Communication Across The Sciences

The aim of the course is to enhance the abilities of science students to recognize and employ effective skills and strategies for written and oral communication in both academic and public settings. On the one hand, the emphasis of this course is on basic micro skills in scientific communication such as searching academic databases, critically reading scientific texts, citing from sources, composing scientific arguments, and making effective presentations. On the other hand, it introduces you to the conventions of scientific texts such as annotated bibliographies and proposals that require a combination of informative, evaluative, and persuasive writing skills. In addition, you will have an opportunity to share your ideas with your peers through group discussions, in-class presentations on current scientific topics and poster presentations of your proposals. Using a pre-determined set of evaluation criteria, you will give feedback to your peers on the course assignments, under the supervision of your tutors. The course will culminate with a poster presentation session where you will present your proposals to the wider scientific community in your schools for an authentic communication experience. Through this course, it is hoped that you will become better communicators when conveying your scientific ideas in writing and speech to your peers and an educated audience.