The discourse community of biological sciences
Abstract:
The problem with choosing a major is that most students assume that it makes or breaks the rest of their lives. Biological Sciences is very broad and because of this, most students tend to stray away from declaring this major due to the fear of not finding a job or working in the stereotypical fields of lab work and research. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to correct these misconceptions by guiding students through the necessary skills needed to succeed in this field and inform students on the potential post-graduate careers they can pursue. I used the learning outcomes of this major to give students an in-depth understanding of what to expect when studying in this field. I also analyzed a scientific report written by multiple UC Davis professors as well as a book explaining how college lab reports should be written in order to compare and contrast the two. I found that scientific reports are an important mode of communication among scientific researchers because it is their chance to present new findings to other scientists. It can be concluded that the knowledge and skills which students learn from their courses and writing lab reports are essential to not only internships or jobs, but essential to making big discoveries and changes in areas such as cancer or deforestation.
Introduction:
The study of biology engages with big issues across a wide scale: from linking the role of certain genes to cancer to how forest ecosystems may be dying due to fires and changes in gasses. As a result, capaciousness may lead students to stray away from majoring in Biological Sciences. Some students even change their major to something more focused and narrow such as Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, claiming that they don’t want to study plants all day. Most people who do go into Biological Sciences have the plan of going to medical school, dental school, or any other post-graduate program and students who don’t plan on doing so often experience a feeling of uneasiness. Because of Biological Sciences being so broad, there’s a misconception that it will be difficult to find a job in this field, that one will most likely find themselves working in a lab all day if they choose this major. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to correct these misconceptions and inform students of the importance of studying biology, as it encompasses every form of life. There are also many fields and jobs that students can go into with this major that they may not realize. This paper will also help in guiding undergraduates who are undeclared or thinking about minoring in Biological Sciences by explaining the skills learned and possessed by students already in this field.
How students communicate in this major, whether it is verbally or on paper, is vital to their success in both their academic and work life. According to linguist John Swales, a Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, discourse communities are “occupational or specialty-interest groups” that share the same goal with specific mechanisms for participating and communicating (220). They have their own, unique way of doing tasks or communicating that outsiders may not completely understand, such as biologists publishing scientific reports to communicate their research with other biologists. To put it simply, they are groups centered around the same interest with the same goals and filled with members who are knowledgeable in this field. This paper will analyze how Biological Sciences is a discourse community by examining how it fits into four of the six criteria that Swales stated.
Method:
For this paper, I will be conducting a genre analysis using a scientific report called “A Variety of Changes…in CENH3 Lead to Haploid Induction on Outcrossing” that was published in PubMed and carried out by 11 professors at UC Davis, some in the Department of Plant Biology and others a part of the UC Davis Genome Center. The reason why I chose this scientific report instead of one done by students is because it encompasses all of the technical parts needed in a formal lab report that professors aim to teach students. Scientific reports written by graduates or experienced researchers is no different, besides being more in depth, than those that students in the field of Biological Sciences will be expected to write. It will also give students insight into what type of research professors do. I will also be using a book, Writing Undergraduate Lab Reports-A Guide for Students, which was written by Christopher S Lobban and Maria Schefter from University of Guam in the Biology department. This will be used to assist in my genre analysis comparing the structure and similarities/differences of scientific reports written by professors versus laboratory reports written by students. It will also be useful in informing undergraduates on what level of writing will be expected of them in upper division courses. Moreover, I will be using an article called “Global Network of Computational Biology Communities…” that was included in the International Society for Computational Biology Community journal. This article consists of 40 authors from all around the world, some of whom are graduate students in biology, specialized researchers at a laboratory, or are professors. Furthermore, I will be incorporating the UC Davis’s official Biological Sciences web page to gain further information on its goals, requirements to become a member of this major, and post-graduate outlooks. Being a declared Biological Sciences major myself and having switched from a different major previously, I will also be able to use my personal experience to give further information on how to become a member of this community. Lastly, “The Concept of Discourse Community” written by Swales will be used to analyze the different aspects of Biological Sciences and how it categorizes as a discourse community. All of these sources combined will help in analyzing four of the six criteria required for a discourse community: common public goals, genres of communication, membership, and participatory mechanisms.
