Extra credit portfolio revision

Portfolio

THE PORTFOLIO IS DUE WEDNESDAY APRIL 30^th

Audience-

·       The audience is your instructor.

Purpose-

·        Compose an overall reflection for your portfolio that introduces its contents.

·        Explain an individual sections, reflections how the pieces you include. exemplify your communication skills.

·        Remember to keep in mind “How does communication work in your field?”

·        Be sure to include why you made your revision choices and how your. perspective has changed from your first drafts to your final piece.

Title/Introduction-

·      -  For your introduction it is all about how you’ve grown as a writer.

·      -  Refer to what WOVE is and how in each aspect there is has grown over this course.

·      -  This should be in the form of a reflection

·       - Include examples from previous works that you have worked on and how it has improved yourself as a writer.

Revision of a Summary with Reflection-

·       - First select a piece that you can do a significant amount of re-writing.

·        -Next, try to “re-see” the summary.

·      -  Delete, add, or change anything that is necessary

·    -    Keep in mind the audience that you have chosen and how specifically you can make this communication clearer.

·       - Be sure to be very critical of yourself.

OVE Piece with a Reflection-

·       - First, choose the paper with your best efforts in oral, visual, and communication efforts.

·       - Answer why you chose this, and what changes, if any did you do to benefit it.

·       - How this paper reflects your best oral, visual, and communication efforts.

Extra Information/Questions-

·        -For any extra information and questions, either e-mail your instructor or refer to the original outline which will include extra information and questions to ask yourself.

      Reflection of Changes-

I rewrote the outline. What I aimed to do was to make the most effective outline that would be the most helpful to me. I prefer concise as possible writings, with still containing enough information to get a good grade. That being said, with continuously reviewing this outline it contained a lot of good and useful information.  DO NOT DELETE OR LOSE ALL COPIES OF THIS. I think it could be a really useful reference to students when they are creating their portfolios. That being said, it is overwhelming to a lot of people including me. So what I did was simply revise this and make it as concise and informational.

The format of everything got thrown off with the translation of microsoft word to the blog. Everything was bullet-pointed basically like it started out as. Also, somethings were centered but it is all thrown off

FINAL RESEARCH PAPER! (The audience and another comment are at the very end!)

Ryan Swenson

English 250

“Biochemistry Communicational Summary”

