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PHYB10 Writing Assignment: Physics Experiment

Written scientific communication, e.g., formal lab reports, is an important skill. A useful way to improve writing skills is to read others’ excellent writing. And to practice.

In this assignment, students identify a current or recent important physics experiment and write a plain-language article explaining its purpose, method, data, and outcomes (or expected outcomes). This assignment will also involve an anonymous peer review, facilitated by Peer Scholar.

The submitted article should be understandable by a senior high school science student.

The topic must be related to physics research.

The experiment should ideally be something that connects with, contributes to, or engages in bigger picture questions. Can you articulate a clear and compelling story about the research?

If you are unsure how to start identifying a potential experiment, consider a sub-field of interest, such as general relativity, particle physics, quantum mechanics, condensed matter, earth & atmospheric physics, etc. and see what experiments are being done. For example, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory or the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory.

Students are encouraged to consult with the UTSC science librarian for this assignment. They can help identify resources.

Selecting the right experiment will make this assignment more enjoyable and meaningful. Look for something that interests you and that you want to tell people about.

You should cite (at least) two scientific journal articles about the experiment. You can also read and cite non-journal articles in addition.

Reminder: if you make use of other people’s work, you must cite it. If you copy other people’s work, that is plagiarism and is a serious academic offense.

A good example of this type of writing is astrobites, a website that posts plain language versions of astronomy and astrophysics journal articles. This is a slightly different task than focusing on a broader experiment, but the output is similar. It is recommended that students read one or more of these articles to better understand the expectations of this assignment.

Format Requirements:

§ The length should be 2.0 ± 0.5 pages.

§ Articles used must be cited with proper referencing. There is no required citation style; any recognized standard is fine. APA is common and suggested.

§ PDF format

Deadlines

There are three stages to this assignment:

1. Submit the assignment to Peer Scholar. Deadline: Oct. 09 [hard deadline]

2. Within Peer Scholar, review two of your classmates’ submissions and offer feedback on their work. Deadline: October 30

3. Submit your final version to Quercus Assignments, after reading and considering the feedback on the work from classmates. Deadline: November 13

Late penalty: N3 % per day, where N is the number of days late, for stage 2 or 3.

Important Note:

Failure to submit the assignment by the deadline for stage 1 will result in the loss of participation in the peer review process, worth 4% of the course grade. No late submissions will be accepted. This is a result of how the system itself works, i.e., it needs to take all the submissions and assign students to review others’ work. This does not work if you do not submit on time.

Peer Review Process

The class will perform a peer review of the writing assignment. This will model an important part of the scientific process. This provides an opportunity for students to improve their writing – both through helping other students and by receiving input from classmates.

“Review for others as you would have others review for you.” – McPeek et al., 2009

It is crucial to approach the peer review process with a constructive attitude.

As a reviewer, you are not formally assessing your classmates. Rather, you are offering feedback for improving their work. Be professional and helpful. This can involve a variety of comments, e.g., you should comment on what is good and effective as well as what could be changed.

You will be graded based on the quality of your feedback.

The peer review reports should be between half of a page and one page long.

Advice

It can be intimidating to review others’ work (and to have others review yours). The process is generally to read the piece, make notes along the way about what was difficult to understand/follow, what was good, places for improvements, and comments about the work in general. Don’t tell the author exactly how to revise the work, but you can offer ideas.

Don’t get bogged down if there are numerous spelling and grammar issues. In such cases, give a general comment about the need for spelling/grammar check, with a specific example or two.

Peer Review Grading

Students will provide feedback to two peers. This feedback will be evaluated by the instructor or TA once across both reviews. It will be worth 4% of the course grade and will be evaluated as follows:

Criterion                                                                                    Points

Quality and helpfulness of comments                                               6

Professionalism (e.g., tone)                                                              2

Thoroughness (was the entire assignment read?)                               1

Specificity & Balance (positive & areas for improvement)                     1

Total:                                                                                            10

Final Submission Evaluation

The assignment will be evaluated by the following:

Criterion                   Points

Clarity of writing (prose, grammar)          25

Flow of text & logical structure                 10

Accessibility of the writing, e.g., could a senior high school student understand it?                            20

Overall style and voice                          5

Accurate representation of the experiment’s science                            15

Clearly state the importance & implications of the research                        10

Properly used and formatted citations to relevant scientific papers (2+) and any other references.                                    10

Selected experiment is of an appropriate quality and topic                                     5

Total:                                                       100

Overall Assignment Grade

The final assignment submission will be worth 10% of the course grade.

The feedback provided to others’ work will be worth 6% of the course grade.