Results and Discussion
Common Public Goals
Even though people in the same discourse community share the same goal, it does not mean that they will end up in the same position or job at the end. According to Swales, discourse communities share a public goal that centers around commonality, not a shared object of study (220). The goals are “common” enough to include everyone in the major but are not so detailed and specific to the point where everyone ends up taking the exact same depth electives or career. The goals of this major can be seen in the learning outcomes which consists of understanding the molecular and structural unity of all life and how diversity is generated, how genetics and biochemistry play a role in organization and function, and how microbes, plants, and animals develop and function (“Biological Sciences...”). It is notable that these learning outcomes are centered around understanding the building blocks of all life. I place an emphasis on the term all because Biological Sciences is very broad and there are many varied courses that cover these learning outcomes. For example, once students start taking upper division depth subject courses, they must choose one course from each of the following topic: Statistics, Evolution and Ecology, Ecology, Microbiology, Plant Physiology or Development, and Animal Physiology, Behavior, or Development. These courses range from studying the environment and plants to microorganisms and animals. In addition, the rest of the learning outcomes include using quantitative approaches and critical reasoning to answer scientific questions, evaluating scientific information using sources, and communicating scientific data both verbally and on paper (“Biological Sciences…”). These goals will most likely be accomplished through the laboratory side of this major. From a list of over 30 laboratory courses, students are to choose two with three-hour lab sessions per week and one course with six hour lab sessions per week. Just like the Biological Sciences coursework, these laboratory courses also range tremendously from Population Biology of Invasive Plants and Weeds to Human Gross Anatomy. The goals of this discourse community are common and broad enough to the point that all students are able to accomplish them by the time they graduate, but not restricting to the point that they all take the same exact classes with the same exact emphasis. Despite taking different classes, all students by the time they graduate must be capable of writing laboratory reports as well.
Genre Analysis
Lab reports are inevitable when majoring in the field of Biological Sciences. Although lab reports aren’t introduced in the introductory Bis2 series, they are fundamental in upper division courses. For example, one required course is NPB 101, Systemic Physiology. Students must take the lab section that goes with it and in this course, students are to submit a 20-page lab report. This sounds like a ridiculously long paper, but formal published scientific reports can reach up to 40-pages due to the extensive research and data. Lobban and Schefter stated that the structure of lab reports is the same as scientific papers. However, they point out that the audience and purpose is different in that lab reports are written for professors to read and test your understanding of the material, while scientific papers are written for other scientists to present new information and ideas (4). This makes sense, as scientific reports can be extensive and lengthy with tens of references since they incorporate not only their own experiment results, but also they elaborate and draw conclusions from the works of others as well, which is not done in most science classes.
Although scientific reports are not written in UC Davis classes, they are very similar to lab reports and are important to understand in this field if one may wish to do research with a professor. Swales stated that a discourse community must contain at least one genre which “are how things get done” (221). By this he means that through these genres, people are able to communicate with each other in a way that allows them to reach their common public goals.
If we were to quickly scan a lab report or scientific report, we will always see that there are data charts and graphs. Data cannot be simply presented in sentences, so students must choose to either use a table if there is a trend or a graph which depends on the type of data being used, such as line graphs for continuous data or histograms for discrete and classified data (Lobban and Schefter 21). The lab manuals in classes will not always tell students what data to graph, so it is important for them to figure it out on their own.
In the scientific research report, we can see that a table was used to organize multiple related information. From the table, only two specific sections were extracted to make a line graph while a histogram, or a graph with rectangular bars used to group data and their frequency of occurrence, was made to easily compare two different variables. Graphing data is done after the experiment has ended. Therefore, it is important to collect accurate data during an experiment and organize it into a detailed table. Not collecting accurate measurements will cause the conclusion and analysis to be inaccurate. In the scientific world, before an experiment is published, it is usually redone or reviewed by different scientists. Carrying out an experiment inaccurately may lead to a bad reputation and inaccurate findings.
I will now analyze the structure of reports overall. The format of lab reports are done with the IMRAD formula: Title and Author(s), Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods (or Experimental), Results, Discussion, References (or Literature Cited), and Figures and Tables and is usually written in passive voice where the author is omitted (Lobban and Schefter 6, 57). The focus of the report is not the author, but the experiment itself. For example, in the scientific report under the Methods section where procedures are listed, the author states, “The point mutants, double mutants, and the deletion mutants were synthesized with flanking L1 and L2 sites” (Kuppu et al.) The author doesn’t include themselves into the procedure. They could have said “We used flanking L1 and L2 sites to synthesize the mutants”, but instead they placed the focus on the laboratory materials. Moreover, the scientific report extensively covers all of these topics that would be structured in a student laboratory report. The Introduction contained the hypothesis which was centered around whether adding in additional point mutations pollinated by wild-type pollen would induce haploids and embryonic death and affect mitotic and meiotic activities (Kuppu et al.). The introduction had an in-depth, but brief enough, background of past findings that lead to why they predicted or tested a specific subject. In addition, the graphs, data, and charts are presented under the results section, which was limited to strictly their findings. The discussion section is where problems and errors are addressed, comparisons are made based upon whether the results proved the hypothesis, and possible sources of error are explained (Lobban and Schefter 35). It is alright if the results do not align with and prove the hypothesis to be correct, because it allows for future experiments to be altered and changed accordingly. Key words used in the scientific report by Kuppu et al. such as “the expected 10 signals” and “consistent with the pattern” allows the audience to easily see that their results did meet their hypothesis, even if there were new discoveries made along the way. Moreover, the scientific article contains 58 references. In a class laboratory report, the only thing that you would most likely be referencing is the textbook or lecture slides because laboratory reports are done so that the professor can access your knowledge, not for you to make new discoveries. Moreover, students and scientists must be knowledgeable on scientific jargon. Some that I have identified in the scientific report are “wild-type allele”, “null mutation”, “haploid”, “outcrossing”, and “heterozygous transgene” (Kuppu et al). It is crucial to understand these complex lexes in order to properly communicate with other scientists when discussing their findings or reviewing the work of others. To an outsider, this language is gibberish, but having knowledge of the jargon used in this field will allow both students and scientists to properly carry out experiments and make analyses upon their findings. Although the audience and purpose of laboratory reports are different from scientific reports, they both share the same structure which will allow students to easily transition into undertaking professional research if they wish to do so. Students headed on this path should declare as a science major in college and be official members.
