Communication Skills for the Biosciences

Aysha Divan is a lecturer at the Faculty of Biological of Biological Sciences at the University of Leeds. Her research experience includes studying the role of p53 in retinoblastoma tumour progression and the molecular basis of chromatin remodelling during gene locus activation.She is currently managing (with a key role in developing) the new Masters Bioscience Programmes (encompassing 6 programmes) launched at the Faculty in October 2004. She has developed the transferable skills module of which scientific communication is a key component and produced a student toolkit which brings together guidelines and case material supporting the development of these skills. She is currently developing an interactive website to supplement the toolkit and trains communication skills to Masters Students in the Faculty. Other teaching includes practical core skills training and specialist cancer genetics module.

• 1. Essential communication skills ; 2. Recording and managing information ; 3. Ethics in communication ; 4. Introduction to the scientific literature ; 5. Conducting effective literature searches ; 6. Reviewing scientific literature ; 7. Writing a literature review ; 8. Writing a research proposal ; 9. Writing a research paper ; 10. Writing an abstract ; 11. Preparing tables and figures ; 12. Writing a Masters dissertation or a PhD thesis ; 13. Delivering an effective oral presentation ; 14. Preparing and presenting a research poster ; 15. Networking

This volume would be an ideal resource for developing and structuring a new graduate student course in the biological sciences. The information conveyed is up to date, well organized, and imperative for todays scientists, both young and established.