Reflections



Picture retrieved from personal collection

 Hello! I can't believe that this semester is over! I don't know where the time went, I'm not ready for finals to be here yet, I'm still recovering from midterms. It seems like only yesterday that I was moving back to Edmonton and was getting ready for the first day of classes and now today is the last day of classes. Despite the fast passing of time I have learned a lot from my ALES 204 class. Many of the skills and tools I've learnt I will use for the rest of my life because I already use them everyday.

Before I took this class I was skeptical of using social media sites. I had already committed to the facebook bandwagon and didn't see any need for me to consider jumping onto other wagons to. Now I kind of car pool with many social media sites and I'm not going to go back to only using facebook and email. Within the first few days of class we were required to make a twitter account to use to tweet about our thoughts on ALES 204 so that our prof could see how we felt about the lectures. I was so against it that I didn't create a twitter account right away. I thought that twitter was just people "tweeting" about what they were wearing, where they were going, and other boring aspects of their lives that I really didn't need to know about. But I've learnt that twitter can be a great way to access information about anything. I choose who I want to follow so that I only see tweets from the people that I'm interested in knowing about. With twitter I follow many veterinarians, associations, bands, and my favourite comedians. I enjoy being kept up to date on their lives and I learn from the educational tweets. I am a new fan of twitter and will keep using it to follow tweets, even though I may not tweet very often.

I have learnt about many other different social media sites such as Blogger, Linkedin and Flickr, as well as many ways to share information, such as through Google Docs and Audioboo. I love Google Docs it makes academic life easier, I never have to worry if my file will be compatible on another computer or if I have my USB with me.On top of online communication I learnt how to more effectively communicate with other people in reality. Standing up and giving a presentation to my peers scared me so much that I would always stumble on my words and my body would shake. I'm more comfortable with presenting now because I have learnt may helpful tips from my class. I learnt how to make an effective yet interesting PowerPoint. Using a large font, minimal text, more pictures, and practicing will make your presentation better. Before actually presenting do some stretches and vocal exercises to get your body ready, if your blood is flowing your less likely to get the shakes. I also learnt how to make a poster presentation as well. who knew that you could use PowerPoint to create a poster.

Writing a scientific article has become way more easier for me! I've learnt how to utilize all of the resources that the University of Alberta has to offer to their maximum potential. Finding a relative peer review journal article only takes me minutes when before it would take me hours. I know how to search and what to look for in an article, which as a student are skills I'm very happy to now possess. If I can't find what I'm looking for I can chat with a librarian online with a click and citing all the articles I reference in my work is ridiculously easy with RefWorks. I will never write a paper and not use RefWorks ever again, it simply amazing. Along with citing I learnt about creative commons and copyright. I had no idea there was more than one creative common, I only knew plagiarism was bad and now I know why. Peer review didn't seem that important to me either, I only paid attention to whether or not the article I chose has been peer reviewed or not I never cared about the actual process. Now I know about it and can't wait for open access to become more prominent, there's nothing worse then not being able to get an article.

When the time comes for me to create my CV and go for interviews I feel confident that I can do both. Did you know that you should wear red to an interview? Wearing red will help make sure that the interviewer remembers you. If you don't know where to start with making a CV google has many helpful templates that you can use, I know I'm probably going to use them.



Picture retrieved from personal collection

 ALES 204 has taught me many great things that I didn't know about communication or technology before. I can blog and tweet now, I'm using facebook and Linkedin to connect with employers and search job opportunities, and I can find a science article quickly. Speaking and giving presentations are still terrifying but I can get through them more easily now. Thanks ALES 204 for expanding my knowledge on communication and technology. Good-bye!

Check out some other ALES204 students blogs to see more points of views and different blog topics from the class. Five students whose blog I like and have commented on are:

• Cori 
• Kelley 
• Larkin 
• Julie 
• Kylie

Check them out!

Open Access Peer Review... Let the Communication Commence

Our class was asked to reflect on the processes of peer review and whether or not we would try to use open access if we were the editor and chief of a journal. This was my response...

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Peer review is important for academic literature in all fields of study. Using peer review processes justifies the authenticity of the paper and give the article a significant reputation. Universities require students to use peer review papers for research, papers that have not passed through peer review cannot be used. When a paper has been peer reviewed it means that it has undergone critical scrutiny which the author has used to make the article the best that it can be and all of the information is qualified and correct.

