Primary Journal Project

Many of you will be entering ahealth care field in which you will have to read and comprehend primary research articles found in scientific journals, and some of you will be called upon to either present or to attend conferences/seminars in your fields. Analyzing and understanding scientific research articles, and public speaking can be difficult…Hopefully, by the end of this assignment you will feel more comfortable in both understanding the process of scientific literature and presenting to a knowledgeable audience.

Primary research articles are found in scientific journals such as Nature, Science, Public Library of Science (PLOS), Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Emerging Infectious Diseases, etc. Primary research articles are written by the scientists that performed the research, and have are in APA (American Psychology Association) format that consists of the following sections: Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion (or Conclusion). You will need to find one primary research article in a journal for this project.  You can use an online database like PubMed (see Canvas for a link and instructional video) to find an article. Note: not all journals are free. Some require a subscription (e.g. Nature), and some don’t (e.g. PLOS). Did you read something in the @CRC_Micro twitter feed that interested you? Try finding the original research article (it is usually stated somewhere in the article). Alternatively, you can visit our library and easily find scientific research articles; they have numerous subscriptions to scientific research journals.  Refer to the following link for a list of journal subscriptions the library offers:

https://www.library.losrios.edu/resources/databases/

The article you choose must cover research that overlaps with the course content. For example, you can choose an article about drug resistance, zoonotic diseases, the microbiome, sexually transmitted disease, quorum senses, etc. Once you find an article that you are interested in, you must get your instructor’s (that me!)approval. Do not begin until you have my approval! You may then begin your project and sign up for a presentation date (signup sheet will be in the lab).

It is your responsibility to read your chosen article. Often times, primary journal articles are very dense and require extensive knowledge that is covered concisely in the Introduction section, so you will probably have to read and re-read the article several times. You may even have to do additional research, reading, and find definitions to terms or procedures. Additionally, every article has a series of figures, charts, tables, and a reference section. You will need to be able to explain the meaning of all the figure, charts, and/or tables. What message, result, or conclusion are the authors trying to convey with the figures, charts, and/or tables? Complete the Journal SummaryTemplate (see last page): typed Arial or Times new Roman 12 pt font, double spaced, include any in-text citations and/ora reference page in APA or MLA format. See Canvas for more information if needed. The summary should be no longer than 8 pages; please include a copy of the original article, and a copy of your presentation slide (both will not be applied to your page count). Your completed summary will also be submitted to Canvas on the day of your presentation (see next paragraph).

Choose the figure, chart, or table that is most important in explaining the importance or significance of the research article. You will create a single PowerPoint slide with the figure, chart, table, graph, or image that you select. This one slide will contain the following: a catchy original title, an APA or MLA formatted reference for the article, a caption for the figure, and a brief bulleted description of the significance (don’t copy and paste from the article…it will be obvious and considered plagiarism). You will choose a date to present your article and PowerPoint slide to the lab. Presentations will occur during laboratory discussions on selected days (see F20 Lab Schedule), and you will have 5 minutes to introduce your article, and clearly explain how your image supports the main conclusion and/or significance of the articles.

Due Dates:

October 14^th – Deadline to have an article confirmed by your instructor. For approval, bring a printed copy of the article to your instructor after alab discussion, or office hours.

October 21^st – Once your article is approved, you must reserve (re: signup) a spot to give your presentation on the signup sheet no later than the 21^st. Signups are on a ‘first come, first served’ basis; you can sign up anytime before the 21^st so long as your article has been approved. Please look at the class schedule for all of your courses for exams, reports, and other due dates before signing up.

October 26^th – December 7^th – Presentations! Presentations will take place during the final portions of the lab discussions. You will ‘share’ your presentation during the Zoom discussion with the class and present the slide. On the day of your presentation one identical copy of your Journal Summary, a copy of the primary journal article,and your presented slide must be uploaded to Canvas.

Students presenting early will be given leniency for boldly volunteering first, while students presenting later will have greater expectations after ‘observing’ previous presentations. After your presentation, the audience will have a chance to ask questions.

Grading (50 points total):

Analysis of Journal Article (25 points)

• Quality of analysis 10 pts
• All sections completed   5 pts
• Use of correct APA or MLA formatting (including citations)   5 pts
• Grammatical content (re: spelling and grammar)   5 pts

Presentation (25 points)

• Slide quality (title, image, significance, reference)   5 pts
• Completed in allotted time (5 minutes)   5 pts
• Clear introduction of article   5 pts
• Explained image in connection to significance (accurate content)   5 pts
• Presentation skills (eye contact, volume, clarity, voice projection)   5 pts

Total 50 pts

*Links:

In-text citations: Author/Authors

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/03/

References List: Author/Authors

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/06/

Refer to the APA .pdf, or .ppt provided by Prof Neff on Canvas.

* These and others can be found under the Links section in Canvas.

Journal SummaryTemplate

(To be uploaded to Canvas on the day of your presentation. Please, no more than 8 pages in length. Be sure to include a paper copy of your article and presentation slide along with your summary.)

Journal Article Title:

Authors names:

Journal Name:

Volume:      Pages:                   Year:

Introduction:

Discuss the major topics covered in the introduction. [Do not simply copy or quote text; use your own words to summarize their introduction.] What were some of the early observations and/or research that lead the authors to their experiment(s)?

What was is the hypothesis and where is it located within the text?

Materials and Methods –

List and briefly describe the major experiments performed.

Results –

For each figure, graph, table, chart, and image explain what message the authors were attempting to convey or what was the ‘take-home-message’ of the experiment results. Include the figure in your paper, but please reduce the size if necessary to no larger than a quarter of the page.

What is/are the difference(s) between the Results section and the Discussion/Conclusion section?

Discussion/Conclusion –

What major conclusions can be drawn from this study? Please provide a thorough answer. What is a criticism of the study? [Did the authors fail to do an important experiment? Did they over-state or over-interpret their results?]

What future experiments have they proposed to do? And/or what do you feel can be done? Please provide a thorough answer.

Significance –

Elaborate on the global importance of this research. Please provide a thorough answer.