Students will be able to write effectively in multiple contexts within the discipline.
One of my first writing assignments was for a class called Intro to Genetics and Cell Biology. For this assignment, we were tasked with writing a lab report that detailed our work throughout the semester. It had to include any relevant background information, our research, methods, and results, and a discussion. This mirrors what I now know to be a research style paper rather than just a lab report. It was my first experience keeping track of and then compiling information and data from work that spanned a number of months. I remember being intimidated at first, but that experience was important and beneficial to all of the writing I had to do in the following years.
Later in my time at Longwood, I was faced with a new style of scientific writing; a literature review paper. One of the first times I had to write a review paper was in a class called Sophomore Seminar. I chose to write my review paper on human involvement in coral reef decline. Prior to this, I only ever had to review enough literature to come up with a compelling introduction for other writing assignments. This was my first experience compiling enough literature to span an entire paper and drawing conclusions from the information I presented. I also thought this style of writing was intimidating at first, mostly due to the sheer amount of information that is available on any given topic. Though I know now how to refine my literature searches, I wouldn’t have made as much progress with this style of writing had I not done this assignment.
Yet another style of writing that I have been faced with was a research proposal. My experience with this style did not come until my final semester here at Longwood in a class called Senior Capstone in Biology. I wrote my research proposal on a new, potential treatment for COVID-19. This was a lot like the literature reviews I have had to write throughout my time here, but it felt like it carried a lot more weight due to the fact that the goal was to get our (hypothetical) research funded. One thing that was new to me with this style of writing was trying to find a gap in the already established research that needed to be explored more. I remember spending hours upon hours reading research papers trying to find an unanswered question. I feel as though this assignment really helped me to practice and improve my confidence in literature research, writing, and even experimental design. I only wish I had more practice writing this type of paper.
As a scientist, it is extremely important to be able to communicate your work in a number of different ways. Each style of writing comes with its own benefits, and it important to know how to write effectively in every one of them. Thanks to my extensive exposure and practice in scientific writing, I am confident that I will be able to communicate my ideas and my work in any context moving forward.