Pilot study: writing to be read in the history of science, technology and medicine

James Sumner and Jeff Hughes

Centre for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine, University of Manchester

Start date: April 2011

This project defines and tests a learning task for students at a variety of levels: undergraduate and graduate, assessed and unassessed. Teaching staff define small-scale enquiries, focusing on two areas: popular misunderstandings in the history of science, technology and medicine, and current areas of public engagement interest (addressing local histories, for instance). Students perform their own research under supervision, then write short pieces (100-400 words) to communicate the results pithily to a lay audience. Once drafted, the pieces go through a peer editorial process and revisions, followed by stringent editing by the supervising staff, emphasising the needs and expectations of a general readership throughout. Finally, the texts are made public on a dedicated website.