There are many different processes of peer review used by academic journals that are continuously improving. The first is the single blind process which is where the author and their institution is know to the peer reviewer but the author does not know who is reviewing their work. the second is call a double blind, in this process neither the author or the reviewer is aware of who the other is. The third kind of peer review is open access which is more experimental and is less common among academic journals. In open access both the author and the peers names are revealed to each other. Open access allows for communication between professionals and can make peer review more efficient and improve it quality. This uses all of the traditional methods of peer review while increasing collaboration and opening discussion within the fields community and the public. With open access people who are peer reviewing a paper can have access to more information if they need it but just asking the author. People can also look at and compare the draft of a paper with the final. Readers can gain further insights into the information and the individuality of the author with open access.

The UK parliament agrees with the open access concept admitting that this process is suitable for each academic field in different ways. Publishers and journals should make sure that their readers are confident in the journals methods of peer review. Customers continue to subscribe to journals because they trust in and feel like the journal is a reputable source of reliable information. Journals should keep readers updated and include them in important processes. With open access the public can comment on articles and give constructive criticism to authors. There has been open access failure cases where comments from the public did not meet the standards of quality peer review and there have also been successful cases.

If I was the editor and chief of an academic journal I would convince my colleges that the journal should try an open access approach to peer review. For some journals, such as Nature, open access public comment peer review has failed but that does not mean it does not work, there as also success stories. Using open access ignites discussions between authors and people that would not occur with tradition open access. The canvas for spreading knowledge con be contributed to by everyone, not just authors and the other professionals who peer review. Open access gives an article more exposure and therefore more impact. So why not at least give it a try?

Writing the Dreaded Science Article

My ALES 204 class had a module that focused specifically on scientific articles. We learned how to easily find them, what to look for in an article, and how to references them properly. The skills in tips I learnt in class have become extremely helpful for I have had to complete several assignments using journal articles this term. What used to take me hours to do now takes me minutes. When I get an assignment that involves finding and referencing an article I no longer cringe in dread because I know how to use every tool I need to get an article and references it. For my science article assignment in ALES 204 I chose to write about the open access movement, the following is abstracts from my assignment mixed in with new additions for my blog. Enjoy!

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There is nothing worse for a student attempting to write a paper, then finding the perfect journal article only to find that the article is not available without a subscription to the journal or some kind of payment. It is one of the biggest lets downs faced repeatedly in a student’s academic life. Post secondary education requires students to be able to find and properly reference peer-reviewed journal articles. It’s a process that should be easy but can become exceedingly frustrating very quickly.

Authors of journal articles are paid by institutions to conduct their research; the articles are the tangible results of that research. To have their papers published, authors must submit it to a publishing journal which will arrange for it to be peer-reviewed, critiqued by other professionals in their field. The journal sends the peer-review results back to the author who will edit and resubmit for publication. That journal then charges subscription fees to readers who want to read the article which restricts public access. Academic Institutions have to pay millions in subscription fees to journals so that their students will be able to have access to peer-reviewed articles. The University of Alberta spent over 29 million in the 2008-09 academic year on academic information and comm technologies (University of Alberta, n.d.,). The average person cannot afford to pay such outrageous fees and are therefore alienated from the information in journals. Trying to eliminating the price restriction barriers and allow universal access to all academic literature is the Open Access Movement (OAM).


The OAM is free unrestricted access to peer-reviewed journals or other literature (Budapest Open Access Initiative, n.d.,). The goal of OAM is the removal of barriers to improve learning, education, and research by making literature as useful as possible. Affordable and effective strategies for making open access economically self-sustaining are self-archiving and open access journals. Self archiving is where authors make a copy of their articles and deposit it in an open electronic archive. These archives allow users to find and use journal articles just by using search engines; an example is PubMed. Another strategy is open access journals, where journals use copyright to allow access to articles instead of restricting them by charging readers fees; these instead turn to other funding methods such as governments, universities, and foundations.

The University of Alberta has an online library where students can go to find journal articles for scientific papers. Their data bases are exceedingly helpful and if you can't find what you are looking for you can chat with a librarian online. Millions of dollars are spent by the University to help students and give them access to peer reviewed articles through self archives, open access journals, and subscription journals. Utilizing the tools and information provided to you can make writing that paper way easier. 



Picture retrieved from http://www.library.ualberta.ca/



The open access movement is a revolutionary concept that will improve the lives of all people interested in academic research and will free finances for other usages than subscriptions. Students will be able to use self-archives to find peer-reviewed journal articles and actually be able to read and use them. Institutions and libraries will be able to use the cancelled subscription money for other means. The OAM can also influence lives indirectly; a doctor can have access to the newest research and apply it to their patients. People who could not afford academic literature will be able to with the OAM. Although publishers will those a substantial amount of money from the loss of subscriptions they can still be sustained with publication fees. Open access is a concept that is catching on and will continue to gain support from people everywhere.

