Drafts

I visited the greenhouse the other day to see which plants I would be interested in doing a project on. There were many different types of plants in there that it was difficult to choose. I saw flowers, bonsai trees, cacti, and so much more. At the end of the greenhouse was a section that looked just like a rainforest. There were bamboo trees, a water reservoir with fish, pathways made of pebbles, benches, a bridge going across the reservoir, and lots of other beautiful plants. I got to feed the fish because the person who was watching the greenhouse gave me fish food. I went onto the bridge and fed the fish from there. I put my hands under a misty waterfall that was next to the bridge which felt great. I felt like I was in a fairy tale. Everything was so stunningly beautiful despite it not being my first time inside. 

    The purpose of this project is to provide a chance to practice preparing part of a scientific paper. In scientific writing, there are divisions that nearly every paper includes. One of these divisions is a methods section. This section allows the reader to understand the steps followed by the researcher, and if desired, to recreate the experiment. Allowing the reader to see how the research was done not only helps the reader understand the experiment, but also makes the data more trustworthy. Being able to write a coherent methods section is an important skill to have for an aspiring biologist.

I keep learning about action potentials in all of my biology courses so far this semester. The professors always start off with the resting membrane potential of the cell. This is when the inside of the cell is negative compared to the outside. When there's a stimulus, the cell goes through depolarization as its first step. This is when the charge inside the cell becomes more positive that the outside. If and once the cell reaches threshold, an action potential will occur. The cell will then go through repolarization where it starts becoming more negative again. The next step is hyperpolarization which is when the cell becomes even more negative than it was at its resting membrane potential. The cell finally goes back to its resting membrane potential until another stimulus makes it reach threshold again. 

The majority of my day at Umass Amherst is spent walking to different locations on campus. When I wake up in the morning I walk to the bathroom, and when I’m going to class I walk to the classroom. Not only am I walking very frequently but the majority of the walks are very long. The size of the campus at Umass Amherst makes it very difficult to not have to walk very far on a daily basis. Even my dining hall which at most campuses would be a relatively short walk can sometimes take ten minutes to walk to. Students who plan on attending this school should be prepared to walk roughly two miles a day when trying to go to class and get food. The amount of walking at Umass is also made even more difficult by the amount residential areas and buildings that are found on steep hills. After a student’s first year at Umass Amherst they will notice a significant increase in the size of their calves and hopefully avoid the freshman fifteen by always attending class.

What did I do today you ask. Well what I did today goes as followed; I woke up late around 10:30am because I was up all night not really feeling to well, luckily I made it to the class that I am actually enrolled in around noon time. I try to attend a chemistry course that I am not yet enrolled in because I want to get an understanding if I will like the professor and thier teaching style, but however I did not make it to that class this week, hopefully by the end of the add/drop period I can secure a spot. The class usually meets at 11:15 so it fits perfectly into my schedule. I attended my microbiology class it is an average course however, the professor runs through the slides fairly quickly so it's hard to take hand written notes in class. I mostly just take notes on my laptop and then transcribe them into my notebook after during my free time. I am hoping to go to their office hours soon to get more extra help so she can explain what is going on in class. I am fairly hungry and tired at this point in time during the day I would love to eat and or sleep but I sadly I cannot. Frankly my day is dull, due to all the walking back and forth from classes or meetings and the snow and cold weather hardly help.

Tuesday (January 30th)

I woke up at 9am and went on with my morning routine.

I walked to my Organic Chemistry 2 class that was from 10 - 11:15 am.

I went to eat with my friends from 11:20 am - 12:45 pm. We usually talk and catch up on our everyday lives when we eat.

I went to my Bio564 class with my friends tagging along even though they don't take the course from 1 - 2:15 pm.

I went back to my dorm to do homework alone and then my friends joined me for a bit. I always play Korean pop music on my speakers leaving my door open. The sun shining through my windows along with the music relaxes me and motivates me to get work done. Doing homework with others also motivates me because then I'm not the only one being productive.

I went to eat with my friends again at 6 - 7:30 pm. Again, we talk and catch each other up on various things. Everyday is different which is what makes it so enjoyable to go eat.

I went back to my dorm to relax and watch Korean dramas or music videos. I made sure I finished whatever assignments I needed to finish by the next day if not get ahead.

I get ready for volleyball at the Recreation Center and take the bus there with friends. I played volleyball with my friends from 9:15 - 11:45 pm.

