Journal Club WorkshopPresented by: Michael Penn and Brittany Schweiger

Informal presentation/conversation based on one or more scientific articles

A way to spread new scientific insights, especially about new findings or theories

About 1 minute per slide, 5-7 slides

What is a Journal Club?

Formal presentations take a lot of time and effort

Sometimes a small group can mutually learn faster

Science can move rapidly, and journal clubs can facilitate more advances

Why Are They Important?

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:Print out the articleRead the articleRead the articleAnnotate the article Read the articleALWAYS BE PREPARED TO DEFEND POINTS

How to Prepare:

It’s OK to be wrong: http://xkcd.com/892

It’s not OK to be ignorant of your own paper, or wrong in spite of evidence you were too lazy to look up

Into the Luminiferous Aether

“Don’t %#@!ing do it,”--Michael Penn

“Edit this out, please. It’s unprofessional,” -- Drs. Maine and Menke

How to Quote Authority Figures

Take notes on:

1) the hypotheses2) evidence for/against hypotheses3) weaknesses4) anything that might confuse you later--be sure to look

up any words you don’t understand5) anything that might go into a Powerpoint slide later

How to Prepare: Annotation

Read the guidelines of any handouts from the instructors

“Roadmap” unnecessary, though it is wise to check with instructor

Should mirror the format of the paper selected

Ingredients of a JC Presentation

Check out relevant background references

Pay CAREFUL attention to the hypotheses

It’s usually a good idea to post a quick definition of technical/difficult words

The Intro

How are the methods used gather data relevant to the hypotheses?

TechniquesStatistical analysis

Understand each aspect of each test/experiment/process, look words up if you don’t know their meaning

The Methods

This is a lot of clutter, and much of it is irrelevant unless a lot of time is sunk into its explanation. Try to stay away from tables. Use figures.

Tables:

No axes labelled, no title, no real connectionto the data for the audience

Graphs: What Not to Do

Make sure the graph serves a purpose

Clear axes, error bars, and meaning

Good way of clarifying relationships

Graphs: What to Do

Arguably the most important slide

Conclusions must be linked to the hypotheses

Place critiques in the Discussion slide

Conclusions

Some people merge these together for time constraints, but those people don’t usually have a whole hour to bore you with

Your opinions relevantMany authors add predictions to the paper

Future Studies/Discussion

How much time--for Bio 220 plan on 5-7 minutes.

Argonne--10-15 minutesStudent symposium 25-30Senior thesis 45 minutes

Example JC

Blue text on blue background? Probably a bad ideaPointing it out? Doesn’t make it better

Typical JCs use far less text, and more talking (but this is a workshop, not a JC)

Aesthetics

In general there should be an image or visual on each page.

Ex. image of organism being studiedmap of area being studied

Images

Eye contactMovement/gesturesUse the space

Make sure your volume is high enough to be heard

Body Language

Practice with partnerswith no notesto a brick wall

Body Language, con’t.

Don’t be That guy

If it distracts from your point, get rid of it

Follow the guidelines

Humor

Pretending to Like People 101:

SmileEmpathizeRespect

Building a Rapport

Technology

Plagiarism can ruin you lifeYour professors have seen it allEven accidental plagiarism can get you kicked out of school or a job

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/04/

Cite Your Sources

EndNotezotero.orgEasybib (Warning!)

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

Hacker book

Helpful Tools for Citations:

http://www.ehow.com/how_8429035_publication-date-website.html

Tips for Finding E-Pub dates

If you don’t, you might accidentally copy a slide, or maek a spealing eror, or use a garish color by mistake

Double Check Everything

If you don’t, you might accidentally copy a slide, or maek a spealing eror, or use a garish color by mistake

Double Check Everything

“Science Communication." Learn. University of Maryland Center For Environmental Science, n.d. Web. 31 Aug. 2015.

https://xkcd.com/license.html

Williams, Sara. "How to Find a Publication Date on a Website." EHow. Demand Media, n.d. Web. 31 Aug. 2015.

Citations