Biochemistry is the study of chemical reactions and processes in living organisms. When concerned with bettering one’s communicational skills through writing in biochemistry, it is important to master a few key practices that will further your understanding of the scientific method (For those of you who may not know what the scientific method is you can check out this website quick: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/scientific+method ). There are three major categories of writing/communication in the field of biochemistry. The categories consist of procedural design, reports on data and evidence, and lastly the communicational skills that are necessary to extend one’s knowledge in specific fields of study. For this division of science it is of high importance to become familiar and comfortable with all three types in order to become a more capable and well-rounded biochemist.
Before a biochemist should begin experimenting, it is necessary to put together a proper step-by-step plan so that when it is time to gather information it will yield reliable, legitimate data. When reliable, legitimate information is brought up it refers to an individual’s results from an experiment of which were not open to a lot of bias or other types of error that would end up being no significant use to any person(s). Aside from that, if a biochemist is attempting to create a lab procedure there are specific components that will be applicable to the writing process that an individual can use to follow and create a successful end product. From lab to lab there will always be a general outline for creating procedures that has been noted.
The very first item that each and every scientist should include would be identifying and stating your problem. To begin experimenting in a lab, it is necessary to do this so that an individual does not waste time searching for results when an actual problem isn’t even identified. That would waste valuable lab time and in some instances money. This is not the only important reason for stating the problem. In addition to being a waste of time and money, establishing and clearly specifying the problem you are looking to solve helps any other scientist or person of interest clearly see what an individual is attempting to do. The sharing and scientist-to-scientist communication that would be involved will be discussed as we progress further in this paper.
Another component of the statement of the problem is including background information that is relevant to the topic that one would be studying. Even in beginning introductory biochemistry labs, the professors will include precise information for the topic of experimentation (“BBMB 102: Introduction to Biochemistry Lab Manual”). When deciding what to include for background information there are a few helpful questions that, if answered, can be useful when a biochemist is crafting a lab procedure. The first question to think about would be that if one was to read your work, would this individual be able to fully understand what is going on? Another question which is just a twist of the first would be to put yourself in the reader’s shoes. If you were reading this with no previous knowledge would the problem be clearly understood? Chances are that if you personally wouldn’t be able to then it would be appropriate to add more information on the subject. There is however a finite limit of background information that should be included. Often if a scientist were unsure if there was too much or not enough information, a fellow scientist/advisor/teacher could offer useful advice because they have been around the scientific method for a much longer period of time and from here it is now acceptable to move onto developing a more complex way to state the problem.
        While your problem you chose is imperative when devising a procedure, making an educated guess or proposal based on prior evidence is one of the most pivotal pieces to this process. It is key that this is a complete statement can be testable so that there is a point to creating a lab (“Lab Report Template”). Also known as the hypothesis, it is going to be the main element that will be tested directly for the experiment. The information gathered and conclusions mentioned later all are based off of the hypothesis. To formulate a hypothesis, there is a basic and general formula that applies to just about every hypothesis tested. This format is called an “If-then” statement. An example would be if a scientist wanted to test if water and light will make a plant grow. The hypothesis would be “If water and light are given to a plant, then the plant will grow.” This can be tested by giving the plant water and light and then giving a plant neither water nor light, and then compared by growth. If one becomes readily able to make a hypothesis then comes a great skill that will be useful in every biochemistry class or experiment to come.
        A biochemist uses many types of equipment for various labs and tests. When creating a lab procedure be sure to record what devices and other useful tools that were involved with the lab. Although it was not mentioned earlier, another requirement to have a successful lab is that it is easily replicated. Listing the materials then is important so another scientist could read the entire lab and be able to recreate it. In some instances, if the equipment is very complex to use, it would be very necessary to explain how to set-up and use the device. It provides more clarity for lab duplication. After the materials are listed comes writing out the plan to test for the hypothesis determined earlier.
        The procedure itself is the last piece of the puzzle that contributes to the completeness of the lab procedure. The detailed order in which you perform the lab is the procedure. It contains information on how the hypothesis was tested and gives valuable insight to the reasons for the way the testing will be carried out (“Scientific Reports”). Bringing back an earlier discussion of background information where you ask yourself certain questions, it should be noted that for determining how in-depth to go with a specific step in the procedure it should be followed on the basis of if any person with no knowledge of the subject picked up the procedure they could perform it. That often requires a certain amount of lengthiness to make certain a flawless lab could be performed. For the younger biochemists, there is always some help from teachers or teaching assistants that provide excellent advice on how to design these ever so precisely. Also, there is always a lot of information online that can be utilized effectively. When all of this is done it concludes the lab procedure for said experiment.
          Assuming the lab had a viable hypothesis and a well thought out procedure it is time to transition to another type of writing that biochemists encounter. After collecting the data from the experiment it is time to draw conclusions and communicate them effectively.
          As a biochemist, composing the results is crucial to being a fitting scientist which comes when acquiring the ability to draw educated conclusions based on data is done with ease. The first aspect that should be identified before creating it is to target your audience so that when one is writing, the author can include helpful terms or definitions depending on who it is. This is also so the paper can be best communicated to the audience and then allows one to begin structuring the writing (“The Scientific Method: A model for conducting scientific research”). Drafting this concerns creating a report in accordance with the data obtained. Building this summary may not come naturally at first, but it is important to reiterate that great ability comes from immense practice. Practice comes with experience so as a biochemist it is a good ability to be optimistic whenever facing a challenge. For these summaries, it is a good idea to identify trends in the data that can be found by creating visual pieces such as data tables and graphs. If these visuals are created ever, always include them into a lab report for the emphasis of clarity. An immense amount of emphasis should also be placed on including whether or not the hypothesis was correct. As the whole point of the experiment is to test it, it should be easily understood as to why this may be important. For a good report just remember to include what you expected, what you found, and how to improve the lab for the next time if something wasn’t what should be expected. Having these three parts along with the other information described earlier will be detrimental to the successfulness of creating a good lab report. Lastly comes the last analysis of how biochemists communicate, through a more informal way.
         Collaboration is comparing and sharing information. This is a very intriguing way of communication, and the cooperation between scientists has led to some of the great discoveries that science boasts to this day. A very famous example would be how Watson and Crick were able to create the ball-and-stick display of DNA to show its double helix structure. They however collaborated and shared the data that Rosalind Franklin discovered which indicated the type of shape that it may occur in using x-ray diffraction. The discovery of the shape of DNA would result in the Nobel Prize being handed out to Watson and Crick (Brooker, Graham, and Stiling 222-224). From these findings to so many more in the science world, it is amazing how this type of communication serves to be such an important type of communication. From the time that a potential biochemist enter college, it is already time to stress the importance of this skill. Information however should not be copied or plagiarized from another source. In no areas of discipline is cheating ever tolerable so be wise when demonstrating collaboration. Always furthering your communication skills is going to strengthen and better a person to be as well-rounded a scientist as possible.
         Whether setting up experiments or analyzing data, following along with this paper can provide valuable techniques and hints to become a triumphant communicator in the biochemistry field of study. If these become well thought out and mastered than all three major types of communication can be utilized to the scientist’s advantage for the rest of the scientific path laid out before an individual.

