Popular Science Worksheet

http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2009-08/energy-producing-microbe-evolves-more-efficient-strain-could-lead-new-fuel-cell-designs

The article discusses that a microbe named Geobacter can be used to extract energy from mud which can be used in a fuel cell. The research team from the University of Massachusetts have observed the microbe can generate electricity when it is placed in mud and waste water. The species has been altered a few times so that it can produce more electricity.

The primary research that I feel could be used for this article could be that of the article entitled "The genome of Geobacter bemidjiensis, exemplar for the subsurface clade of Geobacter species that predominate in Fe(III)-reducing subsurface environments". The scientists talk about how the Geobacter has a large metabolic rate. The article also states that other environmental stresses affect the rate of its metabolism such that it can increase or decrease.

http://apps.isiknowledge.com.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/full_record.do?product=WOS&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=3&SID=1AKlbNd4FpkDkd9eo@1&page=1&doc=6

Nov 16, 2010

Learning Objectives

• read and write scientific papers.
• we read a lot of the dicussion sections. actually we read three of them and scored them so we can help guide ours and how they will be graded. we derived that we need to get a story going form paragrpah to paragph so they can be tied in correctly. organiation is also key to this paper. citations to. dont forget to site a class member ali!
• also we did some work on materials and methods. what makes a good section? i think that in a good materials and methods why you did your experiment in that way. 
• abstract - what i think it is. starts off by what youre doing and why. then how this will affect what ever. then results. then how it will help. BOOM BOOM BOOM. abstract.
• examine and participate in the steps of observation-driven investigations,including crafting scientific questions and hypotheses, designing experiments, collecting and analyzing data, interpreting and presenting results.
• we participated in class. in helping the abs and the m&m (methods and material) 
• document your scientific experiences in a lab notebook.
• we always docuemnt in our lab notebooks
• conduct research collaboratively, participating in peer review.
• we got together in groups butted heads on some papers and grading also for what goes in a good methods and materials section. also great to see how others view is a good and what goes in it. i personally thing they are incorrect and that mine is right. but hey we arent all perfect.
• locate and review scientific literature related to a specific question.
• well for the methods and what goes in a good methods section i did pull up on the laptop top some new articles. just jumped on the web of science and searched fox. just so i can pull up a methods and materials section.

Nov 12, 2010

Learning Objectives

• read and write scientific papers.
• We spent a good amount of time int he lirbary looking up articles for our inclass work. Using eric was very helpful to see how a different search engine works for one that is used for "science" articles.
• examine and participate in the steps of observation-driven investigations,including crafting scientific questions and hypotheses, designing experiments, collecting and analyzing data, interpreting and presenting results.
• we created our hypothesis and research question and voted on it. i wish ours was picked i feel like it was more interesting then the rest. basically all the rest were exactly the same question just reworded. but ill live.
• document your scientific experiences in a lab notebook.
• we always document everything we do/learn in our lab notebooks.
• conduct research collaboratively, participating in peer review.
• When we got together with our groups it was cool to see (even though we were looking for the same articles) how different the articles we found were. its good to see that different people think differently and think of different things to search for. 
• locate and review scientific literature related to a specific question.
• this whole class period was basically based off looking for literature using a new databse and again searching different terms looking how to manipulate the search so you can pinpoint what you want to look at.

Library Workshop 2

Article 1

Wenz M, Wei-Chounn Y. 2010. Term-time employment and the academic performance of undergraduates. J Education Finance. 35(4):358-373.

1) This article talks about the amount of time used outside of school to finance their higher education. It supports the research question perfectly and can be used.
2) Students that work for financial reasons earn lower grades than students who work for career-specific skills.
3) They want to find out if this is a trend among many undergraduates or not.
4) This is essentially the hypothesis we have that we are working with.

Article 2

Callender C. 2008. The impact of term-time employment on higher education students' academic attainment and achievement. J Education Policy. 23(4) 359-377.

1) This article also talks about the relationship between the amount of time worked in higher education relating to grades.
2) Students do less well academically because of part-time jobs they take to support themselves while studying.
3) They are conducting this research to perhaps change policy or to find ways to help students.
4) Again this is basically exactly like the question we brought up in class. It will be interesting to use this article to support our hypothesis.

Article 3 


Pike G. 2008. First-year students' employment, engagement, and academic achievement: untangling the relationship between work and grades. J NASPA. 45(4) 560-582

1) This article uses statistical significance to see if there is a relationship between the two.
2) Does working affect the outcome of grades.
3) Like the past two articles this is essentially our research questions except THIS ARTICLE HAS FIGURES which are always nice to see a visual representation of data.

