Writing Science

Art Martin Professor of

Biology

Winner of the 2022 Franc A. Landee Award for Excellence in Teaching

Dr. Art Martin received his Ph.D. at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and completed a postdoctoral fellow at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. His undergraduate research lab is interested in questions concerning social behavior, evolution, and freshwater ecology. Most of Dr. Martin’s labs’ current projects focus on the influence of resources on social structure and competition of crayfish, a keystone species in freshwater ecosystems. The lab has also been working on projects that address water quality in the Saginaw Bay region with the Environmental Science Institute at SVSU.Alongwiththebehavioral work,Dr.Martinhasworkedoncollaborative projects that focus on nutrient levels in the Saginaw Bay and its watershed.

Scientists work to acquire funding for their projects and to disseminate their findings to the public and scientific community. Developing as a proficient and skilled writer is something that all scientists continually work on throughout their entire careers. Scientists are flooded with an array ofwritingexperiences,includingconstructingadissertation/thesis,publishingmanuscripts,writing abstracts, and writing grants to obtain project funding. No matter the various career phase they are in (as graduate student, postdoctoral fellow, or professor), writing these types of documents are key components to their success. I feel that writing is a lifelong developmental process that can never achieve perfection, but we are always working diligently to improve and become stronger writers. I began my scientific writing process as a graduate student writing proposals and small grants to acquire funding for projects. As I progressed in my career, I began to write larger grants and manuscripts for publication. As a professor, I use my experiences and skill set to help our biology majors understand the importance of writing and some of the essential skills that will aid them as they grow as a writer.

Scientific writing often incorporates a unique framework that is structured around an idea and scientific methodology. Learning to tell a clear and relevant story within this framework is one of the challenges each scientist faces As a graduate student, I first learned how to design questions and research projects, and I then began to practice turning those projects into written format, such as manuscripts and grants. Some of the important manuscript characteristics that I continually practice and work on include flow of the manuscript, support of ideas with references, explanation of facts, incorporation of big picture concepts into the writing, and development of concise paragraphs and sections. These types of characteristics are important when writing to connect the details with big ideas and questions that persist in that discipline of study. The marrying of detailspecific science and big picture ideas is one of the more difficult skills to master as a writer and one of the hardest things to teach to new up-and-coming scientists.

Writing development historically has not always been a major focus in student training. To address this issue the Department of Biology has implemented a curriculum wide-change that incorporates more training on scientific methodology, processes, and writing skills. The core of our classesfor newbiologymajorsnowincludesassignmentsandactivitiesfocusedonhelpingstudents to develop these skills. This new approach to training students is threaded through our year-long Introduction to Ecology, Evolution, Diversity (BIOL 181) and Introduction to Cell and Molecular

Biology (BIOL 182) series to allow for structured skill activities. Also, Dr. David Karpovich and I teach Freshwater Science (BIOL 482), where we require the students to write comprehensive research papers from a series of projects that are carried out during the duration of the course. The design and expectation of the research papers is discussed throughout the duration of the course to help the students figure out the focus of their paper. Also, to address writing skills and techniques, wescheduleindividualmeetingstogoover anddiscussdraftsthat eachstudent writes.Duringthese meetings, we provide oral and written feedback on the scientific merit of the paper as well as how they communicatethe findings ofthe paper.We discuss the writingissues weidentify such as flow, transitions, the big picture, reference support, and explanations, as well as grammar and use of scientific terminology. This feedback enables student to continue to write their individual papers and seek solutions to the concerns that were addressed during the meeting. We provide reasoning and insight about the concerns and layout of each paper. Our goal is to help the students reflect on our concerns and questions, so that they find their own path forward in improving their papers. Writing is a skill that people strive to develop and improve throughout their entire careers. I try to impress upon my students that keys to improving as a writer include listening to and hearing critiquesandreflectingon eachpartof theirwriting.Aswriterswemustreflect ontheoverallpaper, document, or book. However, it is also important in scientific writing to revise many drafts that are each tweaked as you reflect on the flow, sentence structure, supporting evidence, and big picture of your work. Each paper is a journey that requires time, patience, and reflection.