Scholarly Project

Every medical student is required to participate in and present the results of a scholarly project during their training at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Requirements

1.  Projects include the following:
   • Any scholarly driven activity can fulfill the project requirement (e.g., clinical, basic, or translational research; case review with comprehensive literature review; meta-analysis; educational, quality improvement, or community based service learning project), consistent with the chosen pathway goals.
     • A project plan/ proposal should be submitted to and approved by the pathway advisor/mentor prior to starting.
   • The project must meet Glassick’s Criteria for scholarship (i.e., clear goals, adequate preparation, appropriate methods, significant results, effective presentation, reflective critique – see attached scoring rubric below).
   • The project must take place during training at MCW.
2. Effective presentation of the project includes two required components:
   • Submission of a final project paper approved by the student’s pathway advisor/ mentor or a submitted manuscript is acceptable.  While not required, submission of a manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal is encouraged. AND
   • Presentation of projects as a poster or podium (selected) presentation must occur at the M-3 Spring Pathway Scholarship Forum or M-2 Medical Student Summer Research Program Poster Session.
     • Additional dissemination to a local, regional or national audience is encouraged: e.g. professional meeting; however, pathway funding is not available for student travel at this time.
3. Students may participate in collaborative projects with faculty or other students.  However, for credit, the student must qualify for “authorship” of the project, consistent with MCW’s Principles for Authorship on Scientific and Scholarly Publications, demonstrating each of the following:
   • Substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;
   • Drafting the project report or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
   • Final approval of the project by all students in the group.

A collection of forms and guidelines for mentors and students.

Scholarly Project Materials

• Institutional Review of Scholarly Project (PDF)
  • Description of the Institutional Review (IRB) policy for student projects.
• Scholarly Project Proposal Form
  • Outline for students' scholarly project full proposal to be submitted for approval to their Pathway Director. This must be accompanied by the mentor approval form.
• Scholarly Project Written Report Guidelines (PDF)
  • Instructions for authors for the required written scholarly project report.
• Scholarly Project Evaluation Rubric (PDF)
  • Rubric for evaluating scholarly projects in the Pathways.

Mentor Forms

• Mentor Approval Form (PDF)
• To be submitted with the student’s project proposal; Affirms the mentor’s support of the project plan
• Mentor Attestation (PDF)
  • To be submitted with the student's final Scholarly Project Report. This form includes an assessment by the mentor using Glassick's Criteria of the student's role in fulfillment of the Scholarly Project requirements.

Tips for finding a pathway advisor (PDF)

The Scholarly Pathways culminate with an Annual M3 Scholarship Forum. The program features a selected number of podium presentations, and poster presentations from students in all of the Scholarly Pathways.

View Scholarly Project Showcase

Applications must be approved prior to travel!

This travel reimbursement is available to MCW medical students who have been accepted to present their Scholarly Projects at scientific meetings or at venues of scholarly significance.

Learn More and Apply for Reimbursement

Submit your citations of scholarly activities