This week has been the most helpful and informative week so far in English 105I. Every week I leave with a deeper understanding of how to write like a college student as well as how to analyze scholarly articles and research. As our unit one project draws closer to the deadline, our class becomes more equipped for how to write a report on a health related experimental study. This week specifically, our class enquired how to critically think and evaluate scientific studies, identify red flags that can alter the validity of research, review the general structure of scholarly discourse, and the key components of an introduction and conclusion.
During our Tuesday class, we started off by reviewing misleading journals related to health and medicine. The article stating “Science says a glass of wine can replace one hour of exercising” stuck out the most to me. This goes to prove many popular health articles will overgeneralize for the sake of clickbait, no matter how ridiculous it sounds. We Further discussed differences in primary sources and secondary sources. Both can be great tools when analyzing a topic of interest. It was intriguing to understand how influential secondary research can support primary research in the context of health and medicine. We touched on how to properly cite, something that wasn’t thoroughly taught to me in high school, and how integrating outside sources can be useful in one’s writing if done effectively. I personally like including outside sources to debunk the methodology or results of the study. Next we discussed media literacy, and to always look at research and other media sources through a lens of skepticism. Anytime one looks at a piece of media, it is important to critique its intentions and accuracy. Especially if it is about how mouthwash can kill Covid. Our class shifted to reviewing study design and study methods. After reviewing basic terminology and the layout of scientific studies, our class was asked to identify the components of a scientific study that can be misleading, inaccurate, and unethical. I was shocked to find that most studies always have at least one key flaw as a part of their experiment. This exercise helped me identify the red flags in my own research journal I am reviewing for our unit one project. One of which being that the study was based only in Europe. This can lead to data being misinformative, especially in the case of studying genomes, it is vital to have variety and diversity.
Our Thursday class was focused on the next steps of our unit one project. This week for our popular health video essay, we are focusing on our feeder 1.2. Last class, we learned about the structure for a scholarly discourse. This was very useful for our bases of the outline our class is creating for feeder 1.2. In the beginning of class, we reviewed the main errors seen in our previous feeder 1.1. The most helpful tip to me was reviewing the major problems with the CSE citations. This information gave me a good idea of how to improve upon my next feeder. Though these feeders seemed daunting at first, the more time I spend on them, the more I realize that the final draft of my project won’t seem so stressful. The effort I put into my feeders will reflect on my final project, so I am trying to be as prepared as possible. Our class then talked about the structure of an introduction and conclusion. I liked how Mr. Blom stressed that the order of the key components of an introduction is not as important as what you choose to include in the introduction. I have struggled with conclusions in the past, but I now know the question I need to ask myself when making a conclusion is why is this topic important or relevant? We finally switched gears into peer reviewing our second feeders. Even though I am not proficient in writing, I love being able to help my peers in my class and giving insight on how to improve a paper. Viewing the opinion of those who are working on the same material gives our class a fresh perspective on how to improve their writing. I made the mistake of answering the questions instead of the outline in the second feeder, however answering these questions helped tremendously in creating my outline. I am researching the effects of genetic variants on food intake. Based on my peer reviews so far, the topic is interesting and has challenging material. I have never done a video essay before and I can not wait to make a video on a topic I am passionate about. This project has been exceedingly entertaining and I can not wait to start experimenting with video editing next week!
Paterson, Lea. Woman Carefully Pouring Blue Mouthwash into a Cup. Getty Images, www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/mouthwash-royalty-free-image/107253698?adppopup=true.