First undergraduates published in refereed journal
Brenton Stacey
Public relations officer
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
Four Avondale College students who wrote a paper examining how alcohol affects the body are the first undergraduates published in a research centre’s refereed journal.
Jodie Beecroft, Amanda Kemp, Sophie Lassila and Daniel Sheedy wrote the paper, “The biochemical and pathophysiological effects of alcohol consumption,” for a unit called investigative biochemistry. Impressed by the assessment task, the students’ lecturer, Dr Ewan Ward, submitted the paper for publication in Christian Spirituality and Science.
Instead of presenting lectures, Ewan, a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Science and Mathematics, asks students in the unit to collaboratively write a paper based on their research of a biochemical problem. “They learn a lot in the process about reading scientific literature, assessing scientific theories and editing scientific papers,” he says.
Ewan used his knowledge of the latter to edit Jodie, Amanda, Sophie and Daniel’s 10,000-word paper for publication as a 5000-word paper in Christian Spirituality and Science. He speaks highly of the thoroughness of the students’ research and the quality of their writing, but then adds, “They produced a seamless paper. That’s the real skill. Changes in writing style are usually noticeable in collaborative papers, but not in this one.”
Each of the students took about 20 hours to research and write. Sophie describes this as “a process of discovery.” The most difficult task: selecting what to include. Being held accountable by the other students in the group helped motivate Jodie, but she adds, “I like to find things out for myself.”
This is evident to Associate Professor Kevin de Berg, director of the Avondale Centre for Inter-Disciplinary Studies in Science. He edits Christian Spirituality and Science. “The science in the paper is good,” he says.
Jodie graduated this past year and now works as a biology technician in the faculty. Amanda and Sophie plan to graduate from the Bachelor of Science this year. Daniel is studying physiotherapy at The University of Newcastle but still plans to complete his science degree.
Kevin encourages the four and other undergraduate students to do more research writing. “It stimulates your thinking and submits your work to review, and it also exposes you to the difficulties of research.”
Jodie, Amanda, Sophie, Daniel and Ewan’s paper features in volume eight of Christian Spirituality and Science. This volume of the journal also features a paper by Dr Steve Thompson examining how ancient Greek and Romans understood alcohol. Christian Spirituality and Science is available from Associate Professor Kevin de Berg for $5 (4980 2215, [email protected]) or at Avondale’s institutional repository ResearchOnline@Avondale for free.