Want to improve undergraduate thesis writing? Engage students and their faculty readers in scientific peer review.
Abstract
One of the best opportunities that undergraduates have to learn to write like a scientist
is to write a thesis after participating in faculty-mentored undergraduate research.
But developing writing skills doesn't happen automatically, and there are significant
challenges associated with offering writing courses and with individualized mentoring.
We present a hybrid model in which students have the structural support of a course
plus the personalized benefits of working one-on-one with faculty. To optimize these
one-on-one interactions, the course uses BioTAP, the Biology Thesis Assessment Protocol,
to structure engagement in scientific peer review. By assessing theses written by
students who took this course and comparable students who did not, we found that our
approach not only improved student writing but also helped faculty members across
the department--not only those teaching the course--to work more effectively and efficiently
with student writers. Students who enrolled in this course were more likely to earn
highest honors than students who only worked one-on-one with faculty. Further, students
in the course scored significantly better on all higher-order writing and critical-thinking
skills assessed.
Type
Journal articleSubject
HumansPeer Review, Research
Biology
Curriculum
Students
Faculty
Universities
Writing
Dissertations, Academic as Topic
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/20444Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1187/cbe.10-10-0127Publication Info
Reynolds, Julie A; & Thompson, Robert J (2011). Want to improve undergraduate thesis writing? Engage students and their faculty readers
in scientific peer review. CBE life sciences education, 10(2). pp. 209-215. 10.1187/cbe.10-10-0127. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/20444.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Julie Reynolds
Associate Professor of the Practice of the Department of Biology
Julie Reynolds has a Ph.D. in biology but, through a series of unexpected events,
became an expert in writing pedagogies. She spent 5 years learning to teach writing
as a postdoctoral fellow in Duke University’s first-year writing program before transitioning
to the biology department where she has taught science writing and writing-intensive
courses to thousands of undergraduates and graduate students. With over a decade of
funding from the National Science Foundation, her disciplinary
Robert J. Thompson Jr.
Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Neuroscience
My research and teaching interests include how biological and psychosocial processes
act together in human development and learning. One area of focus has been on the
adaptation of children and their families to developmental problems and chronic illnesses,
including sickle cell disease and cystic fibrosis. Another area of focus is enhancing
undergraduate education through scholarship on teaching and learning and fostering
the development of empathy and identity.
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