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Chemistry 321 - Biological Chemistry: Biochemistry

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Science and Data Librarian

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Pete Schlax
Contact:
Ladd Library 133
(207) 786-8328
pschlax2@bates.edu

I am usually at the Research Desk Mon. 1-4, Wed. 6-9, and Thurs. 10-1

Helpful Chem 321 Resources

Paraphrased from " Biochemistry Project: Fall 2018":

Explore the science, background, and people  relevant to a key discovery in biochemistry.
  1. "Summarize the importance of the discovery"
    • why is this important?
    • how did the popular press describe the significance?
    • was it immediately recognized as being significant? (first 3-5 years)
    • only recognized to be significant much later? (career retrospective, obituary)
  2. Describe the experimental design followed to validate the discovery/technique
  • find the original paper (title, year, authors, etc)
  • summarize the science that led to the excitement (how does this paper tell us something new and cool)
    • what is the science meant to address?
    • how does the work in this paper do that?
  1. Construct a brief bio-sketch of 1-3 of the authors of the primary paper and contextualize what you find
    1. There is no guarantee you will find a specific piece of information, so find what you can
      1. Always wanted to be a scientist?
      2. First in family to study science?
      3. Does it seem like everyone involved is getting the credit they deserve?
    2. How does what you find humanize the science?
    3. How does what you find affect you as a scientist?
    4. Is the discovery an obvious extension of other work (i.e. is it incremental) or does it seem like novel (i.e. a big step forward)

Newspaper article search across multiple newspapers simultaneously:

Use Proquest News and Newspapers to search across many newspapers simultaneously.  Newspapers include the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.

The date range covered varies by newspaper, but the should be sufficient to capture most of the projects for Chemistry 321.