TRANSFORMING SCIENTIFIC WRITING SUCCESS FOR FIRST-YEAR BIOLOGY STUDENTS

Abstract

For many first-year undergraduate biology students, writing a scientific report can be an overwhelming and daunting experience. Transitioning to unfamiliar academic standards in higher education, coupled with a lack of prior experience, poses considerable challenges in adapting to communicating analyses and ideas through scientific writing. To support students through these assessments, we have developed comprehensive online resources, including instructional video guides and a customised self-directed online module aligned with our instructions and grading criteria.

Personalised one-on-one feedback sessions have been implemented to provide tailored support to students before the submission of their work. Feedback sessions were taken up by 50% of the cohort and had a positive impact on student performance with overall marks increasing by 10.6% for those who participated. Following the release of grades and written feedback, students had the option to participate in additional feedback sessions with instructors. This allowed students to seek clarification on their written feedback or to discuss a review of their mark. Our approach has demonstrated scalability for a large student cohort, has increased accessibility to instructors for individualised support and ensured consistency and fairness in our grading process.