Works Cited:
 "Lab Report Template." Lab Report Template. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014
 "Design Research: The Scientific Method." Design Research: The Scientific Method. 12 Mar. 2014 <http://depts.washington.edu/rural/RURAL/design/scimethod.html#communicating>.
“Biology: for Bio 211 and 212”. Iowa State University. Brooker, Robert; Graham, Linda; Stiling, Peter; Widmaier. Copyright 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies.
"College of Arts and Sciences." The Writing Center Scientific Reports Comments. 11 Mar. 2014 <https://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/scientific-reports/>.
 “BBMB 102: Introduction to Biochemistry”. Spring 2014. N.p., n.d
-The audience for this paper is biochemists of all type and more specifically incoming potential biochemists
(Also, the blog won't let me indent so i just hit the space bar to make it look nice, sorry).

"Research Paper Stuff" 

My research paper is important to me because it is all about my major. When doing most writing assignments it is often common to see them as not relevant or a waste of time, however when you do come across an English class that allows you to do something with your major it all of a sudden has this relevance.

          So what I mean by relevance is that this paper is directly involved with how communicating is done in my field. When I first began this paper I did not really know exactly how communicating and writing worked in my field, but I definitely gained this knowledge through obtaining my sources and other types of research done by myself. This proved to be really important to me.

          This paper is so important to me because it gets me more involved with my major and topics that I could possibly be studying. I had the chance to search for any sources that would help with my paper, as long as it was relevant to my topic. I think that this is paper could be important to others as well.

          This paper that I will be constructing, is going to have a lot of good information for how many scientific majors communicate. Often there is a lot of overlap in the sciences for how writing is done so this could be used my even biology, chemistry, and even physics majors. The research paper has information on the communication and types of communication done by the sciences, specifically biochemistry. It also, has credible sources that will help guide and inform the readers of how this type of communication is done. Obtaining this many sources was sort of a challenge but will be rewarding when the paper itself will be written.

          As mentioned prior to this paragraph I had to obtain 12 sources. This was not super difficult once I really got into it. I found it to be less and less of a burden the more I got into it. I started reading different articles about my major and found many interesting articles. The hardest and most frustrating part of the sources so far was the annotative bibliography. I did not really understand exactly how to make one. Also, the work involved was a lot at the time because I had so much other homework to do. I have never done anything like that so it was all new to me. I’ve cited sources, but not in that type of manner. Another issue I ran into was citing the pictures. I didn’t really understand how to do so, but am still in the process of fully understanding it.

          Overall even with these struggles, I do think this paper will be rewarding for me and to others in the sciences who read it.

Proposal

“Research Proposal”

Being a biochemistry major through even just this freshman year has made me propose the question of how writing works in my field and how they communicate as well. There is a lot of crossover with biology and chemistry in this, as the writing in those fields is almost exactly the same. The writing and communication for the sciences can almost all have the same categories of communication. The way that I plan to attack this problem is through the normal 5 paragraph style. I will incorporate three main body paragraphs.

The first main body paragraph will be about one style of how writing in my field works and specifically lab design/procedure. Designing labs is one way that scientists need to write with precise detail so that the results they find can be validated. If you have a well-designed lab and it is free of any flaw and error then the findings you obtain can help prove or reject your hypothesis. I will be putting 3-5 sources into this section. This paragraph is the first style I was exposed to so far as an ISU student.

The second type of writing that I encountered as a student here was lab reports. It is very important in the science world to get the results that they need. It is even more important to be able to take the results that you acquired from your lab and be able to organize the data thoughtfully and effectively to accurately describe and convince others that your findings are important and also correct. This is a key piece of writing for science and I will again be using 3-5 sources for this paragraph and the last body paragraph.

For my final paragraph of the body, it will consist of how scientists communicate and how they have communicated to gain further knowledge and draw new conclusions as well. Collaborating with other scientists can be key to your research. I plan on using some classical experiments as examples and will also, give a good example of a more recent way in which researchers have communicated to make new discoveries. I also want to note here that this way of collaboration is pivotal to almost any science-based major.

