(184c) Using Technical Articles to Teach Entering Graduate Students the Role of Journal Articles in Research

Many entering graduate students are unaware of the role of journal articles in research and are not informed about the article submission process. Although this knowledge is important to their careers, it is rarely included in formal training. While technical articles are often used in graduate classes, they are most often used to convey technical information. In addition to discussing the technical points of a paper, the objective of this work is to incorporate training on the role of technical articles in research and the article submission process.

To implement this, students are assigned technical articles to read and are required to discuss them in class. Since studies have shown that students retain more information through active learning than through passive learning, class discussion is used to encourage reading and active participation. To aid students in understanding the role of technical papers, there are many concepts that are discussed including why researchers read articles, why the articles exist, the different types of articles and journals, and the criteria for publication.

This in-class discussion of technical articles has been implemented in a graduate level thermodynamics course in chemical engineering. Since thermodynamics is one of the required core courses for the first-year graduate students, it provides an opportunity to prepare entering graduate students for research. This approach was assessed using an initial survey at the beginning of the semester and a final survey at the end of the semester. Results of the assessment are presented.

References

P. J. Hill (speaker), ?Introducing Technical Articles to Graduate Students Through Active Learning? presented at the Southeast Regional ASEE meeting, Chattanooga, TN, April 2005.