Courses:

If the goal of science is to contribute to our understanding of the natural world, then the goal of scientific writing is to communicate that understanding with precision, accuracy, and economy.

In this portion of the course, you will develop your skills as a writer of scientific research, skills that will contribute to your learning of course material and to creating your identity as a scientist. Writing exercises - both in class and out - will have you explore the genre of the research article and its components and develop your grasp of the material you are learning in the 7.02 laboratory.

In this way, writing will be both a tool of communicating and a tool of learning. In addition, you will develop your skills as a writer, reviser, and editor - working with your peers and your instructor - and, ultimately, develop a solid foundation for writing up your future independent research.

Course syllabus (PDF)

Students in 7.02, Experimental Biology and Communication select a Scientific Communications ("SciComm") section, each taught by an instructor from the Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies department at MIT. SciComm sections meet six times over the course of the semester. Each session consists of lectures and in-class activities as described in the Class Methods section below.

At the conclusion of this class, students will be able to:

• Understand the seven components (title, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion/conclusion, tables/figures) of a laboratory research paper.
  
  
• Understand the writing process and its application to scientific writing.
  
  
• Understand the importance of communicating in writing as a scientist.
  
  
• Apply an understanding of scientific writing to their subsequent independent research.

During each class session you will be engaged in a variety of writing activities that use self-editing, peer-editing, and instructor feedback to develop your skills. The goal of these exercises is to limber you up and make you more flexible as writers, revisers, and editors. They will also prepare you for the out-of-class writing assignments.

In addition, during each session three or four students will be responsible for a brief (no more than 5 minutes each) oral presentation on a particular aspect of an assigned research article. The four assigned roles for these presentation are to 1) summarize the article, 2) analyze the article according to the goals of that particular component of a scientific research paper, 3) analyze the article according to the pitfalls of that particular component of a scientific research paper, 4) act as a discussion leader and ask two to three open-ended questions to class.

Out-of-class exercises will put in-class experience to work on scientific content. You will experiment with the relationship between audience and style/format, as well as explore and critique writing the readings assigned for each class. Further descriptions of out-of-class exercises will be provided during each class meeting.

In addition to various in-class and out-of-class exercises, you will be asked to choose one on-going writing project. Each choice will require that you turn in sections of the whole at each class meeting and regularly revise those sections based on instructor and peer feedback. You will then hand in a final version of your project at the end of the semester. Please note: The first section to your long-term project - the introduction - will be due before the second class meeting and some preliminary work on your project will be done at the first class meeting; thus, please make your topic choice as soon as possible.

A major part of the scientific writing process is revision, and thus you will have the opportunity to rewrite your SciComm "out of class" assignments and your LTP drafts. Revision will improve not only your writing but also your score on that assignment. The following guidelines govern rewrites in 7.02 / 10.702 SciComm:

• One rewrite is allowed for each assignment.
  
  
• Rewrites must be turned in by one week after assignment is returned.
  
  
• Higher score of the two is recorded.

Students are required to attend all class meetings. In accordance with MIT policy, students unable to attend classes or participate in any exam, study, or work requirement on a particular day because of their religious beliefs are excused from such activities. Students who need to miss a class session must attend another section meeting (with prior permission of the instructor) covering the same material (Introduction, Methods, etc). Absence from class due to illness requires documentation from the Counseling Dean's Office.

All work is due on announced date except in the event of a documented medical excuse. For all final drafts, one letter grade will be deducted for each day late until a grade of F is reached.

Plagiarism is intentionally or unintentionally using the ideas or writings of another person without properly documenting and giving credit to the source. It will not be tolerated. Plagiarized work will receive zero credit and may result in the student failing the course. If you have any questions about what constitutes plagiarism, see one of the Instructors.