As far as everything else other than the body, I plan on going about my introduction and conclusion just as would be normally made with a thesis and map in the introduction, and a re-stated thesis in the conclusion.

12 sources

"Lab Report Template." Lab Report Template. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014

This article is an outline for a possible lab creation. It has certain aspects that are important for creating a lab proposal, as well as lots of questions and ideas you should be thinking about when creating a lab. There is really no bias or opinion as this is an outline. I will be using this lab template as an example in my first body paragraph which is one of my main points on how writing works in my field.

“BBMB 102: Introduction to Biochemistry”. Spring 2014. N.p., n.d

The manual that I was given in my biochemistry lab has all sorts of lab experiments in it. They all start with some background information, have a materials list, procedure, data tables, etc. It is a procedural type of writing and has little bias if any. I will use this manual in my first and second paragraphs and tie it how it uses elements of a good lab experiment and how the analysis questions and data report are involved in the research part of scientific writing.

“Biology: for Bio 211 and 212”. Iowa State University. Brooker, Robert; Graham, Linda; Stiling, Peter; Widmaier. Copyright 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies.

The biology book has a lot of useful sections including one’s that have experiments which include some procedural parts as well as reports of findings. It also talks about the importance of communication and collaboration of scientists with other scientists. Lastly, there are some experiments that include collaboration including Watson and Crick’s conclusion of the shape of be very helpful and has little bias because it is a science resource textbook.

"College of Arts and Sciences." The Writing Center Scientific Reports Comments. 11 Mar. 2014 <https://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/scientific-reports/>.

This article by the UNC writing center has a really in-depth and well thought out guideline to writing scientific lab reports. It has a lot of information regarding how to structure it, what the goals of the paper are, and many other important pieces for this topic. This is a very useful resource for my first body paragraph (as explained in my research proposal) to create a basis for how reports work in my field.

Brandeis University. "Key structure in heart cells that helps regulate heart contractions illuminated by research." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 4 March 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140304141740.htm>.

This article is a report about using fluorescence to identify proteins, specifically in the cells of the heart that regulate heart contractions. This is key to scientists for developing heart disease treatments as well as understanding heart disease as a total. This is a good example of a report in the field of biochemistry. It is not as in-depth as the lab report outline is however it is a really good example of being concise and still effectively communicating there results and will be good for the second main body paragraph. This is a great example of scientists communicating their findings to the science world.

University of Cambridge. "Crop-infecting virus forces aphids to spread disease." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 5 December 2013. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131205102323.htm

This is an article about aphids and how they spread viruses to plants, and how scientists are trying ways to stop the spread of this mosaic virus. The scientists are collaborating with others and received a grant for their research in hopes to strengthen developing countries agriculture, specifically Africa’s. The article will be used for either my second body paragraph or third one, and could be used for both. It is a good example of both a report of finding, and use of collaboration between scientists.

"Design Research: The Scientific Method." Design Research: The Scientific Method. 12 Mar. 2014 <http://depts.washington.edu/rural/RURAL/design/scimethod.html#communicating>.

This article has a great information on some of the questions that you could be asking yourself when you want to communicate your results after performing an experiment. It has some questions that you can ask yourself when you’re trying to make a lab report that will have information on how to write what you did in an experiment as well as some questions for how tocommunicate your results. I can use this article to help out with my first two body paragraphs mainly and it will be used so.

"Survival of the Extraordinary – A Fly With Tricky* Wings." Dot Earth Survival of the Extraordinary A Fly With Tricky Wings Comments. 12 Mar. 2014 <http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/04/survival-of-the-extraordinary-a-fly-with-ants-on-its-wings/?ref=biologyandbiochemistry>.

From this source, there is information about a fly they have discovered that has painted images of jumping spiders on its wings. At first it was thought that the images were ants, but a specialist in ants and spiders thinks they are these spiders. I think this will be used in my last body paragraph and is a good example of how scientists communicate with one another to get the correct details of information they saw. Initially some people thought these colorings were to depict ants, however after another scientist added his observations, people think that it is not of ants but of spiders.

"Experimental Design Outline." Experimental Design Outline. 12 Mar. 2014 <http://www.zoology.ubc.ca/~bio310/121T_files/06S_experiment.htm>.

The article explains what it takes to create a good experimental design and has certain paragraphs about what makes a good hypothesis and other factors that go along the lines of an experimental procedure. This source is perfect for my first body paragraph and will be helpful when describing how scientists in my field look to setup an experimental design and how to make one better which is why this source is useful.

