Hello! My name is Areej Nawaz, and I am a first-year student at CUNY City College of New York. I am a Biomedical Science Major and part of the Sophie Davis Biomedical Education Program. This is my writing portfolio/website for my Writing for the Sciences Class. Please browse through and enjoy!
Self-Assessment Essay
When I first heard that I needed to take a “Writing for the Sciences” class, I thought it would be a class in which we would learn to write scientifically, in the sense of a research paper or advanced lab report. I was quickly proven wrong from the beginning of the year as our assignment required us to do the complete opposite; we needed to instead simplify a research paper/topic and rewrite it in a manner so that it would be easily read and understood by people with basic English comprehension instead of retaining the information only for those who speak and understand advanced levels of English. Now, when I think about writing for the Sciences, I think about the issues that scientific writing has and how we can overcome these issues to make this information more accessible. I also learned about different issues in society, particularly those in relation to environmental sustainability, like the LIRR, and under-researched or niche topics like the influence of infant sleep quality on Prefrontal-Amygdala connectivity and emotional regulation.
The purpose of the Informative Review paper was to explain a topic without taking a position and to write it in a way that the general public could understand my topic without needing any background knowledge. For example, in my paper, I stated, “Not only does Levofloxacin function well in the body, but it is also easy to take as it is an oral medication that patients can consume at home and in comfort. Despite these advantages, there are still certain aspects of the drug that have some people hesitant.” (4) This allowed me to explain both the advantages and disadvantages without choosing a side or “position”, allowing me to retain neutrality. The purpose of the Sustainability Position Paper and Group SPSA video was to explain a sustainability issue and choose a position on it. I chose to focus on the LIRR, so I explained the sustainability issues and chose a side regarding its sustainability. Lastly, the purpose of the Proposal for Research and the Research Presentation was to choose a research topic and, within the topic, to find a niche or something that was not really addressed and create a proposal as to why this topic should be researched further.
Language is important because even within the same language, the level can influence how much one understands. Advanced scientific language can prevent those who do not have background knowledge about a certain topic from comprehending the information, which is why it is important to know your audience so that you can cater to them by altering your writing style in a way that allows them to read and understand everything that you mention. An additional issue arises when this communication tries to cross language barriers. To combat this challenge, I tried to include images or figures like tables and data in my papers and video presentations, as this allows even those who do not speak or understand the language to gain some understanding of the topic and the message I am trying to convey.
It is important for science writers to be critical of the language they use when communicating their findings because if they only use advanced vocabulary, it will be difficult for people who are not familiar with the topic to understand it. This is also relevant when the research topic is one that is important to the public, because if the information is something they should know, but the language is not what they can understand, it results in a communication issue. I tried to address this challenge in my Informative Review Paper by choosing my words wisely and focusing on terms that I know the public will be familiar with. In addition, I try to simplify complex topics by breaking them down and either using examples or analogies so that the reader can read and comprehend everything I discuss in my paper.
After completing my sustainability position paper and my PSA, I learned that even the most sustainable things still have a long way to go before full sustainability is achieved. As we continue to advance in technology, we are not mindful of the impact that these things may have on the environment. While they may make our lives easier, they are causing harm to both our environment and our bodies, making it important for us to make a change and focus on finding a solution to this issue. Sustainability is a complex issue that impacts multiple groups of people in multiple parts of life. People need to make a change at their level, like implementing practices like no littering, but in addition to this, the government, both state and federal, needs to become involved so that they pass policies advocating for better environmental protection. Implementing these practices will help us better take care of the Earth because we only have one of them, so we must take care of it the best we can. To convey my topic, I included statistics from the MTA annual reports and some pictures showing the pollution or its impact. This allows the audience to feel the issue and understand it on a more personal level, making it more likely for them to aid in making a change and to be more careful about the environmental impact of everything they do. When collaborating for the PSA presentation, our biggest challenge was finding a common point between our topics because, despite both being about the MTA, they differed on the focus points. I discussed the environmental impact and pollution, while Mareez focused more on the safety issue and problems with the infrastructure. We overcame this challenge by changing our perspective, and this helped us realize that both issues were connected when it came to safety. Mareez’s topic focused more on physical safety, while mine focused more on pollution, which leads to health hazards. After we decided on this common point, we were able to easily incorporate parts of each person’s sustainability issue and combine them so that the PSA includes calls for action that adhere to both issues.
