a gene co-expression network-based analysis of multiple brain tissues reveals novel genes and molecular pathways underlaying major depression

here’s the link of the article: https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1008245

Name: _______________________________________ Score: ____/20

Scientific Literacy Assignment – Part II

Due Date: Friday 12/4/20 – by the end of day

A large portion of science involves writing – you need to present your ideas and findings to the scientific community, and you also need to share the information sources that helped to form your hypothesis. To write effectively when utilizing research literature it requires that you be able to extract key information from the paper that supports a point you want to make. It also requires that you be able to write about these findings in your own words, which is called paraphrasing.

Questions (1 – 5,  1 point each)

1. In part one of this assignment you were tasked with finding one primary research paper on a biological topic of your choice. Write the citation details of your article below (authors, date of publication, journal, DOI, etc.). Most journal websites include a “cite this paper or article” link near the top of the document, which already formats the citation for you. See the example in the image below for the seagull paper. Copy and paste the citation from your paper below.

1. In one or two sentence, describe why the author (s) conducted this research. This purpose is usually clarified in the abstract or introduction.

2. Describe in your own words the hypothesis. Many times the hypothesis is not directly stated as “our hypothesis is…” You will need to try to determine what they are investigating in the paper.

3. Identify (and simply list) two major pieces of information (findings/results) in your article that if you were writing a paper about your topic you would use this data as supportive data.

4. Briefly discuss one thing that you learned by reading this paper. It may be anything new that you learned – a new scientific concept, terminology or technique/methodology.

Summary of the Paper (15 points)

In one or two pages (maximum) summarize your chosen research paper. Note that the two page limit does not include any images or tables you may want to use. Read and decipher the paper to the best of your abilities, research and define any terms not familiar to you. The summary should be written in your own words, but you may use direct quotations (sparingly) if necessary. Source any information sources outside of your primary paper. Utilize proper spelling and punctuation.  Format your summary nicely for easier viewing and reading.

The guidelines below will give you some pointers on what to cover, feel free to delete the guidelines in your final submission. These are general guidelines, and not all these points are necessarily required – it will depend on your individual papers.

What to cover in your Summary: Some Guidelines

Introduction/Abstract

• What is this paper generally about? Why is this paper relevant?
• Provide background and any additional basic information to understand what the paper is about.
• State a clear research question or hypothesis that the researchers investigated.

Methods

• How was this research conducted?
• Share images of instruments or techniques used.
• Explain how and what information was gathered.
• Explain the size and scope of the study.

Data/Results

• Discuss the results of the research
• No “raw” data, rather, simplified and well organized display of the data if needed
• Graphs and Images all clearly labeled – but only focus on major findings
• Explanation of results, describing trends, discussion of outliers

Conclusion/Discussion

• Restate the research question/hypothesis & state the conclusions of the paper in a clear manner
• Analysis of data with regards to the research question – how did the findings answer the research question or strengthen/weaken the research hypothesis?
• Any critiques of the paper/methods/findings