PHR 487Q Syllabus Oral and Written Communication Skills for Scientists

Transcription

1 PHR 487Q Syllabus Oral and Written Communication Skills for Scientists Summer, 2012 Dr. Carlton Erickson Unique #93685 PHR 4.220C ( ) MT 4:30-6:30 pm, PHR SESSION TOPIC 1. June 4 Syllabus Review, Why Excellent Communication is Important, Basic Principles of Public Speaking 2. June 5 Non-scripted Speaking, Gentle Evaluations, Reducing Fear, Goal-Setting, Homework Plans (for journal articles and grant proposals) 3. June 11 Oral Presentations (#1, Personal Goals) (Title and Abstract; Specific Aims) 4. June 12 How to Write a Journal Article/Grant Proposal, Reference tools 5. June 18 How to Write a Journal Article/Grant Proposal (continued) (Introduction; Background and Significance) 6. June 19 Basic Rules of Writing, How to Reduce Writer s Block, Editing Tips 7. June 25 No class work on outline of your article/proposal 8. June 26 Videos on How to Prepare an Excellent Presentation (Methods; Research Design and Methods) 9. July 2 Oral Presentations # 2 Rounds 1, 2 (Results; Expected Results) 10. July 3 Oral Presentations # 2 - Rounds 3, July 9 Oral Presentations # 2 Rounds 5, 6 (Discussion; Limitations) 12. July 10 Grant Review; Correcting Your Writing; In-class Editing Guidance 13. July 16 Oral Presentations # 3 - Rounds 1, July 17 Oral Presentations # 3 Rounds 3, July 23 Oral Presentations # 3 Rounds 5, July 24 The Evaluation Process, How to Deal with Editors, Reviewers, and Live Audiences (Final Document Due) 17. July 30 Oral Presentations # 4 - Rounds 1, July 31 Oral Presentations # 4 Rounds 3, Aug. 6 Oral Presentations # 4 Rounds 5, 6 (Toastmasters Evaluation Due) 20. Aug. 7 How to be a Great Communicator on Radio, TV and Other Venues; Last Session (00) Aug 10 Final Grades sent to students via (Sections in BOLD indicate homework due dates, as described in lecture. Sections before the semicolon are for those students writing a journal article; after the semicolon are for those students writing an NRSA proposal.) Note 1: The prerequisite for this course is English proficiency equivalent to Graduate School requirements for teaching assistants, and the Graduate School language course for foreign students. This is for the good of the student whose first language is not English. (Note: Students who have difficulty speaking/writing/understanding English may have difficulty in this course. Students who cannot perform the assignments well because of problems with English may receive a lower grade.) Note 2: The required text, the content of which is critical for the homework assignments, is Hofmann, A.H. Scientific Writing and Communication, Oxford University Press, New York (2010) (Paperback is ~ $25.)

2 2 Note 3: A highly-recommended text is Ogden, T.E. and Goldberg, I.A., Research Proposals: A Guide to Success, Academic Press, San Diego, CA, Third edition (2002). (Paperback, about $45 new) Former students have reported that this is extremely helpful for writing grant applications. COURSE OBJECTIVES At the end of this course the student will be able to: 1. speak and write more clearly, based upon a review of grammar and an emphasis on simplicity and clearer thinking; 2. evaluate (in a non-threatening manner) the written and oral presentations of others; 3. effectively organize and write a scientific document in a style that will enhance the probability of writing a) successful grant applications and b) outstanding research documents that will receive successful review and publication in the best scientific journals; 4. write any important document in a manner that will enhance one s reputation through a demonstration of precision, logic, and clarity of writing; 5. effectively plan and execute an oral presentation suitable for an audience of peers, the general public, or any other appropriate group of listeners (note in this course we do not give speeches, we give presentations that have creativity, flair, and technical excellence); 6. enhance one s scientific reputation through a higher quality of written and oral presentations, using knowledge of the audience, practice, and confidence through planning; and 7. give an oral presentation of higher quality than scientists who have not had such communication skills training; i.e., the presentation will be notable for its organization, speaker confidence, and (when appropriate) entertainment style. Grades will be determined as follows: Points Scale: Toastmaster Meeting Attendance & Eval = A Excellence Award = B Peer, Self, & Course Evaluation Completion = C Homework (on time) = D Improvement on Presentations 30 < 65 = F Document Quality 30 Total 100 (Note: Plus and minus letter grades will not be used in this course, since grading has a subjective component.) Dishonesty on providing falsely-inflated peer review scores, signing false attendance forms for Toastmasters, plagiarism of other students or scientists work, or collaborating on the written document will not be tolerated and will be penalized by a Failing grade in the course. Attendance: An absence must be excused (written documentation to the instructor) if a student cannot give a scheduled presentation or evaluation. As will be apparent, absences are disruptive of the published presentation schedule, since all students are involved in every class session. Excellence Award. Points will be given whenever a student wins a best presentation, best Quik Topic, or best evaluation award (10% of grade). There will be a limit on the number of

