ELIP Courses Helped Grad Student Learn How to Present Science

Penny Morgan took advantage of ELIP courses to better present the scientific material in her master’s program at Ohio University.

Penny Morgan ’11, ’13M knew scientific writing would be something she’d need to work on in her master’s degree at Ohio University in environmental science studies.

“I really felt I wasn’t getting a good scientific grasp on the writing,” says Morgan, whose bachelor’s degree was in Geography Pre-Law from the College of Arts & Sciences at Ohio University, along with a certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies.

So she took ELIP 5160: Writing for Research. Her writing improved, but her thesis proposal defense “did not go well,” causing her to realize that she didn’t feel confident in her presentation skills.

With several professional presentations looming ahead of her, she decided to take ELIP 5320: The Oral Defense to better prepare herself. She loved the projects.

“One of things that I thought was the most useful was the mock job interview,” Morgan says. She “really found it beneficial” despite having interviewed for many jobs in the past. In fact, she says that she was able to apply the techniques that she learned in this course to a recent job interview.

And for international students, they can work on expectations in American interview situations and vocabulary from their field, in addition to pronunciation and presentation skills.

An unexpected benefit of the English Language Improvement Program classes is the international outlook and connections Morgan made.

“It really expands your educational experience to understand how other cultures perceive our campus, our country, the way that we learn, our economic system, and our town and culture, as well as just being a great opportunity to make good friends across the world. Those opportunities don’t often come to you in a small town in southeastern Ohio!”

“ELIP 5320 is a good class for anyone in any major who would need to preset at some point in their professional life. I have recommended this class to everyone I can talk to,” she says.