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Microbiology

Texas A&M University-San Antonio

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Assessment Of Student Skills For Critiquing Published Primary Scientific Literature: Using A Primary Trait Analysis Scale, Manuel F. Varela, Marvin M.F. Lutnesky, Marcy P. Osgood May 2005

Assessment Of Student Skills For Critiquing Published Primary Scientific Literature: Using A Primary Trait Analysis Scale, Manuel F. Varela, Marvin M.F. Lutnesky, Marcy P. Osgood

Biology Faculty Publications

Instructor evaluation of progressive student skills in the analysis of primary literature is critical for the development of these skills in young scientists. Students in a senior or graduate-level one-semester course in Immunology at a Masters-level comprehensive university were assessed for abilities (primary traits) to recognize and evaluate the following elements of a scientific paper: Hypothesis and Rationale, Significance, Methods, Results, Critical Thinking and Analysis, and Conclusions. We tested the hypotheses that average recognition scores vary among elements and that scores change with time differently by trait. Recognition scores (scaled 1 to 5), and differences in scores were analyzed using …