This course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to develop reading, writing and presentation skills that are now critical in career development and advancement in science. BIOL8291 will be taught as a series of workshops emphasizing scientific writing and communicating to a scientific audience through written work, oral and poster presentations. The course is tailored to provide peer-review and instructor feedback via in-class workshops and online assistance in order to improve the presentation skills of individual students. We also spend time exploring the range of research labs at the ANU, in particular, those investigating biological questions of personal interest to students.
Topics covered will include:
- Engaging in the peer-review process with classmates
- Preparing and presenting interesting scientific oral presentations
- Writing techniques applied to both popular and scientific outlets
- Planning a research project incorporating effective experimental design and statistics
- Preparing a scientific poster based on ANU research and participating in a poster symposium
- Effective use of ANU resources, including library, academic skills and career centre
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Demonstrate writing and referencing skills to communicate to scientific and general audiences.
- Critically read and interpret scientific journal articles in the fields of biology, biotechnology and neuroscience.
- Prepare and deliver oral presentations on scientific research.
- Prepare a scientific poster and present findings at a poster symposium.
- Critically analyse ANU scientific seminars.
- Analyse, critique, and reflect on your own work as well as others in the peer-review process.
Work Integrated Learning
Projects
Other Information
Please email rsb.studentadmin@anu.edu.au to request a permission code to enrol in this course.
Indicative Assessment
- Scientific Writing Article Summary (10) [LO 1,2]
- Journal Club Oral Presentation and Critique (20) [LO 2,3,6]
- Statistical Experimental Design Worksheet (5) [LO 2]
- News & Views Article (25) [LO 1,2]
- Poster Symposium (Poster and Presentation) (25) [LO 1,2,4]
- Seminar Logbook (10) [LO 1,2,5]
- Capstone reflection (5) [LO 1,6]
The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
The expected workload will consist of approximately 130 hours throughout the semester including:
- “Face-to face component” (Zoom live online and/or “face to face” meetings) which consists of:
- One 1 hour lecture per week via live interactive Zoom and recorded lectures (total 12 hours; 12-week semester)
- 12 workshops (1 per week x 2 hour workshops) of group interaction and activities with guest speakers (total 24 hours).
- Approximately 94 hours of self-directed study which will include preparation for lectures, extensive reading, writing and preparing for presentations and other assessment tasks.
Students are expected to actively participate and contribute towards discussions in workshops.
Inherent Requirements
No specific inherent requirements have been identified for this course
Requisite and Incompatibility
Prescribed Texts
Nil
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 2
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $4680 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $6720 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
First Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2689 | 17 Feb 2025 | 24 Feb 2025 | 31 Mar 2025 | 23 May 2025 | In Person | View |
Second Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7670 | 21 Jul 2025 | 28 Jul 2025 | 31 Aug 2025 | 24 Oct 2025 | In Person | N/A |