3 awards that a student may win, and two awards (out of approximately 44 chances) will qualify for the 10-point Excellence Award. 3 Peer Review Written and Oral Evaluations. Friendly written and oral evaluations of other students (peers) are a part of this course. This is an excellent opportunity to learn how to listen and to help others improve their presentations. Editing. Helping other students in the course to improve their writing skills is an excellent way to learn how to write effectively, and is a prelude to becoming a sought-after peer reviewer of scientific articles and grant applications. Students will edit other students homework, using tips taught in class. Course Evaluation. Each student must fill out and turn in the final course evaluation. Improvement in presentation skills is a major grading factor (30%) in this course. Dr. Erickson will give improvement scores based upon a) average scores from peer evaluations, b) his scores from evaluations of the student's presentations, and c) a subjective factor for ability to improve (e.g., if the first presentation is of high quality, later presentations will have a lower potential for improvement). The primary question to be answered with respect to improvement will be, Is the student following the principles of excellent communication taught in class? In general, students showing the most improvement will receive the highest scores. There will be multiple opportunities for non-scripted speaking in this course. All students are required to participate in non-scripted speaking exercises (Quik-Topics), which will occur mostly during the last three Oral Presentation sessions. Improvement in non-scripted speaking will be a subjective component of the improvement grade in this class. Last Session (August 7). During the Last Session, students will have an opportunity for bonus points by participating in a Quik-Topics Blitz. A student may earn up to 5 bonus points by this mechanism. A brief review, the course evaluation, and student awards are also scheduled at this time. All students are required to attend this session. Presentation Topics. Students must give four oral presentations during the course. The first oral presentation (4-6 minutes) will be on the topic What are My Life s Goals? and no audio-visual equipment can be used. The second oral presentation (5-7 minutes) will be on a general science topic of the student s choice (no data allowed), in language that can be easily understood by all members of the class. The third oral presentation (8-10 minutes) will be on the journal article or NRSA proposal written in class, simplified so that students who are not specialists in the scientific area can understand. The fourth oral presentation will be an improved repeat of the third oral presentation, which will fulfill the requirement for a Type I seminar for the Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology. A-V equipment is required only during the last two presentations. All presentations will be videotaped so that the student can learn from self-evaluation (which will be written and turned in). All students are expected to attend the presentations of others so that they can peer-evaluate the presentations. Student presentations will be given on the days indicated, according to a schedule provided by Dr. Erickson. Students are encouraged to see Dr.

