Hello everyone, a lot in this post so please read all the way to the bottom (you should always read these emails by clicking to view the full post, since they only send a snippet of the text via email)

1. Citations

Everyone should look at their Hot Topic posting and read the comments.

Dr. Greer and I have looked through all of the posted Hot Topic links. Great job everyone! Dr. Greer has made comments on a few students’ posts where the primary literature article wasn’t actually the primary literature — it may have been a summary or an editorial published in a peer-reviewed journal, or elsewhere. In these few cases, you’ll see a comment from Dr. Greer, please email her if you have any questions.

I reviewed everyone’s citations and for the most part, they look rather good. One thing that almost everyone did incorrectly was the placement of the year for author-date references. Remember we discussed that Chicago Style has two different ways of citing sources: foot/end notes, or parenthetical in-text citations. Because we will be doing parenthetical in-text citations in our class, we use Chicago’s author-date system. All the nitty-gritty details are here, in chapter 15, but the most important thing to note is that reference lists for author-date place the year directly after the authors. That way, when you’re looking for (Cohen 2017) in the reference list, you just go right to “C” and you’ll be able to see the 2017 right after that. So, for example:

Greer, Edyta M., and Olga Lavinda. 2010. “Theoretical study of the Bergman cyclization of 2,3-diethynyl-1-nitrotropylium ion: formation of a nitroxide radical amenable to EPR detection for biological applications.” Journal of Organic Chemistry 75, no. 24 (December): 8650-53.

This way, when reading a text that says (Greer 2010) we can quickly go to the references list, find Greer, and see which article we’re talking about.

There were a couple other minor points that need fixing — if you have questions about these, please email me!

2. Paraphrase exercise

The tutorial from Wednesday is now up here, my apologies for the delay! Before next Wednesday, please complete the paraphrase exercise that is at the end of the tutorial, reprinted below. This brief assignment asks you to imagine that you are writing a paragraph that advocates why school nurses should be trained to use EpiPens. Don’t worry about what you’re saying or whether the information is accurate, the most important thing is to try to do a good paraphrase of any part of the original article (I provided you with a paragraph to use in the PowerPoint, but if you want to read the entire article or use a different part, it’s here).

  • In dashboard: Go to “Users”>“Your Profile”
    • Scroll down to “Display name publicly as” and select your full name from the dropdown menu [First Last]
  • Click on “Posts”>“Add New”
    • Give your post a title
    • Select the category “Paraphrase exercise”
    • Type your post, using the in-text citation we’ve just covered
    • Make sure you’ve selected the category “Paraphrase exercise!!”
  • Publish!
    • To view others’ posts, select the “Paraphrase exercise” from the “Posts” dropdown menu on the site

3. BioBlitz reminders!

BioBlitz is this weekend! Get psyched!!! Please remember the following IMPORTANT points

  • Wear pants and closed-toed shoes (you’ll be walking around the park a bit so don’t wear a crisp new pair of sneakers!). If you burn easily, a hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen are recommended too. The weather looks gorgeous.
  • Everyone is required to go to PS 69 unless you have previously cleared permission from Lisa Brundage at MHC. You won’t be able to participate if you go directly to Alley Pond Park, unless you have previously OK’d it with Dr. Brundage.
  • Bring water and a snack if you know you get hangry. We’ll have some light snacks but it’s best to bring something you like and especially a bottle of water.
  • Be sure your phone is fully charged. If you have a portable battery pack, you might want to bring it, for you or for a helpless colleague who forgot to charge their phone.
  • Download iNaturalist onto your phone, open it and set up an account before you go to make your life easier. You’ll get directions on using iNaturalist on the way there.

Phew, that’s all! Have a good weekend everyone, happy data gathering!

-Jake