Research essay

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One of the best ways to implement knowledge practically is conducting research. It can be related to one’s major or based on an interest of study. There are different ways to conduct research. Some studiesare dependent on surveys or people’s opinion while some require the use of other’s finding and experimentsas a follow up.  Conducting research requires creativity and critical thinking on topics and ideas.

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During the time of my undergraduate study, I was able to conduct research related to my major. The Honors Program has helped me to understand the basic needs that are required for conducting research. This includes reviewing and researching for primary research articles, creating abstracts and proposals as well creating posters based on the research. In my biochemistry 465 lab class we conducted research on cancer cells. There are several skills I learnt in how I needed to conduct this research. The first step to conduct the research was observation and searching for primary literature article to provide a background knowledge of the topic. After we became  more acquainted with the knowledge, we formulated a hypothesis.  This helped in organizing our thoughts and preparing a methodology to proceed with the experiment. 

 

The skills that I developed in my class  helped me advance to my other competencies. For example, for my undergraduate research project we used a similar technique in how to tackle our research topic like selecting a topic are, finding relevant literature articles, formulating a hypothesis and  analyzing results. I  learnt that one of the key aspects when conducting research is analyzing results. This means that after collecting the data  we have to  make sure it supports  our formulated hypothesis and be able to draw conclusions based on this. I have also learnt that there is no such thing as a failed experiment because every research conducted and results obtained is a way for other researches to  create a way  to develop a follow up study.

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I was given the opportunity to present my research in MNSU Undergraduate Symposium.  Being able to present my work has given me the opportunity to improve  communication skills as well as gain confidence in presenting for a bigger audience. This experience also helped me  when I worked as a Clinical Lab Technologist as I was able to interact with several research technologist’s and share my knowledge with them. I also had the opportunity to present on the test that I was conducting at the end of the summer program. This played a very significant role for me to grow as a professional in my career.

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In brief, conducting research plays a very significant role to grow both professionally and personally. Being an honors student, I was able to  develop skills that helped me succeed in  completing research. I will use the skills that I developed while I attended MNSU in my future research career when I work as a technologist.