Communication Learning Objectives/General science communication

General science communication:

Knowledge

Identify, and restate in your own words, the thesis statement in a piece of writing

Define the different types of plagiarism and avoid plagiarism

Identify different audiences of scientific information

Recognize when it is appropriate to use the different types of scientific literature such as primary literature, reviews, and textbooks

Know that there are many different, commonly used citation styles, and that these can be managed with a citation manager such as RefWorks

Understand

Discuss reasons scientists communicate (or should communicate) their work

Discuss the role of governments, industry, and other stakeholders in communicating science

Explain how scientific research is published (including the peer review process, open-access journals, and the embargo system)

Identify some common misconceptions of science

Explain what is at stake if scientific research/information is communicated poorly

Apply

Apply writing best practices regarding: clarity, succinct writing, topic sentences and paragraph structure, passive vs. active voice, metaphors, jargon

Avoid committing the different types of plagiarism in science writing

Locate relevant information in scientific publications

Apply different citation styles using citation manager software such as RefWorks

Analyze

Explain what is done well (and what isn’t) in examples of different styles of science writing

Evaluate

Give feedback on peers' writing

Decide what aspects of peer feedback to incorporate into your writing

Evaluate sources of scientific information possible origins of scientific misconceptions and how they might be addressed

Create

Organize scientific information from a variety of sources to produce different written work (research papers, essays, journalistic articles, blog posts etc.)