Lab Skills
General lab maintenance
How to maintain fly stocks
Phenotyping
Dissection of male and female reproductive tracts
How to measure sperm
Molecular Biology
Pipetting basics
Introduction (University of Leicester)
The five-step cycle (Mettler Toledo)
Setting the volume (Mettler Toledo)
Pre-rinsing (Mettler Toledo)
Aspiration (Mettler Toledo)
Immersion depth and angle (Mettler Toledo)
Dispensing (Mettler Toledo)
Genotyping
Primer design
qPCR
Introduction to qPCR (U Western Australia class project) - this is a nice cartoon-y introduction to the conceptual basis of qPCR
qPCR analysis (Bio-Rad) - this video goes into the process and analysis in more detail
Data analysis
Introduction to Geneious software (by Sarah Josway)
Making trees in MEGA (by Sarah Josway)
Fst analysis in Genepop
How to maintain fly stocks
Phenotyping
Dissection of male and female reproductive tracts
How to measure sperm
Molecular Biology
Pipetting basics
Introduction (University of Leicester)
The five-step cycle (Mettler Toledo)
Setting the volume (Mettler Toledo)
Pre-rinsing (Mettler Toledo)
Aspiration (Mettler Toledo)
Immersion depth and angle (Mettler Toledo)
Dispensing (Mettler Toledo)
Genotyping
Primer design
qPCR
Introduction to qPCR (U Western Australia class project) - this is a nice cartoon-y introduction to the conceptual basis of qPCR
qPCR analysis (Bio-Rad) - this video goes into the process and analysis in more detail
Data analysis
Introduction to Geneious software (by Sarah Josway)
Making trees in MEGA (by Sarah Josway)
Fst analysis in Genepop
How to read a Scientific Paper
Reading a scientific paper is one of those skills that gets honed with time. You should strive to maximize your efficiency in reading papers, because it’s something you will spend a lot of time doing, and it’s easy to do it inefficiently.
How you read a paper depends on what you want to get out of it. Sometimes you’re catching up on a stack of papers on your desk that you’ve been meaning to read for months. Sometimes you’re reading a paper for a discussion group. You might want to use a paper’s methods in your own research or gain an in-depth understanding of previous work in your field. Expect to spend several hours reading papers when you’re first getting the hang of it. As you get more proficient in your field and familiar with the literature, it may take you anywhere from a few minutes to an hour to read a paper, depending on what you’re getting out of it.
For all papers, you want to know:
For group discussions, you might also want to know:
For in-depth analysis:
Strategies:
Resources
A great guide from Jennifer Raff
How to read a scientific paper from Adam Ruben
But seriously, how to read a scientific paper
An infographic, plus additional resources
How you read a paper depends on what you want to get out of it. Sometimes you’re catching up on a stack of papers on your desk that you’ve been meaning to read for months. Sometimes you’re reading a paper for a discussion group. You might want to use a paper’s methods in your own research or gain an in-depth understanding of previous work in your field. Expect to spend several hours reading papers when you’re first getting the hang of it. As you get more proficient in your field and familiar with the literature, it may take you anywhere from a few minutes to an hour to read a paper, depending on what you’re getting out of it.
For all papers, you want to know:
- What are the take-home messages?
- What were the methods (how did they do it?)
- What was cool/novel/interesting? What did this paper contribute? Contributions could take the form of new results or it could be a synthesis of pre-existing concepts under a novel framework.
- Does this paper inform how you think about your own research?
For group discussions, you might also want to know:
- Were there any flaws, weaknesses, anything the authors missed?
- Was there anything unclear about what they did or why?
- Were appropriate caveats made?
- Do you agree with how they interpreted their results? Are the take-home messages appropriate?
- How do their results compare with other studies in the field? Are they supporting a paradigm or contributing to controversy?
For in-depth analysis:
- Look up any methods or terms that you’re unfamiliar with. Were the correct assumptions made?
- You may want to follow up with other papers cited by this paper.
Strategies:
- You don’t have to start at the beginning
- Do a fast skim of just looking at length, structure, major headings, figures and tables, to get a lay of the land
- Suggested order: abstract; then go backwards from discussion, results, methods (or methods, then results), with introduction last.
- Then go back and read it front to back, so you get the order the authors intended.
- Take notes as needed in margins, underline stuff, even just to use as place markers as you go through it.
- Come up with a one or two-sentence summary of the paper.
Resources
A great guide from Jennifer Raff
How to read a scientific paper from Adam Ruben
But seriously, how to read a scientific paper
An infographic, plus additional resources