teaching with writing

research strategies in biological sciences

When students move from lab reports to researched scientific reports, they are not only expanding their pool of evidence, but also targeting a broad audience. This latter change requires writers to provide more introductory material (abstracts, context, history, definitions). In researched science writing, students are also moving past their own observations and primary research to sift through and integrate data compiled by others. Learning how to read these other materials with a discerning eye and then incorporate germane data into their reports will take practice, and at times, explicit modeling.

• Quickstudy: Library Research Guide: a series of online tutorials designed to help students become familiar with research at the University. 
  
  
• Agriculture, Biology, Ecology-specific Research Guide: a LUMINA-site offering advice about resources, books, and writing guides particular to biology, cell-biology, plant-biology, ecology, biochemistry, among other distinct disciplines within biological sciences.
  
  
• CourseLib: a service provided by University of Minnesota librarians that enables instructors to build and post customized, course-specific research pages.
  
  
• Magrath Library: a library on the St. Paul campus containing resources specific to the biological science disciplines including genetics, ecology, and plant biology.
  
  
• The Bio-Medical Library: a library containing resources specific to biochemistry and other disciplines within the biological sciences.
  
  
• Documentation formats:
  
  
  • Writer's Handbook at the University of Wisconsin-Madison: a site outlining two forms of documentation including the Council of Biology Editors (CBE) manual and the Scientific Style and Format.
    
    
  • Council of Science Editors (CSE): a documentation format requiring in-text citations and a reference list at the conclusion of the document.

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