Feeling Accomplished

Looking over our assignments at the beginning of the year, the research article was definitely what I felt most stressed/nervous about.  As aspiring scientists, we read countless research papers a year.  However, typically (as we've discussed in class) I just read the abstract and scan the figures to get a general sense of what is going on.  The nitty gritty of the methods and results often seem quite technical and go right over my head.  Really thoroughly reading a research paper from start to finish is a hefty task.  Therefore, the thought of writing one was daunting.

I was getting very stressed as the deadline started to creep closer.  However, when I sat down to start piecing everything together I did find we had already done a decent amount of the work.  The pieces that we turned in and got feedback on as homework assignments were ultimately very helpful to me.  I feel like without realizing it we were forced to be proactive in writing and planning our articles - and thank goodness for that.

I also really appreciated office hours the weekend before the articles were due.  They are always helpful in terms of getting last minute questions answered, but given our current situation I also found it very refreshing to be able to feel like I'm back at school getting to individually interact with my professors and peers.  Those one-on-one interactions are almost entirely lost in a zoom-based education, and are something that I really miss.

Overall, I am feeling very accomplished having completed my research article.  Publishing a paper is something I have always wanted to do and been working towards, and now having written a research article in its entirety that goal feels much more tangible.  I hope you are all feeling equally proud.  I miss seeing you all!

-Karenna

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