Most undergraduate students find reading research articles to be a daunting task. However, reading and extracting relevant information from scientific literature is a skill required in many biology courses. To make research articles more approachable, I have designed short weekly activities that guide students through how to find peer-reviewed sources and introduce students to different parts of a research article. During the first half of the semester students complete a short research article related activity every week. The first set of activities focus on teaching students how to find peer-reviewed articles, the purpose of an abstract and how to use an abstract to determine if the research article is relevant to their project. The second set of activities guide students through the process of identifying relevant information from different parts of a research article. During the semester students also complete two short writing exercises that require them to extract and paraphrase information from research articles to write the background section of a research report or a poster. For both writing exercises, students first submit rough drafts and are given the opportunity to update their background sections based on feedback they receive. During the workshop, participants will work through the research article related activities and then discuss ways to incorporate some or all of these activities into their own courses.
Keywords: Scientific literature, Literature review, Novice students
University of Manitoba (2025)
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