Membership Criteria
In the major of Biological sciences, there are multiple ways to gain membership. Swales points out that a discourse community contains members who are knowledgeable about this discourse and have relevant experiences, values, and goals (222). The interests that people have, clubs they join, professors they interact with, classes they had may all be signs that someone can be a potential member. The easiest way to be a student under Biological Sciences is to have this as your chosen major when getting into college. However, it is very common to switch majors, as people find different interests and majors that better align with their goals. Switching majors can be done using OASIS. According to this site, in order to switch majors, you must meet with an academic advisor, be in good academic standing with minimum progress requirements met and have a 2.00 cumulative GPA/overall major GPA. Because Biological Sciences is an impacted major, meaning that it is overcrowded, it requires additional work to switch. For example, for Electrical Engineering, as long as you meet all of the course and grade requirements, you can easily change your major on OASIS with just one click. However, for Biological Sciences, you must meet with an academic advisor first. For transfer students, there are additional requirements on top of the general admission requirements and TAG requirements. Students must maintain a 2.50 GPA in Mat17ABC or 21AB, Che2ABC, and Bis2ABC. It is also recommended to take the organic chemistry series Che 8AB or 118ABC, and Phy7ABC (“Major Requirements…”). Because all of these courses are not major restricted, meaning you have to be in the major to be able to sign up for the course during the first pass time, it is fairly easy to finish the requirements in a timely manner. If all the requirements are met, switching majors only takes a week or two to process. After students are accepted, they will be officially declared as the new major and must be involved in order to do well.
Participatory Mechanisms
Once a person gains membership into a discourse community, they must be actively contributing in some way. Participatory mechanisms in a discourse community are used to provide information and feedback in order to meet common goals (Swales 221). Everyone must be involved and contribute their own findings or ideas because not only will they succeed in the community individually, but the discourse community as a whole will succeed as well. On a microscopic level, students at UC Davis in this major may contribute by filling out end-of-the-quarter course evaluation forms, joining weekly meetings for the Biological Sciences Club, checking in with daily postings on the Facebook page, or attending a professor’s special seminar. The purpose of doing all of this may be for students to gain more knowledge in this field, but it also allows professors to know what to change in their teaching tactics in order for students to accomplish the major’s learning outcomes more smoothly. On the other hand, the discourse community of Biological sciences does participate in mechanisms way bigger than these and both professors and students can be a part of it. Students can join international groups. For example, an editorial consisting of 40 professors and researchers in the field of Biology from all around the world, presents that there are currently 30 Regional Student Groups, originally formed to promote networking among computational biologists, and they are found in various countries such as India, Korea, and Singapore (Shome et al.). For young student researchers, this allows them to garner new knowledge and network with others on the same subject of study. This can be done through attending the online or even in-person symposiums, workshops, or competitions where young students are able to collaborate and work towards their goal of developing models based upon experimental data. There is also a Regional Student Group in the United States. Multiple universities such as University of South Carolina, South Florida, St Petersburg, and University of Alabama have collaborated in 2017-2018 where professors gave research talks, held workshops, and designed pipelines for genetic analyses (Shome et al.). Normally the research of professors would be published online in the form of scientific research papers. However, through these conventions, professors are able to verbally present their research material and students can also learn from it. In the long run, the community as a whole benefits because students that have developed their knowledge in Biology and research methods can develop their own research and findings which in turn moves the field of Biology forward towards solutions for big matters such as cancer. UC Davis students can also participate in this participatory mechanism as they may host events online. By participating in these various projects, students can build up a reputable resume and have many career paths open to them.
