The Research Article was hard, but in a good way

Overall, I found this assignment to be one of the most difficult I've completed while at MIT. Every time I sat down to craft a figure or write part of the article, I questioned every choice I was making. I found it difficult to synthesize a narrative from the data I had, as some of it appeared disjointed and it was my job to weave it together. Additionally, I was not exactly sure what the conclusion of my research was, as it felt a bit incomplete. 

I found the M2D6 and M2D9 homework assignments most helpful for the completion of the research article. They both gave me some context as to what data would be relevant and how it should be interpreted in the results versus in the discussion. I found it challenging to create certain figures such as the GO term tables, or the conceptual A549 figure, in such a way that expressed the important information in a concise, easy-to-view manner. Ultimately, I felt a little dissatisfied with the over aesthetic of my figures compared to some of my classmates', but I do think they fulfilled their purpose. 

My favorite section of the paper to write was the Discussion. I had fun mulling over possible explanations for my data results (especially the seemingly contradictory cell viability and p21 expression results) and possible avenues for further experimentation. 

All in all, while this assignment was very challenging and certainly caused me a lot of stress, I think it is really cool that we get to do something like this as sophomores in college. It made me feel like a "real" scientist, and gave me some insight into part of the job of being of a full-time researcher. 

-Katie Williams 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog Post #2

Edit 4/18 (Forgot to put my name): Justin Liu Originally published 4/8 The Journal Club assignment marked my first time truly understanding a published journal article. Sure, previous UROP positions had required me to get some background information on the project by scanning a few papers. However, all I really did for those was scan the introduction and figures and then have my supervisor actually explain it to me. Thus, I was very unsure of what to expect for this presentation. Will other people care about my presentation? Will I be interested in the material? Will I even be able to understand it? It turns out that the answer to the second and third questions was yes, but I can't exactly speak for the first question. While working on creating the presentation, the most surprising thing was how much of the authors' data that I had to cut out. I felt very reluctant to leave out charts and data that I understood, and it took a lot of mental gymnastics to convince myself tha
Read more

The Journey of A Revision Begins With Office Hours

First major assignment of 20.109 is done, locked in the books. Looking back at it, the entire process from the initial draft to the revisions that were made couldn't have been possible without the availability of the staff and the time spent in office hours.  To the Comm Lab Fellows, thank you for meeting with us at a day's notice. For sitting down and break our abstract apart. For showing us what worked well and what didn't. For helping our abstract go from needs improvement to significantly improved. To Leslie, thank you for bearing with the hundreds of emails we sent your way. For patiently replying to us anytime and every time we needed tips and suggestions. For spending hours in office hours before the first draft was due. For meeting to go over last minute questions before the revision was due.  And to my lab partner, Tooba, thanks for sitting with me late into the night to tear apart our on work. For working with me to identify our weakness and create a s
Read more
The research proposal was a really great exercise in identifying a current problem and potential, feasible solution within a practical time period. While the other modules introduced and familiarized us to the actual lab work and etiquette needed to answer a research question, the goals, quality checks, and troubleshooting considerations weren't thought of by us. That being said, this research proposal was a more difficult assignment in many regards. Browsing through the discussion sections of numerous papers I was interested in gave me an idea of what a next step would be, but considering that I had no real expertise in any of those areas it was still difficult to identify what specific assays would be needed for those next steps. Because of this, I also had a hard time deciding on a general area for my topic. In this regard, listing 5 areas and then trying to blend them with my partners' helped us define a creative topic area that we could look more into. The timescale for
Read more