4 4 Erickson for individual tips on improving any presentation. (Note: Dr. Erickson must be consulted before preparing the fourth presentation. Failure to do so will result in a penalty of 5 points on the presentation score. Please make an appointment via . Consultation with Dr. Erickson before other presentations is optional, but encouraged.) Class sessions. Class sessions during which student presentations are being given will be mock toastmasters-style meetings (except for presentation #1). Dr. Erickson and student volunteers will serve as Toastmasters, and during each session there will be three timed presentations, several "Quik-Topics" (non-scripted speaking), and three oral evaluations. A master schedule will be given to the students no later than June 19. If a student has any class period conflicts, please let Dr. Erickson know immediately so that he will not schedule you for that period. (All absences must be excused, with Dr. Erickson informed before the affected class period.) Toastmasters. All students are required to attend a Toastmasters International meeting sometime during the semester (ideally in July), and to write up a 500-word evaluation of the meeting - its strengths and weaknesses. This is an excellent opportunity to pick up tips on how to give a presentation, how to do non-scripted speaking (watching Table Topics), and how to evaluate other speakers. Times and places of Toastmasters meetings in Austin are available on the Toastmasters website ( Within a week of attending a meeting, a properly signed form stapled to the meeting evaluation must be presented to Dr. Erickson to confirm attendance; each student must turn in a separate form; i.e., multiple names on a form will not be accepted. The form and written evaluation of the meeting are due no later than August 6 (10% of grade). Homework. Homework deadlines are given in the lecture schedule. These are designed to allow each student to build a journal article (or a grant proposal that precedes formal research) throughout the semester, and to use the final product for producing the third oral presentation. Turning two copies of each homework assignment in on time will produce full credit as indicated below (10% of the grade). At the beginning of each class session in which homework is due, students will one copy to Dr. Erickson and give one hard copy to another student in the class, in random fashion. Edited homework assignments will be returned to each student at the beginning of the next class period (see Peer Review, Editing above). Students are expected to carefully consider editorial comments of peers and Dr. Erickson, and to question each editor about any comments that are not understood. Students are encouraged to personally see Dr. Erickson to discuss editorial comments. Failure to do so is an indication that the student is making changes in the document without knowing the reasons for the changes. Document Content and Quality. The quality of the final written document turned in at the end of the semester, on time (July 24), will be a major factor (30%) in the final course grade. The student may choose which document to write: 1. Journal article Students who choose this will write portions of the journal article throughout the semester, building a journal article step-by-step in a format of the student s choosing (i.e. the student must choose a journal for the article, download the Instructions to Authors, and then follow the instructions as required - usually in the format: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion). The article should include either real data already gathered by the student, data borrowed from a faculty member in the student s division, or made up data patterned after the types of data found in an article in the chosen journal (caution: if the student chooses this

5 option, this is the only time in his/her career where data can be made up; also, be careful of plagiarism!) 5 2. NRSA proposal Some divisions (e.g., Pharm/Tox, check your Division graduate student handbook) require a National Research Service Award (NRSA) proposal for their Qualifying (Candidacy) Examination. This choice will be best for second-year students who have already given some thought to their dissertation research, although any student can write a proposal by learning how to write the following sections: Specific Aims, Background and Significance, Research Design and Methods, Expected Results, Limitations. Note: In this course, you do not need to have pilot data to write this proposal. Details to follow Each homework submission should have the following information on the page: Student name, (indicate) journal article or NRSA proposal, name of homework assignment (title and abstract, introduction, etc.), and date submitted. Also, it should be doublespaced with the pages numbered. If the student has chosen to write a journal article, a copy of the Instructions to the Authors should be submitted to Dr. Erickson with the first homework assignment (electronically). Note: on all electronic submissions, please include your last name on the electronic document, along with the title of the submission (Specific Aims, title and abstract, introduction, etc.) no course number, no date, no extra labels. For example: Erickson.Abstract.docx. A revision of a homework assignment would be labeled: Erickson.AbstractR.docx. Grading of the article/proposal in this course will be determined by writing qualities only (not content). These writing qualities include the following: attention to instructions, appropriate format, attention to detail, and writing style (i.e., appropriate length, proper active/passive voice, proper tense, and overall readability). Students wanting feedback on content should ask their Research Directors or a member of their Division.