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Scientific Writing

The materials below comprise a scientific writing assignment in an Animal Physiology course taught at Northwestern by Robert Linsenmeier.  Its structure could be used for any writing assignment in which the objective is to pose a scientific question and then analyze original literature for an answer.  The materials and associated discussion sections support student development as readers and writers of science.  D1-D3 and S2 correspond to elements described in the paper below.

Note: These documents can be downloaded and modified if this webpage is appropriately referenced. 

The materials are:

1. Biology 325 Syllabus – 05: Course Syllabus.
   
   
2. D1 – Paper assignment – 05: Description of the assignment, and checklist of areas on which student papers will be evaluated.
   
   
3. a) D2 – Writing Scientific Papers I – 05,  b) D3 – Writing Scientific Papers II – 05: Documents on several aspects of choosing topics, finding literature, and writing papers.
   
   
4. Review of Proposals: Suggestions for peer review of research paper proposals.  This document has been updated from the version discussed in Ben-David Kolikant, et al.
   
   
5. S2 – Reading Scientific Papers: Discussion session script describing one approach to reading the scientific literature, and the models these papers provide for students.  (Note:  this is the only item posted here that is not given to students.)

A paper describing the way in which these materials support a cognitive apprenticeship approach to teaching scientific writing has recently been published:

Y Ben-David Kolikant, DW Gatchell, PL Hirsch, & RA Linsenmeier. A Cognitive-Apprenticeship-Inspired Instructional Approach for Teaching Scientific Writing and Reading. Journal of College Science Teaching 36 (3): 20-25.


 

NEW - Graphical Communication

The materials below include a pre-test/post-test sequence given to junior-level biology students at Northwestern taught by Professor Robert Linsenmeier.  The principal objective of these tests was to uncover what characteristics & qualities undergraduate biology majors value in visual displays of quantitative data.  These results were compared to data extracted from science and engineering experts taking the same tests.  A complete analysis of these results is currently underway.

Note: These documents can be downloaded and modified if this webpage is appropriately referenced. 

1. Biology 325 - Pre-test
   
   
2. Post-Test (Coming Soon)
   




• Industrial Practice Partners
  
  
  • Communication Partners, a Chicago-based communication consulting and training firm, has partnered with the VaNTH ERC to create four stand alone modules under the general heading, "Communicating Effectively with Tables, Graphs and Visual Tools".
    
    
• Publications
  
  
• Taxonomy

• CDIO (Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate)
  
  
• Foundation Coalition
  
• NEW - McCormick Writing Standards Project
  
  
• The CAIN Project in Engineering and Professional Communication
  
  
• Virginia Tech - College of Engineering: Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students