Module 1 Reflection

What surprised me most from this module is that there is a very specific protocol to writing scientific research that it seems all researchers learn. I had read published papers before but never realized that all of them follow the same general format in terms of how the abstract, figures, results, discussion, etc. are all written. I also learned how unintuitive this style of writing and design is to me. Trying to create figures and captions, and writing the different sections of the data summary was very challenging, as I had to change my way of thinking to fit the accepted protocol of scientific writing. The first figure caption took me probably 3 days and 4 iterations to create, and I still don't think anything remotely similar to it would ever get published in a paper. Trying to write a concise abstract that still has enough detail (but not too much detail!), and write results sections tailored to a specific style was the hardest part in completing the data summary for me. I have definitely gained a lot of respect for anyone who has ever written a paper. I thought it would be so easy, but that thought was shut down about 10 seconds into creating my first figure. It also shocked me how much time it took to do the data summary, and we didn't even have to write a methods section! Lucky for me, now I get to write an entire research report. 😬 My plan for module 2 is to get started as soon as possible and get as much feedback as I can throughout the writing process, and pray that on April 20th, my report is done.

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~Ravalika

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