Did it right this time (I think...)
This wasn't the first time I was tasked with presenting on someone else's research paper. For our final project in AP Chemistry, we picked a research paper (on anything) and presented it to the class. It was an extremely easy assignment for me; I don't think I spent more than 3 hours on it in total. I basically just gave the definitions of some relevant terms, plastered a mass spec image from the paper onto a slide, and explained in very simple terms what the experiment found. I only put one figure from the paper in my presentation, and I didn't edit it or bother to explain the actual data in the graph. No one questioned it. (20.109 me now questions it very much).
Facing what I thought was the same task 3 years later, I didn't expect this presentation to be too much more than copy-pasting figures from the paper and explaining the results. I picked my paper based on the one that seemed the most similar to the one we will have to write. I was a bit nervous about the fact that it was a computational paper, but fortunately, the knitty-gritty of the calculations weren't included. The paper was short (11pgs only hehe) and straightfoward, and the research question and conclusion was clear and well defined. I have an easy paper; this shouldn't be too hard....................right?
First of all, although the experiment was straightforward, breaking down each portion of it was still a challenge. My biggest struggle was connecting the logic between what each graph proved and how it proved it (i.e. "I see that this line is clearly going down, but how does that show that cells are dying?).
Next, a ridiculous amount of time was spent just covering up labels with white boxes or the same text but in a bigger font. After I finally have a powerpoint I could be proud of, I still had get over the nervousness of presenting it to a room full of people, including some (*cough cough* Noreen and Leslie *cough*) who understand it better than I do.
Although this assignment turned out far harder than I had imagined, now that it's over, I realize I enjoyed putting all the pieces together. I actually feel like I'd feel confident presenting in front of another journal club, if ever needed.
Finally, I want to give a huge shoutout to BE Comm Lab. Thank you Cristina for figuring out each of the figures with me even though it's outside your field. Thank you Josh for teaching me about * b a c k u p s l i d e s *.
-Thing 2 of WF Yellow Team
Facing what I thought was the same task 3 years later, I didn't expect this presentation to be too much more than copy-pasting figures from the paper and explaining the results. I picked my paper based on the one that seemed the most similar to the one we will have to write. I was a bit nervous about the fact that it was a computational paper, but fortunately, the knitty-gritty of the calculations weren't included. The paper was short (11pgs only hehe) and straightfoward, and the research question and conclusion was clear and well defined. I have an easy paper; this shouldn't be too hard....................right?
First of all, although the experiment was straightforward, breaking down each portion of it was still a challenge. My biggest struggle was connecting the logic between what each graph proved and how it proved it (i.e. "I see that this line is clearly going down, but how does that show that cells are dying?).
Next, a ridiculous amount of time was spent just covering up labels with white boxes or the same text but in a bigger font. After I finally have a powerpoint I could be proud of, I still had get over the nervousness of presenting it to a room full of people, including some (*cough cough* Noreen and Leslie *cough*) who understand it better than I do.
Although this assignment turned out far harder than I had imagined, now that it's over, I realize I enjoyed putting all the pieces together. I actually feel like I'd feel confident presenting in front of another journal club, if ever needed.
Finally, I want to give a huge shoutout to BE Comm Lab. Thank you Cristina for figuring out each of the figures with me even though it's outside your field. Thank you Josh for teaching me about * b a c k u p s l i d e s *.
-Thing 2 of WF Yellow Team
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