HRS 950A Scientific Writing

Prerequisites: HRS-960, RS-910, RS-920. Pass/Fail only and Audit option available.PhD students enter our program with varying knowledge and experience with scientific writing, a critical dissemination skill for clinical scientists. HRS-950a will be a required course for all incoming PhD Rehabilitation Science students in their first year of PhD studies to better prepare them for engaging in scientific writing and to provide the foundation for the three required dissertation manuscripts. Until this year, students were required to take a 3-credit Foundations of the Craft of Teaching course (HRS-950) in the second term of study to prepare them for a mentored Teaching Practicum (RS-951), usually completed in the second year. For students entering in Fall 2024 and beyond, we moved the Craft of Teaching course from Spring of Y1 to Spring Y2 and now aim to condense this 3-credit course to 2 credits, repurposing the 1 credit to this new scientific writing course. This change was driven by feedback from research mentors and students related to the effectiveness and timing of curriculum in preparing students for dissertation work. The emphasis on preparing students to teach was taking priority in years 1 and 2 and slowing progress in acquiring fundamental writing and research skills. We elected to move the teaching course (and it's required teaching practicum) from years 1-2 to years 2-4, when students' career goals/priorities are clearer and foundational research and scientific writing skills are in place.

Credits

1