Genetics. Published Articles Ahead of Print: November 16, 2006, Copyright © 2006
doi:10.1534/genetics.106.066217


A more recent version of this article appeared on January 1, 2007.

GENETICS EDUCATION

Teaching how to prepare a manuscript by means of re-writing published scientific papers

Lubomir Tomaska 1*

1 Comenius University

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tomaska{at}fns.uniba.sk.

Submitted on September 25, 2006
Revised on October 18, 2006
Accepted on 18 October 2006


Abstract

The objective of the course described here is to train undergraduate students to write a scientific manuscript. The students participate on selection of a hot topic in contemporary genetics or molecular biology by choosing the most interesting paper of a given year. After the teacher provides all essential background about the selected subject, (s)he selects a recent article from the corresponding field and presents the students with all the necessary information contained in the paper without revealing its identity. The data presented in the paper are reviewed by the class so that each student understands every experiment and the main take-home messages of the work. Simultaneously, the students are informed about the basic rules of writing individual parts of a scientific paper. They are then asked to write and formally submit a manuscript summarizing the data. Finally, the students act as reviewers of their colleagues' manuscripts and compare their papers with the original published article. This enables them to identify both the strengths and weaknesses of their manuscripts and gain confidence about their writing skills that will be so critical for their future scientific activities.

Key Words: scientific paper, seminar, teaching