My daughter is a graduate student at the University of Alberta, pursuing her Ph.D in Chemical Biology. Not only does she need to be on her game in terms of laboratory work and research, she needs to take all of her findings and translate them into legible, clear and thorough research papers. She forwarded this article to me in January. It's a funny, clever spin on how to do just the opposite - write a terrible paper!
The author of this article is Dr. Royce W. Murray, Editor of Analytical Chemistry Magazine. He has published more than 435 research papers, 4 books and was one of the most highly cited chemists worldwide from 1981 to 1999. He knows his stuff! While a lot of us are not writing scientific research papers, we can all gain some insight on how to present our thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively. The seven tips he provides point out ways to daze and confuse any reader.
Skillful writing of an awful research paper:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/ac2000169
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Read to Me!
I have a love-hate relationship with winter. I love the Christmas season, the skiing and the beauty of a fresh snowfall. I hate the cold, the icy roads and the dreary days that are just too short. Come the end of January, I'm thinking about soaking up some sun on the patio. There are memories from childhood that come with every season; camping trips in the summer time, daring and downright dangerous tabogganing stunts in the winter time, fishing in the fall....
We lived in Smithers, B.C. when I started Elementary School. Our home was on the outskirts of town on Highway 16, and I attended a very small school even further north. There were four classrooms, no gym and the playground bordered on wilderness. There were days in the winter time when it was too cold or there was too much snow for us to play outside during recess and lunch breaks. There were also days when a moose or bear were paying us a little visit and we had to stay in the school, for obvious reasons! There were skunks too, but that's another story altogether.
On these days, the teachers had to figure out ways to keep us entertained and out of trouble while we ate our lunch. A good half of the students were Native kids, from a fairly remote reserve even further north, who didn't think the snow, moose and bears were a big deal but were asked to stay inside anyways. These kids were feisty! We played the usual board games and had other indoor activities but what I remember well are the books that the teachers took the time to read to us, chapter by chapter.
These books were beyond what we were capable of reading ourselves at first and second grade level. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and Black Beauty were some of my favorites. A classroom full of restless kids would become silent and we would drift along with the story, the teacher's voice taking us on the author's written journey with enthusiasm and expression, the way the story was meant to be read. We all kind of enjoyed it - even the feisty ones.
When I think back now, that was around the time that I took a genuine interest in reading and writing. Having the experience of listening to how a written work; a novel, story or even a poem, is read with such appreciation inspired me to write. I carried that inspiration with me when we moved away.
Did I read to my own kids? Yes, at bedtime when they were small and a willing audience for as long as the Dr. Seuss story was intended. Once they started school, I know there was story time in the classroom too. Did they have the opportunity to 'hear' entire novels. Probably not. There were lots of other things to do on cold winter days and, where we live now, the moose and bears don't come around to visit very often.
We lived in Smithers, B.C. when I started Elementary School. Our home was on the outskirts of town on Highway 16, and I attended a very small school even further north. There were four classrooms, no gym and the playground bordered on wilderness. There were days in the winter time when it was too cold or there was too much snow for us to play outside during recess and lunch breaks. There were also days when a moose or bear were paying us a little visit and we had to stay in the school, for obvious reasons! There were skunks too, but that's another story altogether.
On these days, the teachers had to figure out ways to keep us entertained and out of trouble while we ate our lunch. A good half of the students were Native kids, from a fairly remote reserve even further north, who didn't think the snow, moose and bears were a big deal but were asked to stay inside anyways. These kids were feisty! We played the usual board games and had other indoor activities but what I remember well are the books that the teachers took the time to read to us, chapter by chapter.
These books were beyond what we were capable of reading ourselves at first and second grade level. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and Black Beauty were some of my favorites. A classroom full of restless kids would become silent and we would drift along with the story, the teacher's voice taking us on the author's written journey with enthusiasm and expression, the way the story was meant to be read. We all kind of enjoyed it - even the feisty ones.
When I think back now, that was around the time that I took a genuine interest in reading and writing. Having the experience of listening to how a written work; a novel, story or even a poem, is read with such appreciation inspired me to write. I carried that inspiration with me when we moved away.
Did I read to my own kids? Yes, at bedtime when they were small and a willing audience for as long as the Dr. Seuss story was intended. Once they started school, I know there was story time in the classroom too. Did they have the opportunity to 'hear' entire novels. Probably not. There were lots of other things to do on cold winter days and, where we live now, the moose and bears don't come around to visit very often.
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