Making published authors out of bachelor students

Publishing in a peer-reviewed scientific publication is considered an asset when applying for scholarships and working positions.

It is however unlikely that students will get to get first-hand experience in writing a real paper until their master´s degrees or PhDs, even though they are often asked to carry out literature reviews as part of their learning.

At the University of Innsbruck, students attending the Bachelor of Geography and the Bachelor of education with a minor in Geography are required to attend seminars in Physical Geography.

Such seminars aim to teach students how to read literature about different geomorphic processes critically, usually with the aim of writing a report and presenting their findings.

This project aimed to additionally provide them with first-hand experience in writing a scientific article intended for international publication. This was goal was achieved by channelling their efforts into writing a review on the visualisation techniques that have been employed in literature to showcase the changes in the landscape brought on by different geomorphic processes.

Both the geomorphic processes and the visualisation techniques to be investigated were selected in advance. For the first part of the semester, the students were split into groups and each assigned a geomorphic process between: a) water erosion and deposition, b) creep, c) debris flows, d) glacial erosion and deposition, e) physical and chemical weathering, f) rockfalls, g) shallow landslides.

While each group carried out their main task of writing a group report, they were additionally asked to keep track of any visualisation technique they came across by compiling a standardised table.

Each person was additionally asked to focus on one specific visualisation technique, which they also described in their report, among: a) 2D renderings, b) 3D renderings, c) topographic approaches, d) videos, e) charts and graphs and g) analogue representations.

During the latter half of the semester, the students were then asked to regroup on the basis of the visualisation technique and to prepare a presentation detailing how the same technique was applied differently, if at all, among different geomorphic processes.

At the end of the semester, all of the students´ findings and observations were collected and their efforts (report, presentation, homework) graded using a traditional approach.

The last class was a non-mandatory one, exclusively attended by the students who were interested in writing the review.

The students were assigned small writing tasks on the basis of their respective reports to write portions of the review, while keeping the overall goal in sight.

All of the students were asked to review their peers´ work and the overall draft.

The review is currently in the works and is to be submitted featuring all of the students who took part in the writing of it as co-authors. Students will additionally be involved in the revision process of the review.