• Ironwood Writer's Workshop

    Concision. Clarity. Consistency.

    Scientists communicate their results in peer-review journal articles and books. This crucial aspect of becoming a scientist requires clear expression, including writing a research question, evaluating the rationale for one's research purpose with regard to pre-existing literature, providing enough methodological information for replication by other scientists, stating results with proper statistics and illustrations such as tables and graphs, and making appropriate conclusions while identifying avenues for future study. Thus, students in the advanced phases of the Bioscience Program at Nighthawk Biotechnology-Next Generation participate in a 2-week intensive period of lessons deemed "The Ironwood Writer's Workshop". (The title is a nod to the famous "Iowa Writer's Workshop" that has produced so many excellent works of literature, a model we are trying to emulate for scientific writing.)

    Students learn about how science is published, presenting their work, and the peer-review process, including concepts such as impact factors, article submission, and assembling poster presentations. For the Independent Projects conducted by Bioscience II and Bioscience-Internship students, common project paper files for their full-length scientific papers are created via Google Drive. This allows students to acquire and respond to feedback from their instructor in real time. Students in Bioscience II and Bioscience-Internship create at least 3 presentations per year (two current events and one for their Independent Project) and 1 team project poster (for their work during The Nighthawk Phylogeny Project). And students at all levels of the program maintain a lab notebook with data taken and write-ups of every completed lab exercise. To this end, every Nighthawk enrolled in the Bioscience program receives one (1) free "Awesome Blue Nighthawk Biotechnology Notebook" which serves as a memorialization of lab techniques they learn during the program.

    Writing with concision and clarity is an important part of being a scientist. Our focus on scientific and technical writing at Nighthawk Biotechnology-Next Generation produces students with this capability who will enter the field of biotechnology being able to publish rather than perish. 

    Come be a part of something special at Nighthawk Biotechnology-Next Generation.

    We are the future. And the future is now.

    #nighthawkbiotechnextgen

    YESTERDAY'S GONE. THE BEST IS YET TO COME.