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In
this project, each student plays the role of a medical journalist assigned
to convey an exciting new biomedical discovery recently published as a
primary article for the readership of a popular publication like The New
York Times or Time magazine. The underlying goal is to learn skills that
communicate the biological relevance of a primary article in simple, written
language. Students write about the same primary research paper used for
journal club, so they are already familiar with its content. I require
each student to submit a 1200-word paper written in jargon-free language
that captures the biological relevance of the paper, describes the experimental
results simply but without compromising the scientific content, and discusses
how it has advanced biomedical knowledge. Because I pre-selected
all primary articles for clear public relevance, the students could concentrate
their efforts more on breaking down the science and simplifying the language.
Students also present a figure depicting a biological model at the cellular
level that highlights the new discovery being reported. However, unlike
in actual popular science journalism articles, students are required to
cite primary articles, review articles, books, or other sources within
the text for background information provided in the paper or in discussing
the article with other published findings (between 7-10 references is typical).
Although this as an individual assignment, student groups are encouraged
to collaborate on all aspects of research leading to writing the paper.
I provide examples of recent journalism articles that appear in the Chicago
Tribune or Time magazine. I place Science Times Book of the Brain on library
reserves because it is an excellent collection of articles written by noted
science journalists.
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