Development and Implementation of a Scientific Writing Course for Undergraduate STEM Students

Abstract

Undergraduate students in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) are regularly encouraged and instructed to develop and write an original research paper in their field of expertise. Some undergraduate students, however, may lack the essential skills and strategies to write a research paper/manuscript of a quality suitable for possible publication in a peer-reviewed journal. A sixteen-week writing course was developed for STEM undergraduate students to improve their presentation and writing skills toward increasing their chances of publishing a research article in a peer-reviewed journal. This paper is a report describing a scientific undergraduate writing course (established across a variety of disciplinary STEM fields) and its evaluation based on scoring rubrics and the instructor’s oral feedback advice to the students. It was designed and implemented using teaching strategies aligned with pedagogical and learning theories addressing three domains: developmental planning, pedagogical planning, and implementation planning. Pedagogical strategies utilized the Visual, Aural, Read/Write, Kinesthetic (VARK) model and multimodal skills. Implementation of the course content includes using an academic student writing center, oral presentations of the student’s research project for the midterm and final course evaluations, and ongoing constructive feedback from the instructor. Undergraduate students showed an increase in their understanding of developing and presenting their proposed research in their respective fields. These strategies have demonstrated a positive outcome in reaching the course goals for STEM undergraduate students during this initial phase of the course development and can be designed and adapted across other academic disciplines. We urge others to implement a similar format for undergraduate STEM courses.