A mandatory course in scientific writing for undergraduate medical students.

All students at Mayo Medical School take a course in scientific writing during their sophomore and junior years. Early in the sophomore year they receive a self-instructional text designed to help them avoid 15 common writing faults. Comparison of pretest and posttest results for two classes, with a total of 89 students, indicates significant improvement (p less than .001). Later in his sophomore year, each student writes a minithesis; and during his junior year he reports on work done in a clinical or laboratory research project, preparing it as a paper submissible to a scientific journal. Professional editors work as preceptors with the students, critiquing their manuscripts, which are revised until they receive satisfactory ratings.