WEEK 1
Beginnings...
Things to take note this week
Task 0A | Python Basics Exercise on DataCamp starts today. You would have already received an e-mail to your new SPS e-mail address!
Here is a link to the instructions for this task.- Tasks 1 (‘Warm Up’) starts this week. This task carries no grades and as the name suggests, it is a quick way for all of us to experience how things will work in the module.
Here is a link to the instructions for this task.
Since LumiNUS has not yet been opened to us, please submit your Task 1 write-up here. - Take the plagiarism quiz on LumiNUS (Might have to wait till next for you to be in LumiNUS)
- Declare slot for ’71 Weekly Group Meetup’ We want you to benefit from the vast experience of the SPS community. So, SPS mentors (staff, graduate, senior, junior) will help you work through the material in 71. To make this possible we want you to indicate a 2-hour time slot (between 8 am and 8 pm) where your whole group can meet every week (starting Week 3). It will be even better if you could suggest a few (spread over mornings, afternoons and evenings) from which we can pick one.Please indicate your slots in this Google sheet. Please let us know this information by 6 pm this Friday (14 August).
Please read the CELC: Statements and E-Resources on Plagiarism and go through the following infographic from the Library.
Articles
What are scientific journal articles? Why are they important to me?
Sharing knowledge
Sharing the findings of your research is a natural milestone in any project. The most recognised form of dissemination of research findings is through articles (also called papers) in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
There are many publishing houses (e.g. Wiley, Elsevier, Science, APS ) that regularly publish scientific work. They have journals1 dedicated to particular topics to which researchers can submit their work. Another avenue gaining popularity (especially in the present COVID-19 era) are preprint servers such as arXiv.org or bioRxiv that also have a form2 of peer review.
Here is a flowchart (from Wiley) that shows a typical peer review process.
Why is this relevant to me?
Scientific publications represent milestones in a scientist’s career. They not only disseminate the research work conducted by the scientist but also helps her build a reputation within the scientific community. Publications also serve as essential stepping stones for professional advancement within academia.
As a budding scientist, you need to be able to learn from reading journal articles. Further, the first step to becoming a good writer is becoming an avid and careful reader[1]. Even if you do not plan to be in academia or research, the skill to carefully and methodically read a document to extract information effectively will be useful.
Type of Journal articles
There are many types (e.g. original research, reviews, editorials, case reports) of journal articles. The two most important types relevant to a novice are original research articles and review articles. The former is considered a primary sources while the latter a secondary source.
An original research article presents a single, unique piece of work. A review article, on the other hand, synthesises the findings from many primary sources to offer a broad overview of topic or research problem3.
| Type | Read if you… |
|---|---|
| Original | – Want to keep up to date with a field you are familiar with. – Want specific information (such as an experimental procedure). |
| Review | – You are new to a field and want to identify the top leading researchers and relevant primary sources. – You want a broader view of a topic or research problem. |
References
[1] R.D. Branson, Anatomy of a research paper., Respiratory Care. 49 (2004) 1222–1228.
Footnotes
- Not all journals are created equally. Some are considered more prestigious and correspondingly more difficult to have your work published. A metric used to rank journals is the impact factor.↩
- Some might even argue a better form of peer-review↩
- There are also several types of review articles. Please see here for more details↩
Do not hold your tongue: SPS takes pride in its community and the support it provides. It is available to you even with the disruption caused by COVID-19. So, please use it.
There are several ways for you to communicate with us; please them often. These are listed here for your convenience.
| 1 | Question Box (Anonymous) |  |
Click the link in the navigation bar. |
| 2 | Chammika Udalagama |  |
chammika@nus.edu.sg |
| 3 | Head Mentors | |
headmentors@sps.nus.edu.sg |
| 4 | All SPS Staff | |
staff@sps.nus.edu.sg |