"Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought."
-Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
-Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
When I first joined the Honors Program and learned about the three competencies, research was the one that I was least worried about. As a science major, I knew that I would have many future experiences and opportunities with research. However, I soon came to realize that it would be a lot more difficult than I had initially anticipated. My Introduction to Honors course was my first look into the world of research, and the class in which I learned about the four ‘themes’. These themes are information literacy, information synthesis, original research, and dissemination of results. There was a lot more to the concept of research than I first thought, and this class especially developed my information literacy skill. Information literacy has to do with how you access and use information. My Introduction to Honors course taught me, which is demonstrated in a paper I wrote specifically about the process of researching. This class also gave us a special lecture in the library where we learned all about the databases they offer and how to find exactly what we’re looking for. This lecture also covered how to use information ethically, that is, how to cite our sources and make sure that we’re not stealing information and calling it our own. This class taught me how to evaluate and incorporate all the information I learned to use it in research papers or other projects.
The class that taught me most about the second theme in research, information synthesis, was my Honors Seminar: Witchcraft, Gender, and Society in Preindustrial Europe. Information synthesis is all about the ability to take many different ideas and integrate them into a cohesive project. For me, this was my final research project about how agriculture tied into witchcraft. I had to use the skills I learned in my Introduction to Honors class to gather as much information I can about the subject and evaluate it all. I had to figure out which ones fit my thesis and which ones didn’t make sense. I then took all the information I had, and synthesized it into a cohesive paper. Reflecting on this paper, I realized I had learned a new research skill, which was to find primary resources. This class taught me a lot about how to do proper research and how to cohesively present it.
The third theme of research is original research. My original research project was with Dr. Cynthia Forsman-Earl, and our project studied how breast cancer can metastasize to the bone. Our research question was about how this process works, and if there is a way to intervene. We were able to develop this research question by using information obtained from my professor’s previous research. I worked in a lab with Dr. Forsman and a team of other students. Some of our duties included dissecting the leg bones from mice, flushing them out to collect the marrow, and using further lab techniques to grow osteoclasts in order to study them. Our combined efforts allowed us to collect enough data to draw conclusions from and to extend the knowledge on the subject. We used this research to create a poster that would be used for presenting.
This brings me to the last theme of research, which is dissemination of results. Not only did I get to present my original research, but I also presented research I’ve done in my Spanish 202 class. For Spanish 202, I wrote a research paper on the topic of childhood obesity in Mexico and delivered a short presentation on the topic to my class. For my original research on bone metastasis, I submitted a proposal and was able to present my research at three different conferences, including the National Conference for Undergraduate Research in Asheville, North Carolina. If the project had been continued on for another year we would have also worked towards publishing our results through a peer-reviewed venue.
The class that taught me most about the second theme in research, information synthesis, was my Honors Seminar: Witchcraft, Gender, and Society in Preindustrial Europe. Information synthesis is all about the ability to take many different ideas and integrate them into a cohesive project. For me, this was my final research project about how agriculture tied into witchcraft. I had to use the skills I learned in my Introduction to Honors class to gather as much information I can about the subject and evaluate it all. I had to figure out which ones fit my thesis and which ones didn’t make sense. I then took all the information I had, and synthesized it into a cohesive paper. Reflecting on this paper, I realized I had learned a new research skill, which was to find primary resources. This class taught me a lot about how to do proper research and how to cohesively present it.
The third theme of research is original research. My original research project was with Dr. Cynthia Forsman-Earl, and our project studied how breast cancer can metastasize to the bone. Our research question was about how this process works, and if there is a way to intervene. We were able to develop this research question by using information obtained from my professor’s previous research. I worked in a lab with Dr. Forsman and a team of other students. Some of our duties included dissecting the leg bones from mice, flushing them out to collect the marrow, and using further lab techniques to grow osteoclasts in order to study them. Our combined efforts allowed us to collect enough data to draw conclusions from and to extend the knowledge on the subject. We used this research to create a poster that would be used for presenting.
This brings me to the last theme of research, which is dissemination of results. Not only did I get to present my original research, but I also presented research I’ve done in my Spanish 202 class. For Spanish 202, I wrote a research paper on the topic of childhood obesity in Mexico and delivered a short presentation on the topic to my class. For my original research on bone metastasis, I submitted a proposal and was able to present my research at three different conferences, including the National Conference for Undergraduate Research in Asheville, North Carolina. If the project had been continued on for another year we would have also worked towards publishing our results through a peer-reviewed venue.