Post-Graduate Life and Career
As stated in the introduction, it is commonly asked, “What can you even do with a Biological Science degree if you are not going to medical or graduate school?”. The misconception that there are few other options drives students away from majoring in this field as the only other option they seem to have is working in a research lab all day. However, a 2017 Biological Science Graduate, pointed out that this major does not “restrict you to only working in a lab or pursuing medical/dental/veterinary school” and can actually suit many interests, his being research, event organization, communications, and clinical work (Trotsyuk). Not everyone is suited to work in a research lab, but there are many other opportunities besides doing research that people fail to see such as doing clinical work at an optometry or getting into event planning for the Health Department. The UC Davis website also has a Career Preparation page with many opportunities for students to get into such as research, advising, graduate study, honors programs, and internships. The ArtsBridge program allows students to collaborate with K-12 teachers to make lesson plans and Davis Bridge gives you the opportunity to teach low-income kids in the Latino community (“Beyond the Classroom”). Through these opportunities, students can get into field of teaching. Biological Sciences teachers are needed at all level of learnings: elementary, middle school, high school, college, and graduate programs. Moreover, for the students interested in health care, social work, or legal aid, they can get experience through the student-run community health clinics, or if they’re interested in sustainable agriculture, they can join the Student Farm (“Beyond the Classroom”). There are many resources laid out for students and the scope of Biological Sciences is extremely broad, so based on a student’s interests, they can either find their future career to be working in the fields, isolated in a research lab, or collaborating face to face with clients or patients. Moreover, if a student happens to graduate with a Biological Sciences degree but doesn’t want to directly work in this department, they can still get a job in a science research heavy living area, but work in the business/analysis department instead. It is up to students themselves to analyze their interests and see how it can connect with a future career instead of having the narrow, stereotypical mindset of working in a lab or attending graduate school only. There are many careers that people do not think about and sometimes it may not be obvious until they start exploring.
Conclusion
Biological Sciences as a discourse community aims towards producing knowledgeable students on matters such as analyzing molecular structures, genetic makeup, or organization and functions of organisms and microbes. Professors are able to access a student’s knowledge on these matters through assigning laboratory reports. These laboratory reports are structured the exact same way as a scientific article. The only difference is that lab reports aim to show professors your knowledge while scientific reports aim to present new information to other scientists. Scientific reports are an important mode of communication in this discourse community as it allows scientists from all over the world to view each other’s works, reperform experiments, and use other scientist’s research to add on or develop new findings. This is how the Biological Sciences discourse community continuously advances. At UC Davis, it is fairly easy for students to join this discourse community. As long as they complete the required courses and have talked to their academic advisor, they can file a form to change their major. In order for new members to do well, besides knowing how to write laboratory reports, they must also be familiar with specific common jargons that are constantly present in lab experiments such as “titration”, “oxidation”, or “mole”. This will allow them to successfully carry out experiments and communicate their findings and analysis properly. New and current students should also be involved and actively engage in lecture and talk to their professors, which could even lead students to work alongside them in their research. If a student is committed long enough, they may get the chance to have credit given to them once the research is published. Students can also gain experience by participating in official clubs, attending seminars, working in labs, or taking part in workshops of RSO groups. With extensive knowledge in Biological Sciences, students can find themselves working in many different fields ranging from clinical work to teaching or even farm work in sustainable agriculture. Some will find their work to be trivial, such as those who cut hair roots in preparation for DNA sampling. Others will find their work to be impactful, such as those who work towards curing cancer, finding a vaccine for the coronavirus, or discovering ways to reduce global warming. Biological Sciences is a very broad field, but students can succeed in this discourse community so long as they are active members, consistently participate, communicate their knowledge effectively through their laboratory reports, and work towards meeting the learning outcomes.
References
“Beyond the Classroom.” UC Davis, 2 Oct. 2019, www.ucdavis.edu/majors/blog/career-preparation/beyond-classroom.
“Biological Sciences Learning Outcomes.” Biology Academic Success Center, 20 Sept. 2018, basc.biology.ucdavis.edu/biological-sciences/slo.
Kuppu, S., Ron, M., Marimuthu, M. P. A., Li, G., Huddleson, A., Siddeek, M. H., Terry, J., Buchner, R., Shabek, N., Comai, L.and Britt, A. B. ( 2020) A variety of changes, including CRISPR/Cas9‐mediated deletions, in CENH3 lead to haploid induction on outcrossing. Plant Biotechnol. J., https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.13365
Lobban, C., & Schefter, M. (2017). Writing Undergraduate Lab Reports: A Guide for Students. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316338575“Major Requirements College of Biological Sciences.” UC Davis, 24 Apr. 2020, www.ucdavis.edu/admissions/transfer/major-requirements-college-biological-sciences/.
“Major Requirements College of Biological Sciences.” UC Davis, UC Davis, 9 June 2020, www.ucdavis.edu/admissions/transfer/major-requirements-college-biological-sciences/.
“OASIS.” OASIS, oasis.ucdavis.edu/.
Shome S, Parra RG, Fatima N et al. Global network of computational biology communities: ISCB's Regional Student Groups breaking barriers [version 1; peer review: not peer reviewed]. F1000Research 2019, 8(ISCB Comm J):1574 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.20408.1)
Swales, John. “The concept of discourse community.” Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990. 221-222.
Trotsyuk, Artem. “When Majoring in the Biological Sciences Is Just the Beginning.” UC Davis, 26 July 2017, www.ucdavis.edu/majors/blog/exploring-options/when-majoring-biological-sciences-beginning/#media-link.
