Unit information: Science and Success: Writing, Speaking and Communicating Science in 2011/12

Unit name	Science and Success: Writing, Speaking and Communicating Science
Unit code	BIOL20010
Credit points	10
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1A (weeks 1 - 6)
Unit director	Professor. Holderied
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	Normally 120cp of approriate Level 1 units in Biologcial sciences
Co-requisites	None
School/department	School of Biological Sciences
Faculty	Faculty of Life Sciences

Description including Unit Aims

This unit will teach scientific writing and presentation skills with the short-term aim of preparing you for writing up and presenting your final year research projects and the long term aim of preparing you for life after graduation. Writing clearly is a key skill in many careers and while it is relatively easy to recognize good writing, it is rather harder to write well yourself. Similarly a good spoken presentation is obvious, but it is harder to characterise the factors that make it so good. Working in small groups of peers you will learn both of these skills and use them to edit and write short reports and give a presentation. Success in science, and elsewhere, is obviously dependant on finding a job in which to succeed. Your written and oral skills will be tested using role play. All parts of the course will be taught within a biological context. Finally you will learn about Personal Development Planning which is the ability to review, plan and take responsibility for your own learning.

Aims:

Preparing students for life after graduation through teaching key transferable skills

• Using collaborative and activity based teaching approaches to maximise impact and retention rates.

• Improve written communication skills through (1) online peer collaboration and assessment of individual scientific writing, and (2) writing for the media, which gets marked and published by journalists on the ARKive.com platform.

• Improve oral communication skills through (1) oral presentations, and (2) a job interview.

• Improve team work skills through peer collaboration and peer assessment in (1) scientific writing (2) oral presentations (3) presentation assessment (4) short-listing panels and (5) interview panels.

• Improve job hunting skills through (1) applying for a real job advert with CV and cover letter, (2) being interview for the jab, (3) short-listing peer applications in a panel, (4) interviewing peers

All parts of the course will be taught within a biological context.

Intended Learning Outcomes

1. Learn to write scientific reports
2. Learn to give presentations
3. Learn how to write a CV and covering letter
4. Learn key interview skills
5. Learn how to write for the media
6. Produce an evidence based personal development plan

Teaching Information

• Limited number of lectures from invited specialists.

• Teaching for this unit is mainly based on peer collaboration and assessment using online platform BlackBoard.

• Scientific writing: Online peer collaboration, peer reviewing and peer and tutor assessment and marking;

• Presentations: group presentations to peer panel, peer feedback and assessment, feedback and marking;

• Job applications and interview: Group work, role play in shortlisting and interview panels, being interviewed, peer assessment and marking;

• Writing for the media: produce individual species profiles, assessed and marked by science journalists.

• Personal Development Planning (PDP): use a 10 page personal feedback report (end of week 5) to produce a personal development plan.

Assessment Information

• All elements of this unit are assessed and this includes extensive peer feedback, assessment and marking as well as demonstrator and tutor feedback and marking.

• Your written and oral skills will be tested using role play in which you apply for a job and take part in interviews.

• Each student will receive a 10 page personal feedback package on which to base a personal development plan.

• Exclusively continuous assessment in this unit, i.e. no exam. Weightings: 50% peer review of scientific writing; 30% oral presentation; 20% job applications

Reading and References

• Toft, C.A. (1998) Oral presentations at scientific meetings. Herpetologica, 54, S67-S75.

• Toft, C.A. & Jaeger, R.G. (1998) Writing for scientific journals I: The manuscript. Herpetologica, 54, S42-S54.

• Waser, N.M., Price, M.V., & Grosberg, R.K. (1992) Writing An Effective Manuscript Review. Bioscience, 42, 621-623.

• Jaeger, R.G. & Toft, C.A. (1998) Writing for scientific journals II: The review process. Herpetologica, 54, S54-S63.