Prof. Suzanne Thuecks is an Instructor in Biology lab and serves as Lab Coordinator for BIO 111/112, Washington College’s introductory Biology sequence. Prof. Thuecks developed the writing components for the BIO 112 lab, which is unique among science courses in counting for the W2 writing requirement. She has presented and written about strategies for scientific writing, including “Do the Write Thing: Eight Mini-Activities to Refine Students’ Scientific Writing.”

In order to write and communicate well, what do students need to do? What are some principles or characteristics of effective writing and related forms of communication that you emphasize in your courses?

To be a writer, you need to write! Just get something on the page, and then revise your writing as much as you can. Find what works for you—do you need to jot ideas down first, or start writing and see where it takes you? Either way, don’t stress too much about what you write or how you write at first. Once you have a draft, it’s easier to make changes.

Effective writing is writing that clearly communicates the ideas of the writer to the reader. As a writer, if you’re not sure what you are trying to say, then your reader won’t understand it either. So that you can see more easily if your ideas come across, it’s important to have others read your writing during the revision process.

In science, writing can be challenging because we must often adhere to rigid formatting and style conventions while discussing complicated topics. However, I emphasize to my students that a good science writer can make a complicated topic understandable. Using proper scientific terminology is important, but it’s also important to define your terms and to avoid excessive jargon. Terms that are unfamiliar to readers of a journal article can be very different from terms that are unfamiliar to readers of a grant application, so you must carefully consider your audience.

The hardest part of science writing is probably negotiating the demands of appropriate terminology, appropriate level of detail, and appropriate accuracy for your intended audience. The best ways to learn are practicing writing for different audiences, receiving feedback from experts, and reading good science writing.

What is something you learned about writing as a student that guides you now as a writer and teacher?

I learned that to improve flow, your sentences should begin with old information (or information familiar to the reader) and end with new information. I still use this principle when writing and I teach it to my students. I also learned to read my writing aloud to help myself catch errors and awkward sentences. Finally, I learned the value of putting a piece of writing aside and coming back to it later; my writing is much better when I revise in short bursts.

What is something that you learned about writing later in your career and wish that you had been taught earlier as a student?

Writing is much easier once you have at least a little bit of writing to build upon. As a young writer, I stressed over every sentence in my first draft. Now, I know that I can fix things later, and often that process allows me to clarify my thoughts as well as improve my writing for my audience.

What writer or scholar (any genre or field) would you recommend as a model of a good writer, and why?

Mary Roach, who writes popular science nonfiction books such as Gulp, Spook, and Packing for Mars, is a great model. Her writing is snappy, entertaining, and informative. She educates people about science in memorable ways and uses her expert writing skills to make complicated subjects accessible.

What are you currently working on in your own writing and scholarship?

I am currently serving as co-editor of Advances in Biology Laboratory Education, the publication of my professional association. I am also constantly revising our lab manuals between semesters to make them more readable and usable for students.

In my scholarship, I study teaching techniques that make biology lab education more engaging and effective. I’m presenting at a conference this summer on a grading and feedback system for teaching science writing. For the future, I am interested in researching both badging and ungrading to help students understand and document the knowledge they gain in the biology lab.