Abstract
Lay summaries are commonly written by researchers in many disciplines to translate technical scientific concepts into language that can be understood by general audiences. In our first-year introductory biology course, we employed a write-to-learn pedagogy by incorporating a lay summary-style writing assignment that encouraged students to explain the major results of a journal article in their own words, a format we referred to as “blog-style” for our students. We chose to use this format to allow students to focus on understanding, defining and explaining key scientific terminology, without regurgitating technical jargon. Students selected and read a scientific journal article connected to a biotechnology topic at the start of the semester and were given worksheets to complete throughout the semester that guided them in the reading of their article. We also offered in-class workshops that focused on best practices for reading journal articles, how to write for a general audience, and how to avoid plagiarism. Students then composed two-page, lay style summaries highlighting some of the key findings of the articles that they read. This assignment resulted in many students producing engaging, well-written papers that allowed them to demonstrate meaningful understanding of some of the technical terminology and concepts in their articles.
- Journal
- Prompt: A Journal of Academic Writing Assignments
- Published
- 2024-02-15
- DOI
- 10.31719/pjaw.v8i1.141
- CompPile
- Search in CompPile ↗
- Open Access
- OA PDF Gold
- Topics
- Export
- BibTeX RIS
Citation Context
Cited by in this index (0)
No articles in this index cite this work.
References (0)
No references on file for this article.
Related Articles
-
Computers and Composition Jun 2026“Article laundry” or “tutor in pocket?”: Multilingual writers’ generative AI-assisted writing in professional settings ↗Qianqian Zhang-Wu
-
Written Communication Mar 2026Matthew Overstreet; Silvia Vaccino-Salvadore; Diana Akhmedjanova
-
Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Dec 2025Huu Phuoc Tran
-
Writing and Pedagogy Dec 2025Trusting Each Other, Trusting Machines: Undergraduate Students’ Perceptions of Copresence Afforded by Writing Technologies, Networked Platforms, and Generative AI in Their Academic Writing Practices ↗Tracey Bowen; Kate Maddalena; Carl Whithaus
-
Communication Design Quarterly Sep 2025Jacob D. Richter