Our biology department adopted this book as the writing guide for our biology majors a couple of years ago. It includes information about how to seek for and use biological literature, how to present data (including graphs and figures) in the context of scientific writing, and it has a great section on writing research papers. There are ample examples in the book that students can use as models.The author presents information on framing the paper, and how to use drafts in order to produce a good product. There is also a section that addresses other kinds of writing skills used by biologists -- oral presentations, poster development, writing research proposals, and letters of application.
We encourage students to use this book in all of their courses. It is a required support text for Principles of Biology I and II, and for our junior level Orientation to Research course.
I appreciate the fact that the book is spiral bound. That makes it possible for you to have the book open by other things you are working on without it flipping shut all the time, like it would if it had a regular binding.
This book with less than 200 pp. works well for us and our students. I think it could work well for you, too.
Alan Holyoak, Coordinator of Biological Research, Manchester College, IN
