Finally: A Look Back on Mod 1

When I registered for 20.109, I was excited. I did not fully understand yet just what 109 would entail, but I knew that I enjoyed research projects based on my previous UROP experience, and was excited about getting to try out new things that I did not yet have experience with in my lab. I feel like this might have been an appropriate meme to start the class with:

After sitting through the introduction on day one, my first thought was “FINALLY!” This class sounded like it was going to be the most applicable class to real life that I had ever taken. I feel that up until this point, I’ve been learning subjects that all build on each other in interesting ways, but most of these have only been classes on the theory of biology or engineering. Here was finally a class that would combine both theory and actual application to complete meaningful projects. Throughout Mod 1, I really enjoyed learning skills of protein purification, SMM screens, and science writing.

However, being excited about 109 does not always translate to being successful in all the work that this class requires. My friends can definitely tell you that I have a love-hate relationship with some of the assignments that we’ve had to complete in 109. I think a lot of this comes from the fact that writing assignments are read somewhat subjectively, and so it is difficult for me to ever feel like I’ve really “completed” a 109 assignment. Completing 109 homework is nothing like completing PSETS that have right and wrong answers; although there are definite dos and don’ts of science communication, individual scientists can choose to display the same information in very different ways. Because of this, figuring out the best way to show a collection of data such that it is understandable by most audiences is one of the most difficult things for me personally.

I had already identified some of these weaknesses in my science communication over the past year of writing proposals, making a group meeting presentation, and presenting a poster for my UROP. In trying to display large amounts of data and protocols, I have been challenged to distill it down to the most important pieces for my audience to take away. However, one thing that I think 109 has taught me so far that has made me slightly better at writing is the idea that my science should tell a story. I really love the fact that biology can be formulated into one coherent storyline, and I think this was something that really helped me understand what was important to include in my data summary schematics and figures and in my mini-presentation.

Now that I’ve established that turning my research into a story is a great way for me to narrow down my focus and form a coherent report/presentation, I can hopefully take this into Mod 2 with me and use this strategy (and lots of office hours, of course) to help me write an effective research article.