I had the opportunity to read three
articles written Martin A. Schwartz and Jonathan W. Yewdell, two of which were
written from the latter. The articles delt with the nature of what science is,
which I am fully aware of, but in a different light. In Schwartz’s short
article, he mentions that it is a good idea if you “feel stupid” doing science.
He did not mean that as an insult; what he meant to say was that in science, we
never really know everything about nature. Through research, some of our hypotheses
are shown to be wrong and our experiments may fail terribly. Often times, we
can get different results that were not expected to arise from the data. These possibilities
that come from the research experience can overwhelm us and we tend to feel
very frustrated. Unfortunately, this frustration can lead to discouragement to
continue doing research. Schwartz recounts one event in which one of his
friends gave up on a science career to pursue law because she felt “stupid” in
grad school. The main point that Schwartz tried to get across is that we are
expected to feel as if we know nothing of our research outcomes. That is what makes
research… well, research! There will be moments when we will enter into unknown
territory. We will come across difficulty in trying to understand outcomes that
we thought should have “never happened”. Schwartz also makes a point that
during high school and college, we are used to having to do science with the
guidance of a teacher. In grad school, you are all on your own, except with
some advice from your mentor here and there. During grad school, it’s not just
following orders in doing an experiment. We have to fully understand it and
make it our own. I can relate to this feeling of “stupidity” because I did not
have any previous experience with working on my own. It is also a similar in my
experience in observing what my data is and how I must deal with unexpected
results. For example, despite the fact that I have recreated the nitration of
toluene trials from previous research, I have not obtained a yield of greater
than or equal to 92%. The results upset me because it compels me to look into
how I am losing so much of my product. Despite the fact that I have been trying
to be careful in my techniques, I still cannot obtain a high yield. I refuse to
give up in my project. These experiences prepared me for Jonathan W. Yewdell’s guide
of succeeding in research.
After reading his two articles on
what to do in order to succeed in research, I felt a bit overwhelmed at how
many variables are involved that influence the way research is done. Granted, I
am already aware of the difficulty in research that one is subjected to, but in
this case a specific example was used: biomedical research. Some of the helpful
tips that I read on the article made sense: the importance of choosing a good
quality graduate program, choosing a good mentor, and an evaluation of what
your talents and dedications are in life that will help you excel in research.
He then went further into detail about how to choose your project and how to
formulate your own questions. I remember when I had to figure out what to ask
for the beginning of my thesis. Since I chose the thesis, my question and
hypothesis have been constantly changed. With the help of my mentor, it was
decided that one type of compound will be tested instead of whole wide range of
compounds. Since my sample size is smaller, it is a lot easier to control.
Yewdell argues that teachers should introduce students who want to go into
research the basic principles being involved in it. I agree with that and to his
support of it, the fact that I am taking a research class proves his point that
it can be of extreme benefit to have a taste of what graduate school might be
like. Reading these articles compels me to prepare heavily for a future
research career in my life. It does not frustrate me and it does not discourage
me to look into it. I’m glad to know that there is no shame in feeling like an
idiot during research, since it is part of the scientific process. I look
forward to feel stupid… in a smart way when I continue on my education.
Hopefully, other individuals would take into consideration what they read in
these articles so that they can know what they are getting themselves into.
References
1)
Schartz, Martin A. “The Importance of Stupidity
in Science”. Journal of Cell Science
121, 1771 2008
2)
Yewdell, Jonathan W. “How to succeed in Science:
a concise guide for young biomedical scientists. Part I&II”. Molecular Cell Biology 2008
No comments:
Post a Comment