Celebration of Scholars
The evolution of writing center intervention for the growth of scientific writing skills
Name:
Chloe Guillaume
Major: Neuroscience
Hometown: Mount Vernon, IA
Faculty Sponsor: Andrea Henle
Other Sponsors: Dr. Heather Carroll
Type of research: Independent research
Name:
Grace Tews
Major: Neuroscience, Chemistry
Hometown: Freeport, IL
Faculty Sponsor: Andrea Henle
Other Sponsors: Dr. Heather Carroll
Type of research: Independent research
Abstract
Developing writing techniques and gaining the ability to report scientific findings are vitals skills for both scientists and students at Carthage College. To support this concept, writing fellows from the Brainard Writing Center developed and implemented a series of writing workshops to assist students with writing in the biological sciences, specifically in Cellular and Molecular Biology, an advanced writing-intensive course. Though previous results have failed to show statistical significance, they have suggested that writing center intervention is effective in improving scientific writing skills. To reassess the effectiveness of writing center intervention, the methodology for these workshops as well as their assessments has been updated. The writing center intervention provided to the students included feedback on lab report drafts and optional weekly workshops focused on writing scientifically. To measure the effectiveness of the intervention, lab reports were assessed for scientific writing proficiency according to a 7-point Likert Scale. Our preliminary results have indicated that writing center intervention in a writing-intensive natural science class is successful in developing stronger writers. The results from this study emphasize the importance of both writing center assistance as well as peer writing fellows in promoting students’ writing skills in the biological sciences.Submit date: April 3, 2020, 12:06 p.m.