A Vocabulary List of Friends


I had to read each sentence of my journal club article at least 3 times in a row to fully absorb the magnitude of the words. I felt like I was taking a trip back to grade school by creating vocabulary lists for myself, breaking down each sentence into its parts: “okay here’s the verb, and this is the subject that is doing that verb, etc,” and then reading very, very slowly, in order to squeeze the maximum learning from each word. 

Squeezing every last drop out of a sentence:

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As I progressed through the article, I found the sentences slightly easier to grasp, as I became more familiar with the authors’ writing style and honed in on repeated key terms. I started to see connections arising among the different results sections of the paper, which was especially helpful for grouping my slides for the presentation, since I did not present the results in the order they were outlined in the article. 


As I was creating my presentation slides, I rehearsed each phrase I would say. I naively thought, “how bad could it be?” When I began presenting, however, my brain disengaged from my mouth, and I started rattling off sentences that felt independent of any cognitive function. What I had internalized from the article was coming out but not at all like the careful sentences I had rehearsed. I wish I would have prepared by practicing my presentation in front of others or even in front of a mirror.


After finishing my presentation, I immediately went to extremes, thinking I had just given one of the worst presentations in my life. How could I look my fellow Course 20ers in the eyes for the next 2 years? According to a few comments from my peers, though, my presentation had not went as terrible as I thought. Even though I felt scatterbrained while up there, I believe I was able to communicate the essence and excitement I had for the message of the article.


I came to bond deeply with my article’s topic: “FAN1” and “ubiquitylated PCNA” will now be dear terms to me. If I ever come across these words, I will immediately remember our friendship that started through the journal club article.


Image result for words as friends

I even felt disappointed that I could not present the full measure of the article, since I desired to let others know the importance of these proteins. I hope to carry this inquisitiveness forward into my future work in 20.109 and Course 20, taking each scientific concept I learn about as a chance to be on friendly terms with scientific terms. 

Biologically, 
Zion Perry

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