The problem with choosing a major is that most students assume that it makes or breaks the rest of their lives. Biological Sciences is very broad and because of this, most students tend to stray away from declaring this major due to the fear of not finding a job or working in the stereotypical fields of lab work and research. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to correct these misconceptions by guiding students through the necessary skills needed to succeed in this field and inform students on the potential post-graduate careers they can pursue. I used the learning outcomes of this major to give students an in-depth understanding of what to expect when studying in this field. I also analyzed a scientific report written by multiple UC Davis professors as well as a book explaining how college lab reports should be written in order to compare and contrast the two. I found that scientific reports are an important mode of communication among scientific researchers because it is their chance to present new findings to other scientists. It can be concluded that the knowledge and skills which students learn from their courses and writing lab reports are essential to not only internships or jobs, but essential to making big discoveries and changes in areas such as cancer or deforestation.
Introduction:
The study of biology engages with big issues across a wide scale: from linking the role of certain genes to cancer to how forest ecosystems may be dying due to fires and changes in gasses. As a result, capaciousness may lead students to stray away from majoring in Biological Sciences. Some students even change their major to something more focused and narrow such as Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, claiming that they don’t want to study plants all day. Most people who do go into Biological Sciences have the plan of going to medical school, dental school, or any other post-graduate program and students who don’t plan on doing so often experience a feeling of uneasiness. Because of Biological Sciences being so broad, there’s a misconception that it will be difficult to find a job in this field, that one will most likely find themselves working in a lab all day if they choose this major. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to correct these misconceptions and inform students of the importance of studying biology, as it encompasses every form of life. There are also many fields and jobs that students can go into with this major that they may not realize. This paper will also help in guiding undergraduates who are undeclared or thinking about minoring in Biological Sciences by explaining the skills learned and possessed by students already in this field.
How students communicate in this major, whether it is verbally or on paper, is vital to their success in both their academic and work life. According to linguist John Swales, a Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, discourse communities are “occupational or specialty-interest groups” that share the same goal with specific mechanisms for participating and communicating (220). They have their own, unique way of doing tasks or communicating that outsiders may not completely understand, such as biologists publishing scientific reports to communicate their research with other biologists. To put it simply, they are groups centered around the same interest with the same goals and filled with members who are knowledgeable in this field. This paper will analyze how Biological Sciences is a discourse community by examining how it fits into four of the six criteria that Swales stated.
Method:
For this paper, I will be conducting a genre analysis using a scientific report called “A Variety of Changes…in CENH3 Lead to Haploid Induction on Outcrossing” that was published in PubMed and carried out by 11 professors at UC Davis, some in the Department of Plant Biology and others a part of the UC Davis Genome Center. The reason why I chose this scientific report instead of one done by students is because it encompasses all of the technical parts needed in a formal lab report that professors aim to teach students. Scientific reports written by graduates or experienced researchers is no different, besides being more in depth, than those that students in the field of Biological Sciences will be expected to write. It will also give students insight into what type of research professors do. I will also be using a book, Writing Undergraduate Lab Reports-A Guide for Students, which was written by Christopher S Lobban and Maria Schefter from University of Guam in the Biology department. This will be used to assist in my genre analysis comparing the structure and similarities/differences of scientific reports written by professors versus laboratory reports written by students. It will also be useful in informing undergraduates on what level of writing will be expected of them in upper division courses. Moreover, I will be using an article called “Global Network of Computational Biology Communities…” that was included in the International Society for Computational Biology Community journal. This article consists of 40 authors from all around the world, some of whom are graduate students in biology, specialized researchers at a laboratory, or are professors. Furthermore, I will be incorporating the UC Davis’s official Biological Sciences web page to gain further information on its goals, requirements to become a member of this major, and post-graduate outlooks. Being a declared Biological Sciences major myself and having switched from a different major previously, I will also be able to use my personal experience to give further information on how to become a member of this community. Lastly, “The Concept of Discourse Community” written by Swales will be used to analyze the different aspects of Biological Sciences and how it categorizes as a discourse community. All of these sources combined will help in analyzing four of the six criteria required for a discourse community: common public goals, genres of communication, membership, and participatory mechanisms.
