Working in a team!

I have enjoyed learning everything in Mod 1, especially the public health aspects of our research.

It was exciting that we had a real research question and actually tried to find the answer rather than purely learning wet lab techniques! This was a huge surprise, as I came in thinking we would just repeat some boring experiments that people have done before. I was very excited going into lab.

I was shocked, however, by how small our section was. I was even more surprised when I was told that the first data summary was going to be done with my partners. My past experiences of working in a team were horrible. Everyone was behind, and I always ended up having to clean up the mess. However, working with my group in 20.109 totally changed my opinion! From working together in lab to writing the data summary, my partners really have helped me learn. Reflecting back, I think that the data summary assignment would have been so much more difficult if I had to do it alone.

As none of us has really written a research paper before, we found the assignment challenging. I am still startled I learned so much about scientific writing within such a short amount of time. My takeaway is that instead of answering "what", you should answer "what's the point". This will be very useful in the future whether it is for an another research paper or a presentation. 

I am relieved that Mod 1 is almost over, but it is scary that I will have to do the whole paper by myself in Mod 2. I am excited, however, to continue learning and growing as a scientist! 

Tam Nguyen