Using the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Proposal to Train Original Scientific Writing Skills in First-Year Graduate Students: A Demonstrated Project at the University of Iowa

Abstract

Advanced scientific communication skills are highly desired for academic and nonacademic career professionals but are insufficiently developed in many graduate students. Because students with undergraduate degrees have inconsistent training and variable skill levels in advanced scientific communication, first-year graduate students can benefit from intentional training of these skills through coursework. This case study provides an educational framework to implement a research proposal assignment modeled after the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) application. We detail the assignment implementation in a first-year graduate-level technical course (class size of around 20 students), including project rubrics, timelines, and explanations of iterative peer review tasks. Project goals included training advanced scientific communication skills, collaborating across disciplines through iterative peer review, and providing opportunity for first-year students to engage in their original research work at an early stage. Self-reported student responses and outcomes collected over 4 years of project implementation implicated improvements in perceived competence due to the assignment for the following skills: communicating technical topics to a broad audience, developing testable hypotheses, and original scientific writing. The writing assignment also likely supported timely and high-quality applications to the NSF GRFP. Despite self-reported gains in critical skills and bolstering fellowship applications, student responses also indicated that more training in advanced scientific communication skills may be necessary. Thus, we suggest inclusion of writing projects across multiple courses in graduate curricula. Using the provided educational framework, instructors can design other projects that develop critical competencies for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math graduate students and their future careers in and beyond an academic setting.