Scientific Writing Workshop Improves Confidence in Critical Writing Skills among Trainees in the Biomedical Sciences

Written communication is a key research skill, yet the current model of pre- and postdoctoral training in the biomedical sciences lacks consistent formal training in this area, leading to crises of confidence when tackling research writing. A 15-hour non-credit workshop, “Secrets of Successful Scien...

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Autores principales:	Emily Wortman-Wunder, Inge Wefes
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Society for Microbiology 2020
Materias:	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/b0f63e9ba80949e7bdb433cebc84050c
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:b0f63e9ba80949e7bdb433cebc84050c2021-11-15T15:04:41ZScientific Writing Workshop Improves Confidence in Critical Writing Skills among Trainees in the Biomedical Sciences10.1128/jmbe.v21i1.18431935-78851935-7877https://doaj.org/article/b0f63e9ba80949e7bdb433cebc84050c2020-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jmbe.v21i1.1843https://doaj.org/toc/1935-7877https://doaj.org/toc/1935-7885Written communication is a key research skill, yet the current model of pre- and postdoctoral training in the biomedical sciences lacks consistent formal training in this area, leading to crises of confidence when tackling research writing. A 15-hour non-credit workshop, “Secrets of Successful Scientific Writing,” was developed in collaboration with an experienced instructor of scientific writing. The workshop consisted of six 2.5-hour sessions and was offered six times; a total of 126 trainees attended over these six offerings. Topics included strategies to engage the audience, principles of psychological linguistics to maximize sentence effectiveness, conventions of biomedical journal writing, technical writing and the history of scientific publishing, and two sessions on grant writing. Student confidence in and familiarity with targeted writing skills were assessed by self-evaluation questions administered immediately before and after each session. The workshop was determined to be effective at improving the confidence of participants regarding specific writing skills in the biomedical sciences, with all but two of the measures showing that the workshop had a large effect size. We conclude that a short, structured workshop can help improve the confidence and knowledge of pre- and postdoctoral writers, preparing them to better meet the writing challenges of their professional careers.Emily Wortman-WunderInge WefesAmerican Society for MicrobiologyarticleSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691Biology (General)QH301-705.5ENJournal of Microbiology & Biology Education, Vol 21, Iss 1 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5
spellingShingle	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Emily Wortman-Wunder Inge Wefes Scientific Writing Workshop Improves Confidence in Critical Writing Skills among Trainees in the Biomedical Sciences
description	Written communication is a key research skill, yet the current model of pre- and postdoctoral training in the biomedical sciences lacks consistent formal training in this area, leading to crises of confidence when tackling research writing. A 15-hour non-credit workshop, “Secrets of Successful Scientific Writing,” was developed in collaboration with an experienced instructor of scientific writing. The workshop consisted of six 2.5-hour sessions and was offered six times; a total of 126 trainees attended over these six offerings. Topics included strategies to engage the audience, principles of psychological linguistics to maximize sentence effectiveness, conventions of biomedical journal writing, technical writing and the history of scientific publishing, and two sessions on grant writing. Student confidence in and familiarity with targeted writing skills were assessed by self-evaluation questions administered immediately before and after each session. The workshop was determined to be effective at improving the confidence of participants regarding specific writing skills in the biomedical sciences, with all but two of the measures showing that the workshop had a large effect size. We conclude that a short, structured workshop can help improve the confidence and knowledge of pre- and postdoctoral writers, preparing them to better meet the writing challenges of their professional careers.
format	article
author	Emily Wortman-Wunder Inge Wefes
author_facet	Emily Wortman-Wunder Inge Wefes
author_sort	Emily Wortman-Wunder
title	Scientific Writing Workshop Improves Confidence in Critical Writing Skills among Trainees in the Biomedical Sciences
title_short	Scientific Writing Workshop Improves Confidence in Critical Writing Skills among Trainees in the Biomedical Sciences
title_full	Scientific Writing Workshop Improves Confidence in Critical Writing Skills among Trainees in the Biomedical Sciences
title_fullStr	Scientific Writing Workshop Improves Confidence in Critical Writing Skills among Trainees in the Biomedical Sciences
title_full_unstemmed	Scientific Writing Workshop Improves Confidence in Critical Writing Skills among Trainees in the Biomedical Sciences
title_sort	scientific writing workshop improves confidence in critical writing skills among trainees in the biomedical sciences
publisher	American Society for Microbiology
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/b0f63e9ba80949e7bdb433cebc84050c
work_keys_str_mv	AT emilywortmanwunder scientificwritingworkshopimprovesconfidenceincriticalwritingskillsamongtraineesinthebiomedicalsciences AT ingewefes scientificwritingworkshopimprovesconfidenceincriticalwritingskillsamongtraineesinthebiomedicalsciences
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Scientific Writing Workshop Improves Confidence in Critical Writing Skills among Trainees in the Biomedical Sciences

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