Results and Discussion
Common Public Goals
Even though people in the same discourse community share the same goal, it does not mean that they will end up in the same position or job at the end. According to Swales, discourse communities share a public goal that centers around commonality, not a shared object of study (220). The goals are “common” enough to include everyone in the major but are not so detailed and specific to the point where everyone ends up taking the exact same depth electives or career. The goals of this major can be seen in the learning outcomes which consists of understanding the molecular and structural unity of all life and how diversity is generated, how genetics and biochemistry play a role in organization and function, and how microbes, plants, and animals develop and function (“Biological Sciences...”). It is notable that these learning outcomes are centered around understanding the building blocks of all life. I place an emphasis on the term all because Biological Sciences is very broad and there are many varied courses that cover these learning outcomes. For example, once students start taking upper division depth subject courses, they must choose one course from each of the following topic: Statistics, Evolution and Ecology, Ecology, Microbiology, Plant Physiology or Development, and Animal Physiology, Behavior, or Development. These courses range from studying the environment and plants to microorganisms and animals. In addition, the rest of the learning outcomes include using quantitative approaches and critical reasoning to answer scientific questions, evaluating scientific information using sources, and communicating scientific data both verbally and on paper (“Biological Sciences…”). These goals will most likely be accomplished through the laboratory side of this major. From a list of over 30 laboratory courses, students are to choose two with three-hour lab sessions per week and one course with six hour lab sessions per week. Just like the Biological Sciences coursework, these laboratory courses also range tremendously from Population Biology of Invasive Plants and Weeds to Human Gross Anatomy. The goals of this discourse community are common and broad enough to the point that all students are able to accomplish them by the time they graduate, but not restricting to the point that they all take the same exact classes with the same exact emphasis. Despite taking different classes, all students by the time they graduate must be capable of writing laboratory reports as well.
Genre Analysis
Lab reports are inevitable when majoring in the field of Biological Sciences. Although lab reports aren’t introduced in the introductory Bis2 series, they are fundamental in upper division courses. For example, one required course is NPB 101, Systemic Physiology. Students must take the lab section that goes with it and in this course, students are to submit a 20-page lab report. This sounds like a ridiculously long paper, but formal published scientific reports can reach up to 40-pages due to the extensive research and data. Lobban and Schefter stated that the structure of lab reports is the same as scientific papers. However, they point out that the audience and purpose is different in that lab reports are written for professors to read and test your understanding of the material, while scientific papers are written for other scientists to present new information and ideas (4). This makes sense, as scientific reports can be extensive and lengthy with tens of references since they incorporate not only their own experiment results, but also they elaborate and draw conclusions from the works of others as well, which is not done in most science classes.
Although scientific reports are not written in UC Davis classes, they are very similar to lab reports and are important to understand in this field if one may wish to do research with a professor. Swales stated that a discourse community must contain at least one genre which “are how things get done” (221). By this he means that through these genres, people are able to communicate with each other in a way that allows them to reach their common public goals.
If we were to quickly scan a lab report or scientific report, we will always see that there are data charts and graphs. Data cannot be simply presented in sentences, so students must choose to either use a table if there is a trend or a graph which depends on the type of data being used, such as line graphs for continuous data or histograms for discrete and classified data (Lobban and Schefter 21). The lab manuals in classes will not always tell students what data to graph, so it is important for them to figure it out on their own.
In the scientific research report, we can see that a table was used to organize multiple related information. From the table, only two specific sections were extracted to make a line graph while a histogram, or a graph with rectangular bars used to group data and their frequency of occurrence, was made to easily compare two different variables. Graphing data is done after the experiment has ended. Therefore, it is important to collect accurate data during an experiment and organize it into a detailed table. Not collecting accurate measurements will cause the conclusion and analysis to be inaccurate. In the scientific world, before an experiment is published, it is usually redone or reviewed by different scientists. Carrying out an experiment inaccurately may lead to a bad reputation and inaccurate findings.
I will now analyze the structure of reports overall. The format of lab reports are done with the IMRAD formula: Title and Author(s), Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods (or Experimental), Results, Discussion, References (or Literature Cited), and Figures and Tables and is usually written in passive voice where the author is omitted (Lobban and Schefter 6, 57). The focus of the report is not the author, but the experiment itself. For example, in the scientific report under the Methods section where procedures are listed, the author states, “The point mutants, double mutants, and the deletion mutants were synthesized with flanking L1 and L2 sites” (Kuppu et al.) The author doesn’t include themselves into the procedure. They could have said “We used flanking L1 and L2 sites to synthesize the mutants”, but instead they placed the focus on the laboratory materials. Moreover, the scientific report extensively covers all of these topics that would be structured in a student laboratory report. The Introduction contained the hypothesis which was centered around whether adding in additional point mutations pollinated by wild-type pollen would induce haploids and embryonic death and affect mitotic and meiotic activities (Kuppu et al.). The introduction had an in-depth, but brief enough, background of past findings that lead to why they predicted or tested a specific subject. In addition, the graphs, data, and charts are presented under the results section, which was limited to strictly their findings. The discussion section is where problems and errors are addressed, comparisons are made based upon whether the results proved the hypothesis, and possible sources of error are explained (Lobban and Schefter 35). It is alright if the results do not align with and prove the hypothesis to be correct, because it allows for future experiments to be altered and changed accordingly. Key words used in the scientific report by Kuppu et al. such as “the expected 10 signals” and “consistent with the pattern” allows the audience to easily see that their results did meet their hypothesis, even if there were new discoveries made along the way. Moreover, the scientific article contains 58 references. In a class laboratory report, the only thing that you would most likely be referencing is the textbook or lecture slides because laboratory reports are done so that the professor can access your knowledge, not for you to make new discoveries. Moreover, students and scientists must be knowledgeable on scientific jargon. Some that I have identified in the scientific report are “wild-type allele”, “null mutation”, “haploid”, “outcrossing”, and “heterozygous transgene” (Kuppu et al). It is crucial to understand these complex lexes in order to properly communicate with other scientists when discussing their findings or reviewing the work of others. To an outsider, this language is gibberish, but having knowledge of the jargon used in this field will allow both students and scientists to properly carry out experiments and make analyses upon their findings. Although the audience and purpose of laboratory reports are different from scientific reports, they both share the same structure which will allow students to easily transition into undertaking professional research if they wish to do so. Students headed on this path should declare as a science major in college and be official members.
