During my second year of college, I took BIOL 288 (Sophomore Seminar). One of our big tasks for this class was to compose a literature review of any topic of our choosing and later turn that paper into a general audience paper. Prior to this assignment, the only assignment close to this was writing an introduction for a research paper. Writing this literature review forced me to read many scientific articles and draw one conclusion from multiple papers.
One of the main challenges I faced when writing this paper was first understanding how to decipher which information I needed and which I did not. My topic was on breast cancer and carcinogens in the environment. At first I found it very difficult to know what information to include in my paper and how to organize the paper. With help from my professor, I was able to understand more of what needs to be in a literature review and how to interpret scientific data from literature. Because of the scope of this project, I had to learn how to decipher scientific literature and interpret their data. I’d say this was definitely one of the main skills I learned throughout that class. Learning how to correctly read and interpret that literature made me more prepared and able to do that again when I was in BIOL 342 (Biogeography). For this class, we were tasked with synthesizing a new idea from current literature. I chose to do my paper on tree-kangaroos defying normal ways of evolution. As you can see from the two papers linked below, the growth I encountered between these two pieces of work is actually amazing. Writing my synthesis for BIOL 342 was so much easier because of the information I acquired in BIOL 288. I remember how easy it was for me to read articles, know what and what not to include, and how to adequately interpret their results. Even when reading the most difficult of papers was I able to understand everything I needed to for the paper.
A big thing that I learned about myself during both BIOL 288 and BIOL 342 is how much I enjoy reading scientific literature and applying that knowledge to my everyday life. There are so many people that I know who believe whatever they see on the internet, especially if it claims to come from a “reliable” source. Since taking these two class, I have learned how to adequately tell if a source is reliable and interpret the information presented in said articles. Another skill I acquired from 288 is how to translate the information I learned to better suit a general audience. It took lots of practice on my end to be able to interpret scientific data and present it in a way that someone who is not a biologist can understand.
There are many applicable future applications for this skill, but the main one is during medical school and as a practicing physician. I will be required to read lots of scientific literature in medical school and understand it as much as possible. This class showed me the correct way to read this literature and how to use my interpretations of the data to my advantage. Also, I will have to read scientific literature as a practicing physician and translate the data I find for my patients to understand. As an oncologist, I will be reading literature every day and constantly studying to try and find the best treatments for my future patients. I will have to know how to understand the data from the literature and educate my patients in a way that they will understand.
Click here to view my BIOL 288 literature review.
Click here to view my BIOL 342 synthesis.