Developing writing in STEM disciplines

The Perspectives on Writing series addresses writing studies in a broad sense. Consistent with the wide ranging approaches characteristic of teaching and scholarship in writing across the curriculum, the series presents works that take divergent perspectives on working as a writer, teaching writing, administering writing programs, and studying writing in its various forms. INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES ON THE STUDY OF WRITING Series Editors, Terry Myers Zawacki, Magnus Gustafsson, and Joan MullinThe International Exchanges on the Study of Writing Series publishes book-length manuscripts that address worldwide perspectives on writing, writers, teaching with writing, and scholarly writing practices, specifically those that draw on scholarship across national and disciplinary borders to challenge parochial understandings of all of the above. The series aims to examine writing activities in 21st-century contexts, particularly how they are informed by globalization, national identity, social networking, and increased cross-cultural communication and awareness. As such, the series strives to investigate how both the local and the international inform writing research and the facilitation of writing development.viiiContents Chapter 27 . Building Research Capacity through an AcLits-Inspired Pedagogical Framework .

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Who wants to be able to do references properly and be unemployed? STEM student writing and employer needs

Appleby¹,

Roberts²,

Barnes³

et al. 2012

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The issue of graduate writing is one that has attracted much focus and debate in higher education, particularly around maintaining Ã¢â¬Ëacademic standardsÃ¢â¬â¢ at a time of expansion in this sector. The need to develop academic skills, including writing, for higher education study has increasingly been linked to the skills that graduates need to gain employment (Davies et al., 2006). This raises the question of whether the type and purpose of writing within university programmes is different to, and possibly in tension with, writing required for employment after university. This is a point raised by recent research (Day, 2011) which shows that students studying STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) subjects are more confident with oral rather than writing skills. The material discussed in this article is part of a two-year mixed method study looking at literacies, including writing, which undergraduate students develop at university, and the relationship of these literacies to employability. This article focuses on six first-year STEM students studying Forensic Science and Computing Science within the larger study. The qualitative data, gathered through repeat interviews, is discussed in relation to a small sample of employers and alumni working in science-based industries describing writing for transition into work and for on-going employment. The project therefore provides a useful student insight into writing, comparing this with employer expectations and the experience of alumni who have made the transition into work. What emerges from our study is the need to see writing at university as part of a wider communicative repertoire supported by a social and cultural approach to situated writing. This approach is more than simply skills based and is one that encourages and develops social as well as academic learning. We argue that such an approach, added to by technical skills support, enables greater engagement and success with learning in addition to enhancing employability.

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Developing writing in STEM disciplines

Cited by 3 publications

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Academic Writing for Publication Transforming Postgraduate Engineering Pedagogies

Academic Writing for Publication Transforming Postgraduate Engineering Pedagogies

Academic Literacies and the Employability Curriculum: Resisting Neoliberal Education?

Who wants to be able to do references properly and be unemployed? STEM student writing and employer needs

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