Top STEM Writing Workshops in 2023

Effective writing in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) is an important aspect of all STEM fields. However, not all STEM professionals receive the writing support they need for creating effective, clear, and publishable documents. Furthermore, writing workshops are readily available in creative writing fields, but STEM writing workshops are harder to find. There are a few that exist, though, and choosing the best STEM writing workshop depends on your needs, goals, and budget. Below is a list of the top 5 STEM writing workshops in 2023 that are available to STEM graduate students, STEM postdoctoral students, STEM faculty, and STEM professionals.

1. The STEM Writing Institute (SWI)

The STEM Writing Institute (SWI) offers both virtual and in-person writing workshops for STEM graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and industry professionals. SWI workshops offer writing lessons, writing exercises, and individualized feedback that work to provide participants with a deeper understanding of STEM writing genres, writing structure, and effective writing at the section, paragraph, sentence, and word level. The SWI instructor is an engineering professor with a background in writing studies. Currently, SWI is offer three types of writing workshops. 1.) A one-day virtual workshop for $179, 2.) A two-day virtual workshop for $399, and 3.) An in-person five-day workshop with a tiered cost of $799 for STEM graduate and postdoctoral students and $999 for STEM faculty and industry professionals. Institutes start in summer 2023.

2. Hurley Write, Inc.: Succinct Scientific Writing

Hurley Write, Inc. offers customized courses for teams and organizations. They offer onsite workshops, online courses, and virtual training. Their Succinct Scientific Writing course is an online course that comprises 8, 30-minute modules that focus on rhetorical strategies, readability, effective graphs, and editing, among other topics. Their instructors are chosen for you based on the documents you provide. The Succinct Scientific Writing course has a three-tiered package. The silver package cost is $1,750; the gold package cost is $2,150; and the platinum package cost is $2,500.

3. Shea Writing & Training Solutions: Public Technical Writing Workshop for Engineers

Shea’s Public Technical Writing Workshop for Engineers is a two-day virtual workshop that focuses on technical and business writing. The workshop teaches lessons on writing topics such as audience analysis, document structure, and outlining, and participants apply what they learn to their own work-related documents. Participants take a grammar self-assessment prior to the course, and the course facilitator uses the self-assessment results to inform the focus of the workshop. One-on-one feedback is also provided to each participant. The cost for the Public Technical Writing Workshop for Engineers is $895.

4. Write about Science

Write about Science is a three-day online writing workshop that meets for four hours each day and provides participants writing structure information, writing lessons, and applicable writing exercises. The workshop instructors are active science writers, with one based in Europe and the other in the U.S. Each participant must submit a brief writing abstract prior to the workshop, which the instructors will use to provide participants with one-on-one feedback on their writing. The cost for the three-day virtual workshop is $500 or €370 (euro price subject to change based on currency exchange rates).

5. iChemE: Effective Technical Writing

The Institution of Chemical Engineers (iChemE) is a UK-based organization that offers various training videos for chemical engineers. The Effective Technical Writing course is a self-paced online course that comprises four hour-long modules, each with their own focus on a different stage of writing. While the course is developed specifically for chemical engineers, it is applicable for all technical writers. The course instructor has a background in chemical engineering and academic research. The cost for the Effective Technical Writing course is £235.00, or $284.28 (USD price subject to change based on currency exchange rates).

Photo by Ivan Samkov