Core modules
Writing focused scientific articles and reports
This module is intended to allow you to develop and demonstrate your capacity to communicate scientific concepts through writing short, focused scientific articles. It will facilitate engagement with a variety of audiences and the use of a range of strategies to describe scientific procedures, summarise and disseminate findings, write reviews, and formulate effective instructions. It also aims to develop critical thinking and peer review skills.
Writing extended scientific articles and reports
This module provides a genre-based focus on academic scientific papers. Through a focus on models of professional writing, it explores particular features of science papers such as how to reference the literature, where and when to outline the methodology, and how to present results and conclusions. An integral part of this approach is for participants to bring along samples of their own writing (e.g. lab reports or research articles). Students will be asked to provide critiques and action plans, as well as to engage in peer reviews.
Communicating Science to different audiences
This module aims to help you to communicate your research findings accurately and concisely to different audiences. The main focus is on how to communicate in print, radio and TV to non-scientific audiences, but the skills will translate across to your research reports and presentations. It is based on a 3-day non-residential course (but including 1 evening) at Warwick and BBC Coventry and Warwickshire which will consist of a variety of seminars delivered by experts in the field.
Transferable Skills
This module is based around students completing and recording tasks contributing to the development of transferable skills. Students complete a portfolio and reflect on what they have learned. The various aspects of the course cover: working in teams and working with your supervisor, communicating across disciplines using various media e.g. written reports, posters, presentations, web and video, as well as elements of leadership and career development.
22-week Research Project
The module is designed to develop students’ research skills, through an extended project in an area of their chosen discipline. Students will become aware of the elements of research, including appraising the literature, designing novel experiments (practical and/or computational), assessing results and drawing conclusions that they will be able to set against the current field. This module will allow students to be original in their application of knowledge to the solution of new, research-led problems.
Optional modules are taken from those offered by the Department of Chemistry and can vary from year to year. Attendance is subject to approval by the module leader and timetabling requirements. Example optional modules may include:
- Mass Spectrometry
- Chromatography and Separation Science
- Electrochemistry and Sensors
- Magnetic Resonance
- Frontier Techniques in Analytical Science
- Microscopy and Imaging
- X-ray and Neutron Techniques
- Polymer Synthesis
- Advanced Polymer Synthesis
- Colloid Science I and II
- Physical Properties of Polymers and Nanocomposites
- Advanced Molecular Pharmacology
- Advanced Computational Chemistry
- Advanced Biophysical Chemistry
- Advanced Chemical Biology
- Advanced Medicinal and Biological Chemistry
- Electrochemistry and Nanotechnology
- Energy
- Synthetic Chemistry I (Organic)
- Synthetic Chemistry II (Metallo-organic)
- Synthetic Chemistry III (Macromolecular Chemistry)