"The Challenge of Communicating Science to the Public." The Challenge of Communicating Science to the Public. 12 Mar. 2014 <https://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~wilkins/writing/Resources/essays/sci_comm.html>.

The title of this article says it all as far as what it is about. It is a really good piece about how it is a challenge for a lot of scientists to communicate to the public and what scientists should be doing to do so. It also talks about how professors should be preparing their future scientists to communicate to the public. This will be primarily used in my third body paragraph and I am considering referencing it in my second but am not sure exactly.

Visual #1:

"BioPerspectives." GEN. 12 Mar. 2014 <http://www.genengnews.com/bioperspectives/science-leadership-project-teamsgroup-dynamics-and-team-failures/4853>.

This image is going to be used as a visual for my last body paragraph which touches on scientists collaborating with one another. It is a good example of how scientists talk and share information to gain new understandings or insights.

Visual #2:

"Redirect Notice." Redirect Notice. 12 Mar. 2014 <https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=-MKe5Z_eeB-A5M&tbnid=rJZ3xOVSdXFKcM:&ved=0CAYQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.abcteach.com%2Fdirectory%2Fclip-art-graphic-organizers-9832-2-1&ei=r7ogU7S1NOS2yAGVlYGQDQ&psig=AFQjCNGH1IwAmiiwu_qU8IBpzqYdqZzQfg&ust=1394740242596321>.

This is a great example of an outline for a lab report/experiment design. It is a basic template that hits on a lot of points that I will be making in my first and second body paragraphs so it will most likely be featured in one of those two and will tie into what I’m saying at the time. It also helps the reader visualize a sort of outline that I will be describing.

Textual Analysis

Ryan Swenson

“Textual Analysis”

Scientists at the University of Exeter have been studying cell division in fruit flies and have found information that could be a potential link to an underlying cause of cancer. They wrote this because they wanted to be able to communicate with other scientists that they may have found a link to a cause of cancer and show them that there information was legitimate through a few different ways. The article was written to inform the science world, as well as anyone in the general interest field of cancer or cell division. The author of this article effectively conveyed his purpose to this specific audience. It is so effectively conveyed because the diction that the author uses incorporates certain appeal to the audience, as well as having a bulk of scientific substance to back up there implications and to establish more credibility.

Use of diction is an important way that an author can use to adequately lead the audience to the purpose. The use of diction also creates certain appeals which in turn help strengthen the purpose that the author is trying to illustrate. In the article, the author creates ethos by the use of many scientific and lengthy words, some of which include “microtubule, spindle, molecular, Augmin, chromosomes, arbitrary, amplifying”. These words establish a lot of credibility to the author because when the audience is reading this article and they see scientific and lengthy words, then it makes the audience impressed and the author seem like he knows what he’s talking about. By using these words to create a sense of validity the purpose is strengthened because now the targeted audience can build a sense of trust that can go a long way when trying to persuade someone to accept new ideas/information.

The diction used by the author also establishes emotional appeal to his audience. By persuading the audience emotionally, it evokes feelings that are useful to the author when conveying his article’s purpose to whom he targets. Words used such as “remarkable, new, innovative, first, currently” create a feeling of hope and forwardness with science through the discoveries. The possibility of this new research and the fact that it currently is going on, is hopeful to the audience which helps them remember the purpose more in depth. The author links his research to a possible underlying cause of cancer, which can give those wanting to cure cancer and those affected by cancer some hope that one day this disease may be stopped. That is an example of the effectiveness that this word choice had on the emotions of the audience. In some cases how these words are organized into structured sentences and paragraphs strengthen the author’s points.

Another useful strategy to achieve the goal of explaining the purpose well to his target audience is how much scientific data present, and how well the data is explained. This creates a lot of substance which is another way of strengthening his purpose and creating even more credibility. In scientific research papers, you want to be very concise without leaving too much information out. There was a very good balance of information and explanation. There are two specific paragraphs in which this balance can be seen. The first of these two is the second paragraph and the second is the fourth paragraph. They both do a good job at including the facts they discovered, with also description of how everything that was found worked. The use of substance here overall was very effective for communicating his findings to the intended audience.

From the use of extensive and useful substance, to using word choice to appeal to the audience differently, the author used them efficiently and properly to support his purpose and make it apparent. These choices that the author used helped him convey that the research done by this group has a potential insight on one of the possible hidden links to cancer.

MLA citation- Association for International Cancer Research. "Using fruit flies to help understand cancer."ScienceDaily, 22 Oct. 2010. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.

Textual Anaylsis Article Link

 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140102113142.htm