The science laboratory report, a staple of science instruction across all educational levels, can be syntactically and lexically challenging for both native and nonnative speakers of English. Because mastery of the science report genre in Western societies relies on internalized knowledge of the structure of the science report as well as on the…

An approach is described that gradually transitions second-year organic chemistry students to writing full "The Journal of Organic Chemistry" ("JOC") style lab reports. The primary goal was to introduce students to and build rhetorical skills in scientific and technical writing. This was accomplished by focusing on four main…

This qualitative study surveyed 102 differential-equations students in order to investigate how students participating in writing projects in university-level mathematics courses perceive the benefits of writing in the mathematics classroom. Based on previous literature on writing in mathematics, students were asked specifically about the benefits…

The ability to write concise and accurate scientific reports is highly valued in university level science. From reflection on marking student final year reports, it was apparent that many students have had insufficient practice at writing complete "scientific paper" style reports by that time, although some do it very well. This is a previously…

The ability to use literature effectively is essential to provide context and interpret results for any research project. Undergraduate students in geographical disciplines are regularly required to produce research reports, yet formal training in effective literature use is minimal. In this study students were taught effective literature use…

The restricted time allocated to courses and the immediate need to read literature in English necessitates the teaching of selective reading in many English as a foreign language contexts. This paper reports on one element of an expeditious (quick, effective, efficient and selective) reading course for learners in an English for Academic Purposes…

A wiki was used as part of a blended learning approach to promote collaborative learning among students in a first year university statistics class. One group of students analysed a data set and communicated the results by jointly writing a practice report using a wiki. A second group analysed the same data but communicated the results in a…

Discusses a unit on technical writing which was taught as part of a high school composition course. (DD)

Describes a conference-planning project for a report writing class and suggests assignments for teaching the writing of persuasive reports. (KS)

The most effective way to help students improve their writing is for one person to carefully read another's manuscript and then comment at length to the author during an interview. Therefore, in a course on technical writing developed for undergraduates at the University of Minnesota, the primary method of instruction is the individual conference…

Discusses a proposal writing project in a technical writing course, in which students develop and actually submit a proposal for possible implementation. (GW)

Relates how experience writing technical documents yielded insight into the nature of the problems attending the composition of technical discourse. (JL)

In technical writing classes writing can come alive to students, because in such classes students are knowledgeable about their subjects and can simulate writing to real audiences in business and industry rather than only to teachers. Students practice writing within determined and specified formats and to a standard style in response to…