Scientific Journal Article Assignment

As there are improvements in technology and knowledge, scientific journals keep undating from years to years. Those journals contain many research areas and results, which all written by different researchers in a specific study field. This week, we are expected to complete one of our major assignment in the course - the scientific article assignment. 4 choices are given and I am doing option 2. I need to first pick a journal that interests me, then find a current copy and a copy from 15 to 20 years ago. After that, I will need to compare the journals features, the articles and even passages. Being a student having a major in nutrition and food science, I am always preparing myself to become a dietitian in the future and hence I have used a nutrition-related journal. For this assignment, I have chosen the Proceedings of the Nutrition Society journal from the Cambridge Journals. I found the Cambridge Journals from school library website. The current 2011 copy of journal can be found online, however I have to borrow the 1995 hard-copy from the library.

Here is a snapshot of the 2011 journal.

I have divided my article into 3 big parts : The features of journals, the two articles and the two passages. First of all, I start my article by comparing the features. I have mentioned the differences and similarities between the two journals, for example the design of book covers, content pages and editorial boards. I have also included further elaboration on why would there be a change in features. Then, I have picked two articles from the two journals. They are all about obesity. The article from 1995 is considering whether obesity is an eating disorder, and the article from 2011 is about some policy challenges based on maternal and child obesity. Then, I start comparing the ways and methods that they arrange their data and information. The materials in 2011 article are more organized than the 1995 article. Lastly, I have picked two passages from the two articles. I discover that the ways that they present are different as well. There are still many uncertainties in 1995 article and some failure results are also included. However for the 2011 article, some exact solutions are suggested and it looks more reliable.

A general and comprehensive comparison is needed for this assignment. The most challenge part for this assignment is some small details like font sizes and types are also needed to consider, as they are already a difference between the journals. Moreover, there is a word limit and lots of information to include, which makes it even more harder to keep my writing beyond the word limit. However, I think the reference part is easier than the wikipedia stub article assignment. I just follow the citation guide from the website and the order of arrangements are not that hard to get. Unlike the citations in wikipedia, there are different codes in wiki and it takes a long time for me to figure out how to cite the sources! I think this assignment helps me a lot in writing. I have learned how to compare articles, and how to use less words to present more information. I have also learned the techiques to compare passages like metaphor, persons, etc. I would not feel uncomfortable if I need to write a similar type of paper in the future. On the other hand, I have found a website on teaching people how to write an article about diet, nutrition and food. I think this is really useful for me as I am going to take lots of nutrition-related courses in the coming 2 years, and I may need to write essays or research papers on nutrition. Hence, this website teaches me how to start and what I should keep in mind when I am writing. For example, the website states a research paper on nutrition needs to find reliable experts and sources, and there are many useful links below to click on. I have also visited one of my classmate's blog, Caylee. She has also published a post on the scientific journal assignment and she has faced the same problem as I do. She has chosen option 2 and she also feels the difficulties of keeping her work beyond the word limit. However, I think she is more creative than me that she has posted the two table of contents from the two different volumes of journals. It already reflected the differences between the journals.

Overall, I enjoy the working process and I have learned a lot from this assignment. I am sure I have the ability to do better in the future!

Thanks for reading,
Stephanie

Editing wikipedia stub article : Marry girl cake

Wikipedia is a very useful tool in helping us to search information that we are unfamiliar with, and it does help me a lot in academics. By basically typing a key word on the search bar, a page with comprehensive information comes out and it is totally reliable as there are references and sources cited in the bottom of page. And this week, I am told to edit a wikipedia stub article, and I have chosen marry girl cake. Being a Chinese, I am familiar with Chinese culture and marry girl cake is a sign of "marriage", which makes me have a interest to start editing on it. Also, as I am now studying nutrition and food science, editing on this topic relates to my study field. Moreover, I have a background knowledge of carbohydrates and sugar and related health problems, thus it helps me in finding information easily.

Here is a snapshot of my edited marry girl cake article. Last edited : November 11, 2011

The marry girl cake article originally contains less than 100 words, and only a basic description on the cake is shown. After editing, it has been improved and wider category is covered. I have added meaning behind, history, types of cakes, creation, nutritional facts, health risks and culture. I think it is important to mention nutritional facts as what I am editing is food, thus a calories breakdown is needed to tell readers what kinds of nutrients are they going to absorb after eating that. Also, I think I should let readers knowing the health risks as I am planning to be a dietitian in the future, it is significant for me to be able to explain why is the food unhealthy and what disease are we going to get if having a high intake of it. And for other headings like meaning behind, history, creation and culture, I am adding those because marry girl cake is a traditional food. It is necessary to tell readers where is it coming from and how is it produced. On the other hand, I have highlighted some terms like diabetes, blood pressure and heart disease. I think not many people know what those kinds of disease are and thus they can press the word and it will bring them to the page of it, which is also linked to another wikipedia page. Furthermore, I have added moon cake, Chinese tradition and marriage into the heading of "see also". I think they are all related to marry girl cake and people can also read those articles if they are interested in knowing more about the cake.

I think editing an article is a lot harder than I predict. Finding information and assigning headings are not that hard, the most difficult part throughout the assignment is referencing and citing. The code on citing is complicated and I have tried many times to figure out how to cite a website source. Moreover, putting citation within sentences is another challenge part for me as it is my first time to write online article, I spend most of time on citing and it is absolutely confusing. However, after finishing to edit the article, I feel joyful as I have typed an useful article in wikipedia and it would help others to know more about Chinese culture, as well as reading what I have typed. On the other hand, I have found a blog typed by winnieandyj, and it is her day of 過大禮Gwo Dai Lai . I think she mentions every steps in this process and she has uploaded lots of pictures.She has also mentioned what she received in detail (in both English word and Chinese word), like what kinds of cakes she has received. After reading her blog, now I know that there would be suckling pig in the process of Gwo Dai Lai! That is an interesting fact to know. It is not common to find those Chinese food in Canada, thus Chinese culture is quite unique. I have also read one of my classmate's blog, Joyee . I choose to link to her blog as she is also editing Chinese traditional food! Her choice is "dragon's beard candy". I ate this candy before and it tasted like sugar, and with peanuts inside. However I do not like it very much as it is too sweet and the texture is too hairy. It is a traditional snack, as well as marry girl cake.

I have used google and yahoo and wikipedia to find most of my information. The citing part is the hardest part! In conclusion, I think this assignment is useful and fun. My first experience of editing article is successful and it makes me have a deeper understanding on Chinese culture!

Thanks for reading,
Stephanie