Office of Scientific Writing
The Office of Scientific Writing (OSW) assists UTHSC investigators engaged in basic and clinical research to improve the writing quality of scientific manuscripts and research grant proposals
The mission of the OSW is to support UTHSC research by increasing the success of extramural funding applications and to assist with dissemination of the scientific discoveries made at UTHSC through facilitating the publication of manuscripts.
The OSW works with investigators to sharpen the language of each document so that the science is presented logically, relevant literature is cited properly, hypotheses and data are presented clearly and concisely using appropriate terminology, and the discussion of the results is compelling. Housed on the UTHSC Memphis campus, the OSW supports researchers on the four Health Science Center campuses in Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville. There is no cost for OSW services. Students and postdoctoral fellows needing assistance with grants and manuscripts should solicit their mentor's permission prior to submission. We are unable to edit projects for student courses or book chapters for which the authors are paid.
See our FAQs or About page detailing OSW services.
SUBMIT A SERVICE REQUEST
Please provide a complete first draft of your document that includes figures, figure legends, and tables.
Scientific Writing
Scientific Writing of manuscript or grant proposal narrative includes copy editing plus clear descriptions of data figures and tables, crafting of hypotheses, logical flow and use of appropriate terminology, strength and/or persuasiveness of arguments, grant smithing, management of references and in-text citations, and identification of appropriate target journals for submission of manuscripts.
Indicate Scientific Writing on the OSW Service Request Form.
Copy Editing
Copy Editing of manuscript or grant proposal narrative includes review of grammar,
sentence structure, English usage, clarity, consistency, conciseness, adherence to
a style guide, and correction of missing words, spelling, typographical errors, and
punctuation.
Indicate Copy Editing on the OSW Service Request Form.
Grant Consulting
Grant consulting entails assistance formulating your proposal to federal funding agencies (including NIH and NSF) and private foundations. We assist with the abstract, specific aims, research strategy, or any text-intensive section. If you are at an early, rough or outline stage, meet with the OSW for consultation.
For grant budgeting or budget justification, contact the Office of Sponsored Programs.
Email OSW with subject line Grant Consulting
iThenticate
Check your work before your reviewers do! iThenticate is a text duplication/plagiarism detection service offered free of charge to UTHSC faculty. This tool includes checking your own prior publications. Login to iThenticate.
In addition to OSW services, the Office of Research Development (ORD) contracts with Hanover Research, which assists investigators with prospecting and with proposal development tailored to a specific funding source and related pre-submission services. If you are a new investigator, we encourage you to take advantage of these services and the OSW scientific and copy editing services. Please also see the archived Hanover grant-writing workshops.
Due to the high demand for OSW services, we require a 1-2 week lead time for assistance on manuscripts and grant proposals, ahead of the OSP's internal submission deadline (usually 5-7 business days before the sponsor deadline). In emergency cases, we will work with you to deliver an expedited markup of your proposal, at our discretion, depending upon the OSW workload and the complexity of the project.