Membership Criteria
In the major of Biological sciences, there are multiple ways to gain membership. Swales points out that a discourse community contains members who are knowledgeable about this discourse and have relevant experiences, values, and goals (222). The interests that people have, clubs they join, professors they interact with, classes they had may all be signs that someone can be a potential member. The easiest way to be a student under Biological Sciences is to have this as your chosen major when getting into college. However, it is very common to switch majors, as people find different interests and majors that better align with their goals. Switching majors can be done using OASIS. According to this site, in order to switch majors, you must meet with an academic advisor, be in good academic standing with minimum progress requirements met and have a 2.00 cumulative GPA/overall major GPA. Because Biological Sciences is an impacted major, meaning that it is overcrowded, it requires additional work to switch. For example, for Electrical Engineering, as long as you meet all of the course and grade requirements, you can easily change your major on OASIS with just one click. However, for Biological Sciences, you must meet with an academic advisor first. For transfer students, there are additional requirements on top of the general admission requirements and TAG requirements. Students must maintain a 2.50 GPA in Mat17ABC or 21AB, Che2ABC, and Bis2ABC. It is also recommended to take the organic chemistry series Che 8AB or 118ABC, and Phy7ABC (“Major Requirements…”). Because all of these courses are not major restricted, meaning you have to be in the major to be able to sign up for the course during the first pass time, it is fairly easy to finish the requirements in a timely manner. If all the requirements are met, switching majors only takes a week or two to process. After students are accepted, they will be officially declared as the new major and must be involved in order to do well.
Participatory Mechanisms
Once a person gains membership into a discourse community, they must be actively contributing in some way. Participatory mechanisms in a discourse community are used to provide information and feedback in order to meet common goals (Swales 221). Everyone must be involved and contribute their own findings or ideas because not only will they succeed in the community individually, but the discourse community as a whole will succeed as well. On a microscopic level, students at UC Davis in this major may contribute by filling out end-of-the-quarter course evaluation forms, joining weekly meetings for the Biological Sciences Club, checking in with daily postings on the Facebook page, or attending a professor’s special seminar. The purpose of doing all of this may be for students to gain more knowledge in this field, but it also allows professors to know what to change in their teaching tactics in order for students to accomplish the major’s learning outcomes more smoothly. On the other hand, the discourse community of Biological sciences does participate in mechanisms way bigger than these and both professors and students can be a part of it. Students can join international groups. For example, an editorial consisting of 40 professors and researchers in the field of Biology from all around the world, presents that there are currently 30 Regional Student Groups, originally formed to promote networking among computational biologists, and they are found in various countries such as India, Korea, and Singapore (Shome et al.). For young student researchers, this allows them to garner new knowledge and network with others on the same subject of study. This can be done through attending the online or even in-person symposiums, workshops, or competitions where young students are able to collaborate and work towards their goal of developing models based upon experimental data. There is also a Regional Student Group in the United States. Multiple universities such as University of South Carolina, South Florida, St Petersburg, and University of Alabama have collaborated in 2017-2018 where professors gave research talks, held workshops, and designed pipelines for genetic analyses (Shome et al.). Normally the research of professors would be published online in the form of scientific research papers. However, through these conventions, professors are able to verbally present their research material and students can also learn from it. In the long run, the community as a whole benefits because students that have developed their knowledge in Biology and research methods can develop their own research and findings which in turn moves the field of Biology forward towards solutions for big matters such as cancer. UC Davis students can also participate in this participatory mechanism as they may host events online. By participating in these various projects, students can build up a reputable resume and have many career paths open to them.
