Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
suggestions are for future studies based on what you found and the new questions that
surfaced.
Scientific Integrity
You are already familiar with the concept of integrity in general. Academic honesty
consists of not fabricating data or results and not stealing or copying someone else's orig-
inal ideas, data, or results. Your data that include photographs, actual data collected,
results, write-ups, and so on all fall into the category of intellectual property. If someone
else wants to use your intellectual property they must receive permission from either you
or the copyright holder and cite it properly. The consequences for violating academic
honesty range from a guilty conscience to a potentially life-destroying event. The scien-
tist who fabricated his data and results with cloning research and narrowly avoided
prison for it comes to mind (
Sang-Hun, 2009
). Be particularly careful when referencing.
When taking notes from articles or books, use bullet points in your own words. When
you do your write-up, you will have to formulate your own original sentences. Learn
how to paraphrase, use quotes when necessary, and always cite the sources of your
information.
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Data Curation
While your data are part of your intellectual property, that doesn't mean that they exclu-
sively belong to only you. You generated data as part of an inquiry for new scientific infor-
mation (which technically belongs to everyone), and therefore, you must care for them so
they remain accessible to you and others later on. Today we save most of our data (measure-
ments, observations, photographs, write-ups, etc.) digitally. However, as technology grows
and programs or file formats change, at some point your files will no longer be able to be
opened
d
making all your hard work disappear. Make sure that you update your digital files
to newer versions as applicable and/or save hard paper copies of everything (preferably on
acid-free paper) for long-term curation. Saving files to a program in the Internet cloud is also
advised, especially while the project is in progress, so that you do not lose any work as a result
of hard drive failure or other disasters.
DEVELOPING A RESEARCH QUESTION: HOW TO THINK OF AND
DEVELOP IDEAS
As an advanced undergraduate or new graduate student, this is probably the main ques-
tion on your mind when it comes to doing your research project. During your first year in
graduate school you learn very quickly that the production of original research is a major
expectation and that you have to develop your own project that you will primarily work
on by yourself, with guidance from your professors. However, most likely you have little
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For more information, refer to the
National Academy of Sciences' volume on Responsible Science (1992)
.
