Exercise #1: Domain Specific Essay or Review
Purpose and skills being developed: This exercise is intended to demonstrate and develop scientific writing skills and reinforce the breadth and depth of knowledge for the student’s area of study. Through this exercise, the student will demonstrate knowledge of relevant literature, and an ability to express this knowledge in clear scientific writing.The student produces a scholarly and referenced manuscript within their current area of research. The exact topic and format are subject to approval by the advisory committee, but examples could include current trends in the field of study, historical perspectives within the field of study (e.g., a long-standing controversy, development of a key methodology), or a review that could be structured in a variety of ways (e.g., a “Trends in Neuroscience” review; a systematic or scoping review of the literature). As an approximate guide, the main text for a Review or Opinions article for “Trends in Neuroscience” is approximately 2500-3500 words with 60-80 references.
The following are relevant resources and guidelines suitable for this exercise:
TiNS “Reviews” or “Opinions” manuscript: https://www.cell.com/trends/neurosciences/authors
For students interested in conducting a systematic or scoping review, helpful information is provided by Western libraries at: https://guides.lib.uwo.ca/c.php?g=256182&p=5183622. Consultation with a university librarian for systematic or scoping reviews may also be helpful, and can be booked at https://www.lib.uwo.ca/forms/systematicreview/consultation-course.php. Note that finalized systematic or scoping reviews can take between 6-15 months to complete, so students opting to write a systematic or scoping review for Exercise 1 are expected to only write a first draft of such a review.
