Required Materials:

– Writing papers in the Biological Sciences, Victoria E. McMillan, 6th edition– An e-mail account and access to the internet

Course description:

Junior Writing is a university-wide writing program. Bio312 is designed to help students hone their written communication skills within their major. Students will write for different audiences, such as other scientists, policy makers, and the general public.

The goals of this course are:(1) To improve your writing via plenty of feedback and practice.(2) To learn how to provide effective peer critiques.(3) To learn how to edit your own work.

A unifying principle for biologists is the scientific way of knowing, so understanding the process of science is a critical component of this class. By the end of this class, you should be able to write about your own studies. Understanding how to do science and refining your critical thinking skills will prepare you for your courses, your careers in science help you evaluate the work of other scientists, and assess science in the media.

Reading We will read sections from Writing papers in the Biological Sciences by Victoria E.

McMillian. Strunk and White, The Elements of Style. The text is online at

http://www.bartleby.com/141/index.html

The writing assignments You will write every week, and will write papers of varying length. You will

generally finish one assignment before beginning the next to allow plenty of time to perfect each piece of writing.

Biology 312: Writing in BiologySpring 2013 (Jan 22 – April 30)

Instructor – Dr. Sevan SuniOffice hours: By appointmentE-mail: sssuni@eco.umass.edu

This is a scientific writing course, so we will cover topics such as the structure of a scientific paper, a poster, and a review article.

Some assignments will be completed in class and some at home. You will be unable to make up in-class assignments if you do not come to class.

For some assignments you will participate in extensive peer reviews, in two forms. For group peer reviews you must bring 4 copies of the paper to hand out. If you do not bring 4 copies you will not get credit for the assignment. You will receive credit for participating in the peer review process, and this cannot be made up if you miss a class. For one-on-one review bring 2 copies of the paper.

After you receive feedback, you will submit a final revision, which should include a cover letter written to me. This should include (1) a summary of the corrections and suggestions made by your peers; (2) a summary of how you have chosen to respond to them; and (3) an identification of at least two additional substantive improvements to the paper above and beyond what your peers suggested.

There will be in-class assignments that are unannounced that cannot be made up if absent.

PlagiarismAll students are expected to adhere scrupulously to the University policy

concerning academic honesty, which is found in the “Undergraduate Rights and Responsibilities” at the following web site:

http://www.umass.edu/dean_students/codeofconduct/acadhonesty/

Points possible

Assignment Group Peer Review One-on-one review Final draft(s)

Op-Ed 10 10 50 (49)Observation Paper 10 10 50Abstract from article 20In-class assignments 100Popular article 10 50Career Roadmap 10

Personal Statement 10 50

Reflective essay 10

Total possible 400

Names & numbers of classmates:

1. 2. 3.