Welcome to FISH 297: Scientific Writing and Communication

Today’s agenda:1. A round of self-introductions: Why I am here,2. Why this class exists,3. Why you are here, and what you hope to learn,4. Class goals, organization, expectations, grades, etc.

So:

1) Who are you?2) Where are you from (personally and intellectually)?3) What is your background in writing, scientific or otherwise?4) Why did you take this class, and what do you hope to learn?5) What skills, insights, or other assets do you bring to the class?

How did this course come about?

Goals: This class is designed to teach undergraduate students in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and other areas of biology to 1) gather published and unpublished sources of written information and bring them to bear on scientific questions, 2) critically read scientific writing, 3) access electronic sources of information, including but not limited to internet searches, library databases, and public data, 4) learn the structure and functions of different components of scientific papers to effectively communicate scientific findings, 5) learn techniques for effective communication of scientific information in oral and poster presentations, 6) understand the ethical boundaries associated with scientific communication.

Structure: The class will be built around two parallel assignments, both based on a scientific paper. One will be the selection and careful examination of a paper published in a professional journal, and the other will be a paper written by the student. The student papers will be based on simple but sound questions posed by each student, refined into a testable hypothesis, and then pursued with appropriate collection of data. The study will be described in a paper in scientific format, and presented to the class at a symposium at the end of the course and made into a poster.

Expectations, grades, and so forth

I expect you to:1) Come to class regularly and promptly2) Participate fully and to the best of your ability

assignments3) Strive to learn and to help others learn4) Provide constructive feedback5) Refrain from distractions: no use of cell phones,

internet, Facebook, etc. while in class6) Do your own work in an ethical manner

You can expect me to:1) Design and conduct a class to enhance your ability to

communicate scientific ideas and findings 2) Treat all students with fairness and respect 3) Appreciate the differences in background among students

that may exist (age, native language, etc.) 4) Provide constructive feedback

Expectations, grades, and so forth

Text book, and use thereof

McMillan, V. E. 2006. Writing Papers in the Biological Sciences. 4th Edition. Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, Boston.

I do not plan to lecture from this book on a chapter by chapter basis. However, I will try to link the class sessions to the book as best I can. I chose this book because it seems to be sensibly organized, well-written, inexpensive, spiral-bound so you can use it easily, and covers oral and poster presentations as well as papers. There are many other books out there and quite possibly some are better than this. I will greatly appreciate your feedback on whether this book is useful. Likewise, your feedback during and at the end of class will be very important as I try to improve the class.

Please write (right now) an essay on one of the following topics. It will not be graded; my goal is only to get a feel for your overall writing ability. Do not worry; just write for 15 minutes, then e-mail it to me: tquinn@uw.edu

1) Why I decided to take this class2) Why I chose my major3) How I spent my summer (or winter) break4) My favorite animal 5) My favorite book (or movie)

Do not forget to put your name on it!

Assignment for Thursday:

Formulate a question about some aspect of the natural world. Suggestion: go to a park, beach, zoo, watch your pets, surf the web, sit in a coffeehouse and stare into space, wait for inspiration while riding your bike. Get an idea first.

Bring the question to the next class period and be prepared to talk about it. We will try to refine the question into one or a series of hypotheses, that can be tested.

The choice of project is really important, because this idea will be the basis for one of two major assignments in the class. You will collect data to test it, write a paper about the project, and present it to the class in pieces and as a whole.

How are we supposed to do this? This seems really hard!

Reading:

Obtain the book, get familiar with it in a general way, and read the Introduction (only 3 pages).