am grateful to Gunther and the entire team at TRESS ACADEMIC! (Connect on LinkedIn)

Thanks for the good and very well structured course. Even having some experience in writing manuscripts, I learned a lot from this course. I am already implementing the tips I learned on the draft I am currently working on. I can already say I reached my personal goal with Paper Writing Academy.

I wanted to finish this manuscript and when my graduate school sent around the advert for Paper Writing Academy, I knew I wanted to join. PWA sounded so motivating and that’s exactly what I needed. Like everybody else, I’m also struggling with time issues and motivation when writing a paper. So, I wanted to give myself just these 8 weeks and try to finish as much as I can from the paper. I planned writing time as Gunther suggested in one of the tutorials and finished the first draft within the programme! 

Thanks for a great Paper Writing Academy. It was very useful and I highly recommend taking the course to my colleagues. I’m working on two papers right now, but if it wasn’t for the structured methodology you showed me, I assume the progress would have been much slower. Thanks and I will update you when I published the papers. (Connect on LinkedIn)

I am so glad that I joined Paper Writing Academy! This digital course is a great opportunity for both new or more experienced scientists. It was the first time that I tried to write a paper and, yes, I managed to finish my first manuscript during the course. This was a great success, and I couldn’t have done it without Gunther’s guidance, the videos, and the support sheets. I learned not only how to write a scientific paper, but also how to organise my time for more effective writing. The live sections were very helpful with great interactions with other scientists and Gunther’s support and encouragement was exceptional! Thank you so much!

I had tried to write a paper before for my Bachelor but I never knew how to approach it and it was very overwhelming to do it. I didn’t had proper guidance then and I was all on my own. I joined Paper Writing Academy during the first year of my PhD and thanks to the programme, now I know how to do write papers and it’s not overwhelming more at all. I know from where to start and you gave me a lot of small tricks that made it easier for me, by breaking the writing down into small pieces it wasn’t so hard at all. Before the course I was a little be worried, will it all be online? Will I have the chance to talk to you at all? How will we communicate? Will it be totally anonymous? But it turned out it wasn’t difficult at all and it went very well and was fun. I also used all of the channels you offered, the videos, the PDF sheets, and the PWA Insiders discussion group. PWA is totally helpful and all the goals in the programme are achievable. Even if you have already experience with writing papers this course is still helpful for you. Most of the people I know they have tried to learn paper-writing by trial and error, so this course is helpful for them as well. You learn exactly how to do it. (Connect on LinkedIn)

Dear Gunther, I’ve learned a lot from your Paper Writing Academy and my first PhD paper was published last month! The programme was insightful and followed a systematic approach which made it easy for researchers to learn how to write an academic paper. Great that I had the chance to join the PWA community. Thanks! (Connect on LinkedIn)

What I learned during the PWA will definitely last longer than the 8 weeks of training. I try to integrate the material and information into each of my paper writings from now on. The PWA provides an important foundation for good scientific practice.

A writing program like the Paper Writing Academy (PWA), which takes place over several weeks, met my learning needs exactly and was a better fit than a three-day course at my institution. The big difference between a short course and the PWA is that in the PWA, you don’t just hear how you should do each step in your paper, you put it into practice right away in your paper. I’m not that familiar with writing papers, and the step-by-step approach was very helpful for my progress. I really started from scratch with my paper and then was able to take it one step at a time, whereas in a short course I would have to do everything on my own. It was even fun to develop the paper in parallel with participating in the online programme. Every week, I knew I was making some progress with my work, and I noticed that even small—but weekly—steps moved me forward with my paper, that was really good. 

Paper Writing Academy answered many questions for me. I’ve published 7 papers before, but I used to write the manuscript sections a bit randomly. I wrote the paper when the lab work permitted, but it always interrupted my concentration, and I used to get bored while writing the sections. But the PWA sessions and your words of encouragement helped me a lot. After watching your videos and following your step-by-step guide to writing, I completed my current manuscript much earlier this time around. I learned to manage the time for writing the manuscript, and found it so easy to complete on time. Also, your way of replying to all the questions during the live sessions was really fabulous. I loved all your suggestions and support sessions. Guess what? I started my paper about comparative transcriptomics of a catfish at the beginning of PWA (1 March) and submitted it on April 22 (7th week of PWA). It is under review now in the journal Genomics. A lot to learn from you, Gunther! (Connect on LinkedIn)

More than 8 weeks ago, I said Paper Writing Academy will be a success to me if I can submit a manuscript by the end of the course. Guess what: I managed to submit the paper 4 days ago in the last week of the programme. So, I think I’ve reached my personal goal for Paper Writing Academy. (Connect on LinkedIn) 

This has been an incredible journey. I am so glad I joined Paper Writing Academy (PWA). It taught me how much I lacked in writing a good paper, and how to shape myself into a better researcher. Thank you so much.

Update a few months later: Now, I can happily report that the paper I worked on in the PWA programme is successfully published! It was truly a rewarding experience. I am glad I get to be part of the programme because it has helped me tremendously. (Access the published paper)

The paper I was working on through Paper Writing Academy was not my first, but this was definitely my best paper-writing experience. The course offered a very structured approach to paper writing and time management. This made my writing process much easier, and I gained the confidence to do it right. This course will save a lot of time in my future paper writing, and I can highly recommend it to both beginners and experienced writers.

PWA is an easy to understand guidebook for professional paper writing. It provides you with the theoretical and practical tools needed to compose your own paper the way you want it. It feels like PWA is a writing buddy that’s got your back when the publishing process feels overwhelming.