Post-Graduate Life and Career
As stated in the introduction, it is commonly asked, “What can you even do with a Biological Science degree if you are not going to medical or graduate school?”. The misconception that there are few other options drives students away from majoring in this field as the only other option they seem to have is working in a research lab all day. However, a 2017 Biological Science Graduate, pointed out that this major does not “restrict you to only working in a lab or pursuing medical/dental/veterinary school” and can actually suit many interests, his being research, event organization, communications, and clinical work (Trotsyuk). Not everyone is suited to work in a research lab, but there are many other opportunities besides doing research that people fail to see such as doing clinical work at an optometry or getting into event planning for the Health Department. The UC Davis website also has a Career Preparation page with many opportunities for students to get into such as research, advising, graduate study, honors programs, and internships. The ArtsBridge program allows students to collaborate with K-12 teachers to make lesson plans and Davis Bridge gives you the opportunity to teach low-income kids in the Latino community (“Beyond the Classroom”). Through these opportunities, students can get into field of teaching. Biological Sciences teachers are needed at all level of learnings: elementary, middle school, high school, college, and graduate programs. Moreover, for the students interested in health care, social work, or legal aid, they can get experience through the student-run community health clinics, or if they’re interested in sustainable agriculture, they can join the Student Farm (“Beyond the Classroom”). There are many resources laid out for students and the scope of Biological Sciences is extremely broad, so based on a student’s interests, they can either find their future career to be working in the fields, isolated in a research lab, or collaborating face to face with clients or patients. Moreover, if a student happens to graduate with a Biological Sciences degree but doesn’t want to directly work in this department, they can still get a job in a science research heavy living area, but work in the business/analysis department instead. It is up to students themselves to analyze their interests and see how it can connect with a future career instead of having the narrow, stereotypical mindset of working in a lab or attending graduate school only. There are many careers that people do not think about and sometimes it may not be obvious until they start exploring.
Conclusion
Biological Sciences as a discourse community aims towards producing knowledgeable students on matters such as analyzing molecular structures, genetic makeup, or organization and functions of organisms and microbes. Professors are able to access a student’s knowledge on these matters through assigning laboratory reports. These laboratory reports are structured the exact same way as a scientific article. The only difference is that lab reports aim to show professors your knowledge while scientific reports aim to present new information to other scientists. Scientific reports are an important mode of communication in this discourse community as it allows scientists from all over the world to view each other’s works, reperform experiments, and use other scientist’s research to add on or develop new findings. This is how the Biological Sciences discourse community continuously advances. At UC Davis, it is fairly easy for students to join this discourse community. As long as they complete the required courses and have talked to their academic advisor, they can file a form to change their major. In order for new members to do well, besides knowing how to write laboratory reports, they must also be familiar with specific common jargons that are constantly present in lab experiments such as “titration”, “oxidation”, or “mole”. This will allow them to successfully carry out experiments and communicate their findings and analysis properly. New and current students should also be involved and actively engage in lecture and talk to their professors, which could even lead students to work alongside them in their research. If a student is committed long enough, they may get the chance to have credit given to them once the research is published. Students can also gain experience by participating in official clubs, attending seminars, working in labs, or taking part in workshops of RSO groups. With extensive knowledge in Biological Sciences, students can find themselves working in many different fields ranging from clinical work to teaching or even farm work in sustainable agriculture. Some will find their work to be trivial, such as those who cut hair roots in preparation for DNA sampling. Others will find their work to be impactful, such as those who work towards curing cancer, finding a vaccine for the coronavirus, or discovering ways to reduce global warming. Biological Sciences is a very broad field, but students can succeed in this discourse community so long as they are active members, consistently participate, communicate their knowledge effectively through their laboratory reports, and work towards meeting the learning outcomes.
References
“Beyond the Classroom.” UC Davis, 2 Oct. 2019, www.ucdavis.edu/majors/blog/career-preparation/beyond-classroom.
“Biological Sciences Learning Outcomes.” Biology Academic Success Center, 20 Sept. 2018, basc.biology.ucdavis.edu/biological-sciences/slo.
Kuppu, S., Ron, M., Marimuthu, M. P. A., Li, G., Huddleson, A., Siddeek, M. H., Terry, J., Buchner, R., Shabek, N., Comai, L.and Britt, A. B. ( 2020) A variety of changes, including CRISPR/Cas9‐mediated deletions, in CENH3 lead to haploid induction on outcrossing. Plant Biotechnol. J., https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.13365
Lobban, C., & Schefter, M. (2017). Writing Undergraduate Lab Reports: A Guide for Students. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316338575“Major Requirements College of Biological Sciences.” UC Davis, 24 Apr. 2020, www.ucdavis.edu/admissions/transfer/major-requirements-college-biological-sciences/.
“Major Requirements College of Biological Sciences.” UC Davis, UC Davis, 9 June 2020, www.ucdavis.edu/admissions/transfer/major-requirements-college-biological-sciences/.
“OASIS.” OASIS, oasis.ucdavis.edu/.
Shome S, Parra RG, Fatima N et al. Global network of computational biology communities: ISCB's Regional Student Groups breaking barriers [version 1; peer review: not peer reviewed]. F1000Research 2019, 8(ISCB Comm J):1574 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.20408.1)
Swales, John. “The concept of discourse community.” Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990. 221-222.
Trotsyuk, Artem. “When Majoring in the Biological Sciences Is Just the Beginning.” UC Davis, 26 July 2017, www.ucdavis.edu/majors/blog/exploring-options/when-majoring-biological-sciences-beginning/#media-link.