Westville

Communication in Science (SCOM101)

 Course Outline

 Communication in Science offers students explicit development of proficiency in academic English and scientific literacy for tertiary studies. The course involves the teaching of academic literacies using science content extracted from science journals and text books. In semester one, the focus is on academic scientific readings and writing literacies for the scientific essay genre. Students are expected to engage with the prescribed readings and contribute to class discussions. The course focuses on literacies such as summarising, paraphrasing and mind/concept mapping. Students are given intensive practice in referencing conventions appropriate for academic science writing. There is focus on relevant grammar for scientific essays. The course also involves the process of drafting whereby students are guided and assisted in the writing process through feedback. This process enables students to improve their submission and gain practice in revising, self-editing and proofreading.  Assessment is in the form of assignments, tests and quizzes.