To read more of my scientific article go to this Google Doc



Facing your Worst Peers



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Public speaking was in my top five worst fears list and I didn't think it was ever going to be bumped down to the top ten but it has. My Ales 204 class dedicated lots of time to helping students overcome stage fright and improve their presentation skills. I am now more confident in myself when I am presenting in front of others and am capable of presenting the information without causing death by boredom.


In labs we participated in Pecha Kucha which is an event where people are given a limited amount of slides and time to deliver those slides to peers. In the group I was apart of each of us was studying a form of animal science so we chose to make a powerpoint about animals. We were given a ridiculously short time frame to create the powerpoint and then had to present it to our lab. Our final slide just ended up being pictures of LOL Cats. There were many awkward pauses and somewhat related rambling as everyone tried to fill up the time given for each slide. Everyone was in the same sinking ship which made the experience educational and fun because every student could relate to the one presenting. It made standing in front of everyone easier.

I`ll never forget the lecture given by Wendy Doughty. She was energetic and shared tonnes of tips on how to give a proper speech and what not to do when standing in front of people. Seeing someone look so natural at presentations give us shy people some hope that we can do that to. Dr. Doughty had the whole Ales 204 class screaming while standing and doing ridiculous movements that were suppose to help us ready our voices and bodies for a speech. I was near the end of a row and could see all of the people looking through the door windows to see what happening in our class. Their faces were hilarious and I`ll never forget it or the helpful tips.

I also learnt how to make an effective poster and powerpoint which has come in handy for my other classes. The skills I have learnt in this class I can apply to almost every other class and specific parts of my life.

Editing Wikipedia

I've always used Wikipedia as a starting point for almost every kind of research I've ever done. I would never cite it in a paper of any kind because I know that the information could not be reliable. Not once did I ever wonder why everyone says Wikipedia can be unreliable I just assumed it was. I didn't realize until the Wikipedia assignment in my ALES 204 class that the information on Wikipedia is from the everyday average person. Editing Wikipedia is possible! Mind = Blown! Every now and then I'll see little mistakes on Wikipedia that drive me crazy, now I know that I have the power to change them! Spelling mistake? I don't think so! Now I understand why no one ever references Wikipedia. Anyone from anywhere can put whatever information they want.


Jayden MacPherson (personal collection, Nov 11, 2011)



My ALES 204 class assignment for Wikipedia was to find a stub that needed to be edited and edit it. Of all the stubs I could have chosen I probably chose the worst one! I chose to edit "dog leukocyte antigen" because veterinary medicine is my field of interest and the stub had absolutely nothing written for it. It turns out that there is hardly anything out there about dog leukocyte antigens. To find information I had to read through journals meant specifically for other scientists who knew all the lingo which I am not. Although I can now say that I now what the dog leukocyte antigen is. Do you?





After completing this assignment I feel that I need to thank the wonderful Libraries of the University of Alberta for being so darn awesome and helpful. It should have took me forever to find journal articles on the mysterious dog leukocyte antigen but it didn't. If you know how to search it takes seconds to find what you need... then you have to read it. I also need to thank RefWorks for saving me from insanity. I read through about ten extensive journal articles and made a bibliography for all of them in seconds. I literally said "WOOHOO" and danced a little when that word document with perfect APA citations opened. So thank you, for keeping me sane when I definitely would have lost my mind.

Other ALES 204 students have blogged about this assignment. Here are two to check out, Julie's and Larkin's.

ALES 204 Image Test

What happens when he's left with mom...

Facebook Page

Professionalism is required in the job market. First impressions and how you present yourself to others is very important. Employers or patients want to feel confident when they invest in you that they are making a good decision.

To further use social media in my ALES 204 class and to network with professional people in my field of interest I have created a Facebook page for myself as an online resume. This page gives more insight into who I am as a person, what I hope to accomplish, and what I am looking for. When I was given this assignment in class I was completely against it. I use Facebook for personal reasons and do not want to cross my professional life with my private one. But pages and profiles are completely different things. I can use my profile for entertainment and personal reasons while I use my page for professional networking and to put myself out into the online job market. I can use this page to provide information on what I'm interested in the Animal Science/Health world and use my profile for my friends and family. 

The great thing about this page is that when a potential employer or other professional "googles" me they can see my Facebook page which will give them only the information that I want them to see about me and my future goals. This page is going to be my online business card and resume.

Many other ALES 204 students have also created great blogs and Facebook pages. Check out some of them to. This is Nancy's page and this is Alyssa's page, I think both of them are unique and worth looking at.