Coursework
The Racist Implications of Sugar Burning - Think Piece 2
Course: Honors 393 The Rhetoric of Health and Medicine
In this class, I wrote three Think Pieces which are persuasive long-form essays that synthesize information from multiple different sources to create something new. Each one was 1500 words long and had to answer a specific prompt that pertained to the unit in question. For my first essay, I wrote about how language frames health as a set of rules in a harmful, exclusionary way. From the feedback I got on this essay, I learned that:
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In rhetoric, I cannot claim causation even though I can talk about effects of words and language. In some of my paragraphs, I use a general formula of x is associated with y which could cause John Doe to [blank]. These claims were often my own opinion and I did not have evidence to prove them. One specific example I was able to find of me claiming causation was when I wrote "Since there is this supposed mutual understanding about the rules of “baseball,” sexual partners likely will not discuss their predilections, leading to feelings of resentment or confusion." Here, after discussing how baseball is used as a metaphor for sex, I make an assertion that could be very wrong. Instead, I should have focused more on claims that I could support with evidence.
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I needed to work on the organization of my essay. My professor said that is was well written with few errors, but "organizationally it [felt] a bit choppy in some places. Smooth out the transitions between paragraphs so you can lead the reader through your train of thought." Upon revising my essay, I can see that I jumped back and forth between different ideas. Specifically, I make my counterargument at the end of the paper about something I wrote about in the beginning of the paper. If I were to rewrite this, I would discuss one metaphor at a time and would avoid doubling back to other parts of the paper. I would also break up my paragraphs for better readability.
For my second Think Piece, I wrote about the racist implications of sugar burning in the Glades of Florida. For this paper, I did a lot more outside research because the topic I chose was not discussed in class. I came up with a more specific thesis and backed it up with more evidence than my previous paper. In the end, I scored a 97, as opposed to a 91 for the first Think Piece. I am quite proud of this paper and used it for my final presentation.
Below is the feedback I got for the second Think Piece, along with both essays.
Library Research - ZY Wang Lab
This quarter, I conducted library research on octopuses, where I found and read 26 research papers by various authors and completed a report on each one. Each Monday, I presented on of the papers I read that past week for 30 min to the rest of the lab.
Comparing my first few presentations with the last few, this is what I observed:
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My more recent PowerPoints were a lot shorter. The average length for my earlier presentations was around 20 slides, while my newer ones were around 13 slides. As I practiced presenting more and more, I started to identify the most relevant and important information in the research paper, which is how I was able to condense the slides, but not necessarily the amount of information (I just allocated that time from the extra slides to discuss other topics in more depth). I shifted my focus from describing the experiment more to what the experiment reveals and why the results are pertinent to our lab's work. I think knowing how to be concise and narrowing down the big ideas are useful skills that can be used in many other methods of communication (like writing or public speaking), and I will work on applying them to my other studies.
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In my earlier presentations, I wrote out my entire speech beforehand in the notes section of the slide. However, I found it difficult to follow along with my paragraph-form notes when I was trying to employ strong public speaking skills (looking at the audience, using appropriate facial expressions, etc.). In my later presentations, I address this by writing bullet points instead and making sure I fully understood the paper, which allowed me to build off of each main idea without needing a word-by-word script. This made my presentation easier to present and sound more natural.
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For all my presentations, I drew out my slides. I think I was partially inspired by my "Storytelling in the Sciences" honors class from fall quarter of freshman year. I wanted to make my presentation pleasing to the eye and simple to understand in order to keep my audience engaged. This could also help them follow along with the lingo, since not everyone in the lab was studying octopuses (the other animal we study are bees).
Some other notes:
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I need to make sure I fully understand the graphics in the research papers. Sometimes I found myself figuring them out as I presented them. While I always succeeded, this lack of preparation made it difficult to answer any questions about the graphs/tables/pictures etc. I spent less time on these visuals because I was usually rushed when reading the papers (they are usually around 10 pages long, and reading three of those a week in addition to all my other work was always a struggle). I definitely think that reviewing these graphics strengthens my understanding of overall research papers, which is valuable to my developing knowledge of octopuses.
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I made sure to ask Professor Wang for feedback after most of my presentations. Her feedback was the reason I started to cut out less important details and focus more on the "why" of the research in the papers I read. Here is her feedback for one of the presentations I gave.
Here is a reading template I completed for one of the research papers, along with my first (Iteroparity) and last (Reconsideration) PowerPoint presentations for the lab.
In all, I learned a lot from reading these papers ranging from the observational learning behaviors of octopuses to their different personalities. I look forward to next quarter!
Unsatisfactory Biology Exam Score
Course: BIOL 200
On my second biology exam, I scored an 86/100, which did not reflect my best work. I remember taking that exam and not being sure about any of my answers. I did not study as much as I could have for that exam (I think it was mostly because I had a chemistry exam a few days later and my attention was divided). I did the 24 page practice exam but did not engage with it in the most effective way. For the third exam, I knew I had to do well in order to pull my grade up so I took the following steps:
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The class provided study guide questions that corresponded to the readings and the lectures. For the second exam, I had made a meager attempt to answer each one a day or two before the exam but only wrote something for about half of them. For the third exam, I answered the study guide questions as I read the assigned textbook sections. By the time that exam week rolled around, I had a full study guide, and did not need to rely on my memory to fill out each objective.
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When I took the practice exam for exam 2, I filled out every question and then went back and checked my answers. It was ineffective because by the time I finished 36 problems, I did not remember the ones I did in the beginning, so the answer made less sense. For the third exam, I did the 37 page practice exam but this time, I corrected each question after I wrote the answer. Then I wrote the corrections in red. Lastly, I typed a paragraph, either restating what the correct answer was or what I learned from that problem. This helped me digest the material and know what to write for the exam, which is very particular about wording.
After doing that, I scored a 95/100 on my third exam, which I was proud of!
Extracurriculars
In addition to my usual hospital volunteering at Swedish Hospital and leadership role in Project Medicine, I got involved in more clubs and activities this year. While I was super excited to participate in all of these extracurriculars, I do believe they took time away from my studies, and my grades suffered as a result. Next quarter, I must work on cutting down on my non-academic pursuits.
Without further ado, here are my new extracurriculars:
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Raccoon Energy: I joined a band! Click here to learn more and hear our music!
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Swing Dancing: I went to the Dawg Daze event and fell in love with it. Actually, that's not true. I kind of hated it at first because my friends and I arrived late to the ballroom and had two minutes worth of lessons. The rest of the night was spent "dancing" with strangers (don't worry this is normal), but I was desperately trying (and failing) to not step on their toes. Eventually, I joined swing kids, the UW RSO, and have been dancing every Friday. It is so much fun, now that I've had proper training. I've learned the Lindy Hop, the Charleston, and the Shim Sham. My friends and I went to the fall "Midnight Masquerade" dance together, which was a highlight of this quarter.
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Songwriter's Circle: this RSO meets every Wednesday night but is low commitment. I probably went to three or four meetings over the quarter. Usually, they have song writing challenges where they give you a funny topic and you have to create a short song before the club time ends, but in the ones I went to, we taught each other songs and analyzed music (or critical listening, as they called it). At the end of every meeting, there was an open mic (where I performed in "public" for the first time!). For winter break, they have a challenge to see who can write the most songs so my producer and I are competing!
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Kickboxing: this summer, I picked up kickboxing and have continued that at the IMA!
Reflection
Final Grades
I did worse this quarter than any other. I was quite disappointed with my biology and organic chemistry grades - I did terribly on both of my finals despite studying for several hours. Next quarter is going to be better though; I'll make sure of it!
