Writing and reviewing an article for a scientific magazine - a peer/self assessment exercise

This exercise forms part of a second year module in research methods and scientific communication taught to classes of 60-90 bioscience students. Students can find such topics rather dry and as a result the taught sessions rely heavily on workbooks and worksheets to cover the syllabus which includes: locating and evaluating sources; primary and secondary literature; style and layout; the peer review system and its role in scientific publication; citation and referencing.

The assignment requires students to apply the knowledge they have gained in the taught sessions to a short exercise to satisfy the following learning outcomes:

• Use relevant methods to locate and interpret research information in the primary scientific literature.
• Use appropriate forms of scientific communication in this module and in other modules within the programme.