University of Colorado SMART Program Workshop:

Reading Scientific Literature and Writing Research Proposals

June 8, 2007

Workshop leader: Marie Boyko

boyko@colorado.edu

Website for handouts:

http://www.colorado.edu/intphys/ iphy1950/SMART/handouts.html

Why these workshops?

• To help you produce your communications deliverables this summer

• To help you develop skills for later--applying to grad school, writing for publication, presenting at conferences, etc.

Agenda

• A poll of your experience with reading and writing in science

• Key concepts for reading and writing science

• Reading scientific articles

• Writing research proposals

We presume you already know

• Parts of speech• Types and parts of sentences (phrases, clauses,

types of clauses)• Sentence grammar

A resource: The online writing lab at Purdue University: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

The only sentence-level writing skills

we will touch on:

• Active/passive

• Present/past

• Data as a plural word

• Punctuating however, therefore, and although

• Using and referencing sources

Reading the STEM literature

• Know what type of article you are reading

• Find the specific focus• Know how the specific research fits into

a context• Recognize subtle argument

The specific focus can take many forms

• Hypothesis

• Purpose or objective

• Research question

• Specific aims

Reading Activities

• Passages #1&2: What is the difference in type between these 2 articles?

• Passage #1: What is the specific focus of this article? Phrase it as a question.

• Passage #3: What is the specific focus of this study, and what is the context to which it contributes?

• Your article: What is the specific focus, and how is it expressed? If it is not expressed as a research question, reword it as one.

Scientific writing is persuasive, not didactive

• Proposals• Research reports• Comprehensive exams and

dissertations

Expert writing is goal-based, not topic-based

• Ask yourself the right question before you begin to write

• Expert writing goals have 2 parts:– A verb expressing a transaction with your

reader/evaluator– A noun describing the content you must include

Expert goals for research proposals

(for your own project ideas)

From Inouye and Fiellin, 2005: An evidence-based guide to writing grant proposals for clinical research, Annals of Internal Medicine, 142, 274-

282 (p. W-31).

For next week’s workshop:

• Answers to questions about writing practices in your laboratory

• A professional, public draft of your research proposal