Course Description
Course introduces the preparation of research and fellowship proposals as well as research papers. Considerations including the target audience, the significance, and the review process are emphasized.
Athena Title
Intro Writing Microbiologists
Non-Traditional Format
We seek to offer this course as a 1-credit short course, to meet during the first 5 weeks of the semester. It is a highly focused introduction that is geared specifically toward Microbiology graduate students.
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
S/U (Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory)
Course Objectives
A critical element of graduate training is to learn to write about one’s research, both in detail and in summary. This module provides a jump start in scientific writing. Students who complete this module will be able to summarize their studies and research goals in a broad scientific context and will be able to balance technical detail with overall significance and novelty.
Topical Outline
Introduction to proposal submission and review (how it works) Discussion and assignment of written NSF-style Fellowship proposal project Abstract due week 2, proposal due week 3 Introduction to manuscript submission and peer-review process How to select appropriate journals, editors, and reviewers Manuscript writing practice exercise (i.e., with mini-papers) and discussion with peers Discussion of summarizing (i.e., writing concise abstracts) and practice exercises Discussion of defining importance for target audiences and practice exercises Assign reviewers and distribute proposals Scientific writing for general audiences Importance, justification Practice with literature papers, peer research, and interview researcher Proposal panel discussion and peer-review
Syllabus