Module 1 Reflections

So much data...


Every time a friend of mine asked how I was doing in my classes, I would always make a point to say how much I'm learning in 20.109. In terms of research techniques/experience, I feel like I've been falling behind relative to my peers, but 20.109 is helping me give that perspective with wet lab techniques and just how to conduct biological research in general.

It's also just been interesting to learn how we should communicate our science versus how the science is actually communicated at times. The goal is not to always use big smart fancy-shmancy words to show off how smart and sophisticated you are. Rather, the goal of communicating your science is to, well, communicate it. You want to spread the word of your research such that a wide audience of people will be able to understand it. Though, trying to make your research easy to understand doesn't mean it's an easy to do process for the researcher. 

Going into the data summary, I was definitely overwhelmed by the amount of data my partner and I had actually accumulated over the course of the module. Should we include this? Is this really that important to our overall message? It was hard to pick and choose because what was and wasn't important felt sort of arbitrary, especially when some of the data wasn't... ideal.

In the end, we submitted something we had spent countless hours on. I'm proud of the work we did together, yet at the same time I can't help but feel what we submitted wasn't as polished as we could have gotten it. Alas, perhaps this is just one of the many big struggles of trying to convey what you want in as concise and understandable a way as possible.

On an unrelated note, man, mod 1 really made me realize how I really don't like using Excel.

Also, SO to my lab partner. I'm glad we work so well together! <3 

—Nathan Liang




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