The First Rule of Journal Club is to Read the Article


The first time I read my paper I was very confused as to what all the different figures were trying to communicate. However, after reading the paper a couple more times and attending office hours I was able to get a much better understanding of what the authors were trying to communicate, as well as how all the experiments tied together to tell a story. I did not expect to spend so much time just understanding the paper, but I am glad I did because this helped me pick out relevant figures that helped convey the main takeaways the best.

I think I learned a lot from this experience, such as how to pick the most essential parts of a paper to present the story in a 10 minute presentation in the best way possible. In terms of the presentation I felt a lot more nervous than usual. I have definitely given presentations before and felt very confident; however, the idea of being recorded presenting someone else’s work put me out of my comfort zone. I think as the presentation progressed I felt a lot more comfortable and as a result, I was able to present and answer questions with much more confidence.

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