Paper Writing Academy was a really cool course and I learned a lot! I will definitely use the structure for my next papers as well. I have a draft of my paper now, and I’m confident that I’ll be able to apply the learnt structure to my next papers. (Connect on LinkedIn)

I found Paper Writing Academy really helpful! It provides small and applicable tips to plan a good strategy for writing, submitting and promoting a paper—this was the most important win I took away from the course. Although paper writing is partly a creative process, I think all these small tips and suggestions help to create a good structure for a paper writing strategy. I will definitely implement them in the present and future. Thank you, Gunther, for all your tips, help, feedback, and enthusiasm—which is also important!

The course was held in a challenging time for researchers all around the globe, with great uncertainties, and a need for innovative thinking. This is where I think the Tress Academic team has succeeded. The course has taught me how to focus on paper writing, which is the hallmark of my work as a researcher. Academic writing requires a positive and motivated state of mind, which is what the course leader emphasised at his best. There’s one thing I wish was different: I should have taken this course earlier in my PhD. It would have saved me a lot of time.

Paper Writing Academy provides a systematic approach and a step-by-step guide to the process of paper writing. Gunther presents this with engagement and enthusiasm. And made us feel like a group of students cooperating and communicating in these times of isolated ‘home-working’ researchers. (Connect on LinkedIn)

Paper Writing Academy has helped me by putting me in touch with people at different stages of their paper writing. It motivated me to put in a daily effort to overcome my main issue: reading and writing papers after a long lab day! By changing my routine through reading and writing in the mornings, I found that I felt much more accomplished at the end of a long day at work, and moved closer to my goals! (Connect on LinkedIn)

I really recommend Paper Writing Academy to new PhD students like me who are about to write and publish their first manuscript in an international journal. Everyone might struggle at some point during their PhD journey. However, following the PWA guidelines really serves as a ladder to lift you up on a level of proper dialog with your supervisors. If a PhD journey is like sailing a boat towards the coast, PWA is like the rudder which aids you to go in the right direction. I used the material from PWA and created my first manuscript. It is ready for submission in the near future. Thank you very much, Gunther and your team, for your great efforts and positive energy in encouraging the students in their scientific academic career.

I thank the team from Paper Writing Academy for such a well-thought-out course for early-career researchers. It’s hard to uncover every process in paper-writing, particularly if it’s your first paper. But I kept skimming through the course materials and followed all the worksheets. I was slow to do that, but it was good for me, and I can go back to the course materials and worksheets anytime. It was good that I could do it at my own pace. The course was perfectly designed to take me through a journey of scientific writing by breaking down every bit of it. And now I have a better understanding of the entire process. For instance, I selected the journal I want to submit to, I drafted a structure for the paper, prepared figures and tables in a more publishable manner, and most importantly, all that has been done without much mental stress, simply by following PWA. I didn’t have to spend a hell lot of time and energy to constantly check‘’if I am doing this right’’. I feel far more confident that, now, it should not be a difficult task for me, to write a paper in future.

“I attended the publishing course you held in 2020. I then had one month to write my first paper at all and I was just about to start when I joined the course. The paper is now published and this course was of tremendous help for me.”

“The best, and I would say a unique feature of this course, is that you are working on your own manuscript … this is so helpful that it can’t be compared with any other course.”

“It was a fantastic experience! I have written a couple of papers and my scientific life would have been much easier if I had taken such a course much earlier in my career. I will strongly encourage my students in the future not to make the same mistake. The course was well-prepared and Gunther was so enthusiastic that it is hard to believe he does this almost every week.”

“After your last online course I started to write daily, I have to say that I never imagined I have almost completed the first draft of my introduction, which was always a problem for me. If I wouldn’t have taken the course, my paper would be still untouched as it was before.”

“This course is so helpful, you do not only get amazing tips and “how to do” instructions, but you get even motivated to write. Now I know writing papers and getting them published in top journals is possible for me. I know exactly how to do it! ”

“The whole course was an incredible learning experience. Great quality-content sessions and excellent implementation guidelines. I had the opportunity to reshape a paper from my master dissertation and now is under review by one of the co-authors. I feel confident that we will manage to submit it soon. It is hard to pick just one favorite lesson. I think all of them were complementary and each one contributed towards reaching an important step for publication. I really enjoyed the course and I would definitely recommend it to everyone out there.”

Programme start: 7 Oct 2024
Introduction to Paper Writing Academy: Get to know how we work together in Paper Writing Academy

Kick-off: 10 Oct 2024, 5 pm CEST, / 11 am ET / 11 pm AWST   

MODULE 1: Adopt productive writing strategies
Learn how to become an efficient writer and plan your writing process

MODULE 2: Complete pre-writing tasks
Define your paper topic, audience, co-authors and the journal

Session: 24 Oct 2024, 5 pm CEST, / 11 am ET / 11 pm AWST

MODULE 3: Start the paper writing
You work on the paper objectives, the structure, the introduction, the literature review and your paper title.

MODULE 4: Write the core paper sections
You work on the main body of your paper (Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion).

Session: 7 Nov 2024, 3 pm CET, / 9 am ET / 9 pm AWST

MODULE 5: Write the support sections
Work on all the support sections that help you to promote your paper and increase its credibility

MODULE 6: Edit the paper
Change and polish up your paper so that it becomes a clear and enjoyable text for your readers

Session: 21 Nov 2024, 3 pm CET, / 9 am ET / 9 pm AWST

MODULE 7: Succeed in peer-review
Understand what is needed to submit your paper and get it successfully through the peer-review process

MODULE 8: Get published!
Learn the steps that help you speed up time to publication and promote your paper once published.

Session: 12 Dec 2024, 3 pm CET, / 9 am ET / 9 pm AWST