I went to Roots Cafe with my friends to eat and talk from midnight until 2:30 am. We walked back to our dorms together. I showered and died down.

Website Validity

            The website being reviewed is about the conservation of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. Right off the bat you can tell that the website is well made. It features several tabs about the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, including general information, FAQs, sightings, media presence, and even links to actual conservation websites. Despite the website’s sharp appearance however it does not hold up upon closer inspection. There are no actual references on the website to validate the Tree Octopuses existence. It simply states “facts” about the Tree Octopus in the hope that it looks official enough that you will believe it. Once you get to the “sightings” section you can also tell why this website is untrustworthy. While some images are well photoshopped, others simply show toy octopuses laid in tress while being covered by a few branches. It is fairly humorous, but also completely invalid. Finally, the website actually links real conservation websites in an attempt to trick those who didn’t delve too deep into the readings beforehand. While these conservation websites are indeed real they also have no mention of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus anywhere on it. These observations help to solidify that this website is not reliable, valid, or trustworthy. It is simply a joke meant to trick people who don’t pay close attention to detail.

I found both articles that we were tasked with reading this week very interesting, they were also very similar structurally and information wise as well. After reading chapter 7 in the class required text the reason for the similarities is quite obvious, the methodically thought out structure allows a logical and strong flow of ideas making it extremely easy for the readers, even novel ones, to understand the topics at hand. As for the specific simlarites seen, one example is the  the level one headers, normally centered and bolded, of both articles contained both the title of the paper or large section, the authors and the publication information. The level 2 headers, which were bolded and orientated to the left, of the papers preceded to contain the section descriptions, such as introduction or abstract and indicated when a new topic or study was about to be discussed. When each section was broken down and looked at closely the similarites continued to appear. For each of the papers specific sections were structured similar to the way the whole paper was, but in an abbreviated version obviously. The individual section had intro paragraphs, normally the first paragraph of each section, to introduce the information and then the sections continue on, providing new statistics and information, each one building off of the last one. Each section was also responsible for providing new information and statistics of the overall topic. The similarities continued to be noticeable even when observing the individual paragraphs. For example they each had a topic sentence to either transition between paragraphs or introduce a new topic. This methodically thought out structure and the similarities seen throughout the field of scientific writing allow the ideas to be very logically organized and flow well. And the fact that each sentence continues to build on the ideas presented in the first and second level headers and the topic sentence of the specific paragraph really assists the reader in understanding the overall point of the paper.

Both of theses scientific articles are dealing with native and non-native species however, they focus on different aspects of the subject and structure the two papers differently. The level 1 headings for both papers are the titles ‘Origin matters: widely distributed native and non-native species benefit from functional traits’ and ‘Non-native species and rates of spread: lessons from the Baltic Sea’. The level 2 headings in the first paper are the headings to each section of the paper such as the Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Conclusion. These sections were split into sub sections such as ‘species selection’ or Trait selectin’. The second paper has the ‘Introduction’ and ‘Conclusion and Discussion’, but it never titles a methods section, the paper seems to not discuss methods and jumps right into results. The body of the paper has sub headings, but it would have been clearer if there was a result heading.

            The layout of the papers may be different, but it seems that the structure of the individual sections for both papers are relatively similar. The Introduction and Conclusion sections are more classically set up; the first paragraph serves as an introduction to the rest and it is more conceptual writing. The results sections for both papers are less structured. The first paragraphs tend to lead right into the information and aim to present data not ideas.

            The structure of the paragraphs follow a similar model to the sections. If the paragraph is in a more conceptual section, then it is more structured. These paragraphs have a topic sentence that is an overview of the following paragraph. The paragraphs in the results section tend to dive right into the information. 

Also as agriculture production soared, the demand for more land was inevitable. As a result, we saw racial discrimination shift from African Americans to Native Americans. Americans created the idea of Manifest Destiny to justify this discrimination. Manifest Destiny said that it was God’s given will and their divine destiny to expand their nation westward, ultimately forcing the relocation of Native Americans. As a result, with a “justifiable” reason and a high demand for more land, the white settlers forced the Native Americans out of their homes and venture on a journey westward. In these examples, we highlight a hidden motive and reasoning for certain racial discriminations towards certain groups as competition and the carrying capacity of an ecosystem is pushed to its limits.