When I first started my research paper, I had a couple of topics that I was interested in, and I was looking for whichever had the most amount of information so that I could conduct thorough research on the topic. Before finalizing my topic, I tried to focus on other topics like emotional development in relation to early childhood influences like sibling dynamics and the impact of chronic sleep deprivation on college students or on new moms. However, I was not finding an adequate number of resources to support my research, so I finally settled on emotional development in relation to sleep. After choosing this topic, I read several articles and found that all of them were studies based on adolescents or adults, despite emphasizing infancy as the period of major development. When I tried to find articles specific to infants, both in the CUNY database and on Google, I was left with very limited results, most of which did not address what I was specifically asking. This led me to choose infants as the niche for my research proposal. I found the CUNY database, Academic Search Complete, most helpful because it gave me a lot of articles that related to PubMed. These studies were very thorough, and many included specifics that were connected to my topic in different ways, helping me better understand it.
I found the peer-review process to be very helpful because when usually, when I wrote the first draft, I skimmed through the instructions and wrote my paper, responding to what I understood as the prompt. After the peer-review process, I was able to identify what parts of the instructions I had yet to respond to or what parts I needed to add more to because I did not respond to the prompt completely. I also looked for what we’re missing or what was weak about my writing and used this information to fix it up and make it better to submit as the final draft. I really liked this process because I was able to get a different perspective on my writing and learn what I could do to improve my writing. Another part of peer review that I liked was reading my classmates because it showed me a different way of writing, helped me think of additional things I could include, and overall gave me a different way of approaching the assignment.
Prior to this class, I had only heard of the name Henrietta Lacks, however, I was not aware of her great contributions to science or her personal story. As I learned more about her story and how her cells were used, I was surprised to see the connection between HeLa cells and all major research, Her cells allowed us to see an entire dimension of science that was hidden from us, they bridged the gap and helped us make thousands of advancements. For my topic, I chose to focus on Tuberculosis and how HeLa cells were used to develop a treatment for the variant, drug-resistant TB. The biggest challenge I faced while I was writing this paper was trying to include enough information about the science aspect, including what TB is and an explanation of its variants, so that my audience could understand the significance of the development of a drug-resistant TB treatment. In addition to science, it was a little difficult in trying to figure out how I could include the information about Henrietta Lacks and how her cells came to be used, along with all the racism faced by her, her family, and the black community in general. It seemed like they were two distinct topics; however, as I learned about the connection between the two, I was able to include background information about Henrietta Lacks. I am still doubtful as to whether the information I had included was enough or if I should include more because I feel like I did not completely convey the true suffering and hardship experienced by Henrietta’s family and other victims of the same issue, this is one aspect in which I would like to improve in.
When I chose the LIRR as my focus for the sustainability position paper, I was doubtful of the amount of information that I would find because the LIRR is considered to be one of the most sustainable modes of public transportation, however, I knew that it was far from perfect. As I conducted my research, I learned that the LIRR contributed to various types of pollution, including but not limited to air, water, and land. While the MTA has put in efforts to address this issue, the main cause of the bigger types of pollution, like land pollution, is the passengers. To help my audience better understand and connect with the issue, I included a little bit about how each person is affected by the issue or a descriptive example regarding how this issue can harm them. For example, I included how air pollution can lead to breathing problems or harm the lungs in people who are exposed to this polluted air often. In addition, noise pollution can contribute to increased stress and mental strain, making it difficult for a person to go about their day in a proper manner. I included statistics from the MTA annual reports to justify my thesis and highlight how big the issue of pollution really is. In my PSA, I tried to include mostly images to help the audience see the issue of pollution, along with the issues of safety that Mareez mentioned as her sustainability issue. In addition, we limited the number of words on the slides and instead included voiceovers to convey the key points so that the presentation itself is not too wordy, and by listening, our audience can better retain the information presented to them.
When I chose this topic to research, I did not know much about the connection between sleep, emotions, and the prefrontal-amygdala connectivity. As I researched the topic, I learned about anatomy and the important role of each portion of the brain, and later I learned that all the research was based on adolescents or adults, despite most of the development occurring during infancy. The information was hard to understand and required me to conduct further research, but soon I understood what each article was saying. I put together the different information I learned from each article and summarized the key points so that the reader could understand what I wrote without having to conduct additional outside research on the topic. After I wrote my research proposal, I tried to simplify the information when transferring it into the presentation format. I included diagrams of the brain to help the audience better understand what parts of the brain I was talking about. I also organized the information using tables and diagrams, along with arrows to simplify my findings and to ensure that the audience understands the background regarding the topic before I move on to the complexity of it. I think presenting my research in this format was very helpful because, as I tried to simplify the information, I was able to understand it better while also reducing everything into simple and direct points, allowing me to get my point across quicker. The only limitation with this format was that I was not able to go into detail about everything I learned throughout my research and was forced to simplify everything. However, I think the amount of information I provided was enough to serve as an introduction to the topic, and if anyone was interested in learning more, they could read my research proposal or conduct their own research to learn more.
