Wassup my boys, the Superbowl just ended and Tom Brady won another trophy. So basically I hate the Patriots again this year. What really triggers me is that Michael Floyd was on that team, so he got the ring for basically doing nothing. Personally, the second trimester has just finished at BASIS. This means that I no longer go to school, but I will still have to complete my AP Research project in trimester 3. The blog will now pivot from mere topic discussions, and instead enter into a progress log, mirroring what a normal Senior Research Project would look like. A quick meme of the day for everyone. Cash Me Ousside / How Bow Dah is line spoken by a 13 year old girl with a heavy accent on Dr. Phil. The meme blew up on the Internet shortly afterwards.Since I haven't had the opportunity to go to the lab yet (I will go to ASU on Monday), I'll talk about my progress on the lit review and methods this past week. I altered my literature review in a few ways. First, I cut out many of the repetitions and superfluous information present in the section. Often there was restatement of lines two or three times in the same paragraph. And I failed to link the purpose of each section to the paper's meaning. But one of the major flaws was separating the technicalities from their importance. I placed the two topics into separate paragraphs and broke the flow and understanding of the paper. Another flaw in my paper was my inability to focus on the static vs dynamic nature of proteins in techniques section of the paper. I had clouded my vision with the analysis techniques, losing sight of the more important goal. After my gap was thoroughly improved a few weeks ago, I have slowly made good progress on my paper.
In terms of my future plans, I need to hit the ground running this week. My greatest anxiety with my research is the availability of my advisors. If I cannot get a hold of them, my research will not be able to progress. Hopefully, I will be able to get in contact with Dr. Ozkan this week. The timeline will be on track if I manage to at least start the REMD trials this week. Since I can run these things simultaneously, I merely aiming to set up the trials for this week.
See you next week,
Ashwath V.
Hey Ashwath! Gotta say I love the meme of the day and also the picture on the link to your blog from the AP Research homepage. I'm happy to hear that you have made progress in editing your lit review by cutting words (that will feel great later) and reorganizing so that it is easier for the reader to follow your argument/analysis. As far as your potential pitfall, I would really try to focus on maintaining clear communication with everyone, not only your advisors at the lab, but also Ms. Haag. It may not seem like it now, but our schedule is pretty tight and the results section is now due in less than a month (with data due two weeks earlier - ahh!). Maybe next time you do get ahold of your advisors, create a clear plan for when you can communicate with them in the next couple weeks to ensure that you can get all your data. Good luck with your research and continue to enjoy the bit of extra free time that we seniors now have!
ReplyDeleteI just got a hold of Ozkan, so I'm hoping to set up that timetable ASAP
DeleteYo 'Shwath,
ReplyDeleteThe meme of the week is prime stuff -- my Bitmoji looks fire as the "Cash Me Ousside HowBow Dah" person.
Also, I see you going to PSF 3rd Floor! Let me know when you're going to be there, so we can meet up for a bit :)
Regarding your research, I know it's a bit chaotic, but I cannot emphasize the importance of communicating extremely closely and often with Dr. Ozkan... she's ultimately the expert who can guide you through any struggles and dictates whether you are on the right path or following schedule. I've been experiencing a bit of the same issues, but I have decided to become the pesky, determined guy who wants to get his data collected... don't be afraid to be that guy! I think Dr. Ozkan will appreciate the initiative, even though you may be a slight annoyance. She's obviously busy and extremely helpful, but make sure you're communicating and standing up for your project.
My question for you relates to your data analysis. What kind of data do these trials give you? Pictures to analyze, genetic sequences, protein interactions? How are you going to analyze these? I've been following your blog for a while and I can't remember if you ever mentioned that. I could be completely wrong though!
Keep up the good work, and see you soon!
Cheers,
Yash
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P.S. Why did you post your blog at 5:57 am? I felt anxious just looking at that hahaha. MUB MUB MUB
Lol I fell asleep when it was done. I woke up and hit the post button. My data is gonna come up as a matrix and I'm going to visualize it like a bar graph, comparing the samples. I also got a hold of Ozkan, and we are laying the groundwork tomorrow.
DeleteHey Ashwath!
ReplyDeleteI also wanted the Falcons to win and I don't even ever watch football so sad times. So, as of writing this you seem to have already contacted Dr. Ozkan, so that is awesome. I agree with Audrey with like cc'ing Mrs. Haag with those emails so she knows what is going on. Creating a really concrete schedule on like Google calendar and sharing it with Dr. Ozkan can only be good?
It is really commendable that you cut down the wording in your literature review and methods, because like Audrey said, this will leave you more room to expand on your results, which you seem to need to do. I know you said it would be bar graphs, but I guess you are going to need lots of words to explain the conclusions and what the graphs mean.
Anyway, other than that and with the trust that you will get your data collection done in two weeks(!!!), great work and I am looking forward to your school-less progress!
I'll be sure to CC those emails. Lol those results sections are gonna be fun.
DeleteI agree with your lovely classmates, that including me on your communications would be very helpful in giving my insight as to what's going on with you and your research. I know that you're set up at a lab, and that makes everything feel more official, but you are still subject to the potential of falling behind schedule and lapsing into periods of laziness. Knowing that your accountable to Dr. Ozkan as well as me will hopefully be a safety net in preventing you from becoming subject to that.
ReplyDeleteAlso, spend more time talking about your research, and less time talking about memes. kthnx.