Kumasi, May 23-24, 2018.
The Ghana Young Academy, has at heart the continuous development of professionals in the field of research. The “WriteShop” workshop was the first of a series of capacity building initiatives the association undertook in collaboration with the Academia Social and Research Pharmacists’ Association of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana.
The purpose of the workshop was to bring together young researchers in a relaxed atmosphere and through guided discussions learn the key skills necessary for putting out a winning academic paper. Fifteen participants, all of whom had science backgrounds, were selected from a pool of applications submitted by interested members of the public; the fifteen were selected to benefit from this introductory level workshop. 
The workshop kick-started on a pretty exciting note, with interactive games to ease the participants up and foster familiarity. Dr. Priscilla Mante briefly walked the group through an overview on ‘Getting ready to write’ and context of why we write as academics. The deliberate use of open-ended questions encouraged participants to contribute to the discussion. The goal of the discussion was to help participants identify the general sections of an academic paper and the general formats adopted for scientific writing as well as identifying target journals for a paper.
Once we were all on the same page, an overview of how to compose an introduction and identifying your research question followed. Dr. Edmund Ekuadzi led this section without breaking the chain of interaction. To make it less abstract and more practical, participants were paired up and allowed to peer-review the introduction sections of papers that had been submitted by fellow participants. Together with the Facilitators, participants complimented and made suggestions on the introductions they had read. It was also an opportunity for participants to learn how to respond to reviewer comments received after submitting papers for publication.
Participant comment: “….What I enjoyed most about the WriteShop was the fact that it was more practical than theoretical; the facilitatiors were engaging by using their personal experiences as examples when answering questions….”
We employed similar formats of discussion for explaining the various sections of an academic paper such as methods, results, discussion, title and abstract. At the end of the day, we required the participants to re-write their papers, taking into consideration the corrections that had been suggested to them. It struck the participants as challenging, yet they were ready to transform their research papers into award winning articles. 
We wrapped up on day 2 with discussions about communicating outside academia. This writing skill has become a necessity for researchers in the light of rapidly changing digital society. Researchers may at one point or another be required to communicate their research to a lay society and having that skill will be a plus.
The participants signed off with an enthusiastic conversation concerning topics/areas that should be considered in future workshops and made submissions on their general impressions about the workshop.
We can confidently say our goal was achieved.
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