Article I'm not using

Crede M, Roch S. 2010. Class attendance in college: a meta-analytic review of the relationship of class attendance with grades and student characteristics. J Education Research. 80(2) 272-295.

1) Article talks about going to class and grades, not about working and grades. Not our question.
2)

Cover Letter

The cover letter us used to address the messages left by the reviewer to better help you on your paper. It starts off by saying who is reviewing the paper and who's paper it is that is being reviewed. Now was wats interesting was that each comment had been addressed individually instead of as a whole. This really helps pinpoint what constructive comments are being issued. It also shows that you are taking the comments seriously by addressing each of them independently. If there is a comment that isn't necessarily used we learned to use the "I respectfully disagree....this is why i respectively disagree" method. Overall it is important to look at each comment made seriously because it can really help your paper.

-Ali Mainayar

Class Nov 1st.

Learning Goals (Prof's Labbook)

• read and write scientific papers.
• We all read the introduction sections of our three papers. We focused on pin pointing what a good introduction paragraph has. What ideas what concepts and how we are goin to mold ours to that. It helped to see how the scientists did their introductions, it gives you a real feel of how you want to do your own.
• examine and participate in the steps of observation-driven investigations, including crafting scientific questions and hypotheses, designing experiments, collecting and analyzing data, interpreting and presenting results.
• 
  
• document your scientific experiences in a lab notebook.
• We spent a lot of time going over how we are shaping our new format on how our lab note books are going to be graded as well as how they are written. I do kinda like this new documentation by learning goals it helps remember what we did in class and what we "learned" vs on just listing what we have done each day.
• conduct research collaboratively, participating in peer review.
• We worked in groups and started talking about what types of questions we could ask our other section members for the monday and wed class. We also go together and thought about what we did in previous classes and tried to categorize that under our learning objectives. It was fun to try and call out other students and try to knock off what they thought counted in the learning spot.
• locate and review scientific literature related to a specific question.
• The review of our scientific material helped us understand the introduction section. Reading probably a little bit halfway through the second paper you could really see what an introduction really was composed of.

Letter to the Editor.

 

Dear Dr. Price,

I thank you for careful revisions and suggestion to my manuscript. I have revised the results section from the suggestions provided. I have taken each revision into careful consideration.

Responses to reviewer 1

·         “I would start off by giving a small amount of detail about what was going instead of jumping in straight to the results.”

We agree with the reviewer on this point. During the writing process it was understood that the most effective way to represent the data was to dive into the numbers. Consideration is taken into account that small amount of detail about what is going on should be presented.

·         “Also in the graph figure you want to explain what is being represented by the bar (or plots), just so if somebody that was reading the paper and had no clue about what was going on they would be able to clearly understand what the graph means.

This comment about the graphic is being taking under consideration. The plots of points on the graphic were something that did not even cross our mind. The way we looked at it was that a bar was a better representation of the data. The explanation of the figure will also be more thorough in the next revision of the text.

·         “I know that in class you fixed it but you want to add the value of your standard error both in the paper and to the graph figure.  If your going to start by talking about the figure I would have it presented right after that paragraph so the reader can look at it while reading the paragraph the is talking about it”

This point has been addressed in a revision of the results section. The value of my standard error is now included within the graphic as well as the text. I will move the portion bout the graphic interpretation to after the graphic. If it helps to view the graphic then read about it, we are all for it. The initial layout was having the paragraph before the graphic which we thought would be beneficial. I understand now that this can be beneficial to the reader if it is presented before.

·         “Your going to want to explain you p-value in plain English, if you do this like you do when you explain the graph and what the axis are, you be in great shape.  Your results section is doing great, I think with adding in those small things, and maybe looking at the sample 2 (as it relates to yours) you will get a nice grade.  Ali you have done very well on this, nice job.”

I recently e-mailed messaged you in October about a manuscript entitled “Marginal Growth of Nucella lamellose”. The recommendation was made to submit this text to the Journal of Ecology for the special issue about how different facets of the environment can affect growth in intertidal species. My text will enhance this journal’s special edition.

I have carefully taken into account these revision notes and will be adjusting my manuscript to adhere to those notes. I really do believe this result section will be a good addition to the journal special issue about how different facets of the environment can affect  growth in intertidal species. This research directly corresponds with the topic.

Sincerely,

Ali mainyar