03/27

Questions for Interviews

1.       What motivated you to become a part of the science field?

2.       What part do you have in your field (what do you do in your field)?

3.       Have you been able to get any of your work published and what kinds of writing do you do?

4.       Have you ever created a theory of your own that relates to your works?

5.       Have you and your colleagues have ever had opposing ideas concerning topics of you field? What are some good examples?

6.       What are some continuing debates in your field of work and what is your stance?

7.       What kinds of questions are asked in order for you to advance in the work being done in your field and how do you come up with your answers?

8.       How much is observation important?

9.       What kind of evidence is accepted in your field and how is it different from other fields?

10.   How important do you think the work being done in your field is for society?

 

Scientists live their lives always asking questions. They find the answers to their questions by turning these questions into theories and collecting data to prove them. Unlike other fields/disciplines, scientists must remain unbiased and use facts. People working in the science field do not let use other factors of the world to have an effect on their studies. For example religion is something big to avoid in a scientific study because it does not give facts, only beliefs. They want to use actual data, laws, and scientific methods so that they can reach a logical answer to their question. They have different viewpoints, writing styles, and begin a project in a very different way. Scientists get to the point when it comes to figuring out what they are solving. Rather than looking at the beauty of things, they find the reasons of what the mechanism are behind that objects that creates that beauty.

 

Due 03/26

In the first reading, “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” written by Thoreau, he takes the humanist view of life, the idea that humans have the capacity for choice and growth. He wanted to live without greed and without fighting, which is what mankind has mostly become. He wanted to live like we were made to live, which is to live a simple life. Thoreau made this apparent when he said,  “An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!” He has realized that all the material goods and the work that man does is truly for nothing, it doesn’t make one man any happier than the next. He sees that life should be lived, and to live is to value each day and not be hurrying towards the next one. This next quote demonstrates his outlook on why living simply is far better, “When we are unhurried and wise, we perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence, that petty fears and petty pleasures are but the shadow of the reality.” Things that mankind desire but do not need do not last, they simply drift away after it loses the users attention.

In the second reading, “Our Picture of the Universe” written by Hawking, he has written from a physical science perspective on life. What is mainly talked about is how scientists are always using theories to classify the universe and life in the universe. Theories are made, then disproved, the built from others, and partial theories are established. Scientists see life through all these little theories, all the while trying to make one theory that will support everything we know. They are methodical, using logic and numbers to depict what is going on in the world. A limitation that a scientist has in their life is that nothing can ever truly be proved, all the work that they do will always just be classified as a theory waiting for another scientist to come and disprove it.  They all search for a complete theory so that civilization can have an understanding of why we’re here and why we were created and to be able to have a complete and unified explanation.

In the final reading, “The Individual and the Pattern of Culture” by Benedict, she writes this story from the perspective of a social scientist. She was a cultural anthropologist, and her main goal was to always study cultures with no bias based on the culture and values that she came from. This was called cultural relativism.  What she found was that human nature is based on the influence of culture. They are not separate entities; individuals are shaped by their surroundings. This is shown in the article when it says, “Individuals and society form an integrated whole,’ meaning that together they are complete.  They are not antagonists; all individuals are given the raw material of their lives and choose what to do with it. 

03/20

101 Group Work Plan

 

●      Define specific tasks necessary to complete the project. List them below.

-Choose the field and discipline that you want to do your paper on, and then two interviews must be conducted with specialists of that field. Ideas were to do one interview with a professor and one interview with a biology advisor. Figure out what principles guide their thought processes.

 

-Then choose two peer-reviewed articles from your field and relate them to the views and values that the interviewers had on the field.

 

-The third part is based on what was seen in parts 1 and 2. We will have to identify and explain the principles and thought processes that allow the specialists in our field to make and evaluate arguments.

 

·         As much as possible, play to individual group members' strengths, not their weaknesses. That means identifying the skills and resources each group member can bring to bear on the assignment, and planning the project in a way that takes advantage of those skills and resources to produce a stronger final paper. Make a list of skills and resources for each group member below.

Marvin                                     Lori

-Hardworking                            -Social

-Organized

-Keep on task                            -Organized

 

Divide tasks among group members. Each group member should be involved in both the research and the writing stages of the project, but that involvement may take a variety of forms. Remember to play to each other’s’ strengths. More than one group member may be assigned to each task, but one group member should take the lead for each task. Write group members’ names next to tasks they will take responsibility for.

- Pick one prof to email and pick one peer reviewed article each. Aid each other to create the interview questions.  

 

·         Create a schedule, including deadlines for specific tasks and regular meeting times with the entire group. Use the calendar provided, or use something like Google Calendar, which can be shared with group members.

 

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
3/17	3/18	3/19	3/20	3/21	3/22 Questions for interviews written and emails for interviews sent out.	3/23 Email Mangone
3/24	3/25	3/26	3/27	3/28	3/29 Both interviews conducted. Part 1 complete.	3/30
3/31	4/1	4/2	4/3	4/4	4/5 Pick peer reviewed articles. FINISH 1ST INTERVIEW	4/6
4/7	4/8	4/9	4/10	4/11	4/12 Hand in rough draft. FINISH 2ND INTERVIEW	4/13
4/14	4/15	4/16	4/17	4/18	4/19 Review Draft, edit.	4/20
4/21	4/22	4/23	4/24	4/25	4/26	4/27
4/28	4/29	4/30	4/31	5/1 Final Draft Due.	5/2	5/3 FINAL PROJECT DUE

 

 

●      It is also recommended that you keep a log of your work (what you do and when) individually and as a group, to help you stay on track and provide accountability.

 

 

 

 

Due 3/19

As I was exploring the UNC “Writing for specific fields” handouts I was instantly drawn to the page that studies writing for sciences. I am a science major and found that this would surely be the most useful for what I need for my future science courses. Three main points that were said to be very useful when doing scientific writing were these; to have precision in what your ideas are, to have clarity- make your writing and the points you are writing about as clear as possible-, and objectivity- making sure you are listing facts, nothing based on personal opinion. Another tip that can be used in all type of writing but is especially helpful when writing lab reports or peer reviewed journals is word choice. Just because two words may have the same meaning doesn’t necessarily mean that they both fit to the same degree in that sentence. Another very important trait is to be quantitative rather than qualitative, being specific and giving exact details of the results of the experiment conducted is much more useful to the reader than being vague.  Another tipi to writing is keeping it as simple as possible, while obviously the subject matter being written about may be complicated, the writer can do their best to make it less complex when unnecessary. What I mean is words that do not have to be complicated can be simplified, sentences can be made shorter and not crammed with information, and side notes or added information does not have to be added to the papers.  It’s also required that when writing a scientific paper the author writes in a passive voice because this shows objectivity to the experiment. Lastly when writing the conclusion, the author should make certain that they only claim what has been found by their experimentation or the results of others, but to never make broad sweeping claims.

Dukes “Writing for specific disciplines” also drew me into the sciences, but I chose to look at how to create scientific poster presentations. What I learnt was that the abstract must be included on the board, typically in the top left hand corner. The texts that accompany the abstract across the board should be separate by how they relate to the abstract and should be between 700-800 words. These other sections should either be in bullet form or paragraph form depending on which way conveys the message most clearly. The colors used on the board should be light for the background and then only three additional colors. When adding graphs and images to the board, it should be limited to a maximum of eight figures. At the top of the board is where the title should be placed along with the authors names and degrees (and their graduated schools) below. Their should be four columns that hold all the information on the board. Lastly the citations should go on the bottom left of the page.

These handouts have been extremely helpful in aiding me to understand how to properly put together a well written scientific paper.