L.E. Carmichael's Blog, page 21

Iceland’s Boreal Forest: Birds, Bugs, and… Vikings?

It’s Forest Friday! Announcements:

THANK YOU to everyone who came out and partied on Twitter during International Day of Forests! You made social media more fun and less scary, and these days, that’s saying a lot. Special thanks to my special guest authors:

Carmen Oliver, author of A Voice for the Spirit Bears

Darren Lebeuf, author of My Forest is Green

And a huge shout out to Kids Can Press for providing our Day of Forests prize pack, which was won by Suzanne Del Rizzo!

And now on to today’s main event:

The Boreal Forest – Deleted Scene

Here’s a sidebar that I’d originally planned to include on pages 20-21:

Iceland’s Lake Myvatn is famous—for flies! In summer, up to 50,000 fly larvae hide in every 1 m2 (1.2 y2) of lake bed. Many birds eat these larvae, as well as the adult flies. Fly bodies contain nitrogen, an important nutrient. Usually, nitrogen from land plants and animals ends up in water. At Lake Myvatn, it’s the opposite.

First of all, ew. Just thinking of that many insects gives me the wiggins, and if you’ve spent much time in the boreal forest (or the Arctic, for that matter), I bet you’re having a flashback right now, too. But let’s put the squeamish aside for a moment and take a closer look at the science here – the science of nutrient cycling.

Have you ever fertilized a garden? If so, you know that nitrogen is one of the main ingredients in fertilizer. That’s because plants can’t grow without it – in some cases, a lack of nitrogen prevents plants from growing even if they have sunshine and water and all the other things they need. When plants die, the nitrogen that was stored in their bodies breaks down and re-enters the soil, where it can be taken up and used by other plants. In the boreal forest, this process of decomposition is very, very slow, so nitrogen is a common limiting factor in the biome.

And just as the nitrogen in the fertilizer you use dissolves in water and runs downhill – often into the street – nitrogen in soil can be picked up by rainwater or snow melt and carried into nearby lakes and rivers.*

In contrast, movement of nitrogen from the water back into the soil is less common. One example you might have heard of is salmon runs – bears, eagles, and even wolves catch fish in the streams, then drag them into the forest to eat. When the leftover carcasses break down, they fertilize the trees. The same thing is happening in Iceland, through a slightly different pathway:

bugs –> birds –> bird poop –> soil –> trees

Hmm…. I’m just noticing how many words were in the original sidebar and how many ADDITIONAL words it took me to PROPERLY explain the process I was trying to explain. I think my editor was right to suggest cutting it!

This, among many, many other reasons, is why authors have editors in the first place.

New Children’s Book Brings The Boreal Forest to Home-Bound Readers

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, one author’s book is giving young readers and their families a chance to see the world through fresh eyes.  L.E. Carmichael’s newest book, The Boreal Forest: A Year in the World’s Largest Land Biome, is being released April 7, 2020.

Published by Kids Can Press, with art by award-winning illustrator Josée Bisaillon, The Boreal Forest is Carmichael’s 22nd science book for young readers.

“Most kid’s books on this topic focus on answering the question, ‘What is the boreal forest?’” Carmichael said. “That’s important, but to me, it doesn’t go far enough. For my book, I wanted to explore deeper questions, like ‘How does the forest work?’ and “What is a forest for?’ In other words, why does the forest matter?”

The Trenton, Ontario resident’s interest in how and why stems from her background in wildlife genetics and ecology.

In 2006, the Alberta native won the Governor General’s Academic Medal for her PhD thesis on the genetics of northern wolves and arctic foxes. Her books, however, are anything but academic. Carmichael said she writes to fire children’s imaginations and spark their curiosity.

“So many people have the idea that science is a collection of facts they have to memorize,” Carmichael said. “My mission is to help kids discover what science is really about – asking questions, paying attention, and staying alert to the wonders of the natural world.”

Wonders certainly abound in The Boreal Forest, which features both iconic animals – like moose and bears and foxes – and weirder species, like raccoon dogs, flying squirrels, and star-nosed moles.

Parents will appreciate the information on habitats and food webs as they look for ways to encourage their children’s learning in a time of self-isolation. The book also supports teaching of elementary science curriculum concepts like the water cycle and the carbon cycle.

The boreal forest’s role in the carbon cycle makes this biome intensely important in an era of global climate change, Carmichael said.

About 29 per cent of the Earth’s boreal forests are found in Canada. Worldwide, the boreal absorbs more atmospheric carbon dioxide than tropical rainforests. Boreal soils, peatlands, and permafrost also contain thousands of years’ worth of trapped carbon – carbon that could be released as warming temperatures increase the speed of decomposition in these cool northern woods.

Deforestation is a smaller problem in the boreal forest that in other forests around the globe, Carmichael added, but is of particular relevance as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread. For one thing, a lot of that toilet paper people have been hoarding is typically made from wood pulp that comes from trees in the boreal forest.

In addition, some scientists have linked the emergence of novel viral diseases to deforestation and other forms of habitat destruction that bring human beings into closer contact with wild animals, increasing the risk that a virus will leap from animals to people – an event that scientists call a “zoonotic jump.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has also impacted Carmichael personally.

“Like all other events that might draw a crowd,” she said, “my book tour for The Boreal Forest has been cancelled. I – and many other authors in the same boat – are looking for digital ways to connect with and support home-bound readers in this challenging time.”

In Carmichael’s case, those online events include “Forest Fridays” on her blog, where she’ll be sharing lesson plans, resource lists, deleted scenes from her research, and behind-the-scenes writing tips.

“I hope that teachers and parents will find this material especially useful as they look for safe, COVID-free ways to teach and entertain their kids,” she said.

“I’m cooking up some other online events, too, in collaboration with my publisher and other members of the kidlit community.”

Purchasers can also contact her through her website to receive a free autographed bookplate.

Visit Carmichael’s website, www.lecarmichael.ca for information on these initiatives.

 

 

STEMinism Sunday: Ella Lopez and the Forensics of Lucifer

Welcome to STEMinism Sunday! As a former woman in science, I have a deep and enduring interest in the experiences and representation of women in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math). This series will be an opportunity for me – and you – to learn more about these intellectual badasses.

I am a huge fan of Lucifer, the show in which the devil gets tired of running Hell and moves to LA to run a nightclub… and solve crimes. It’s a ridiculous premise that shouldn’t work at all, and yet it’s completely delightful, largely because of the characters.

One of which is Ella Lopez, the Catholic, hug-loving, adorably geeky forensic scientist.

First, we must acknowledge that, scientifically-speaking, the forensics on Lucifer are terrible. For one thing, Ella seems to be the medical examiner, the crime scene tech, and the analyst all rolled into one, which is… just not how it works. For another, she seems to be able to determine whether a corpse has broken ribs and a ruptured spleen just by looking at their outfit, and, well, no. Definitely with the no. This is why we have autopsies.

And yet, I still kind of love her. For one thing, her optimism and sense of humour are rays of sunshine in a show that could very easily tend towards unrelenting darkness (hello, Lucifer is the actual devil – a charming devil, but still). And her enthusiasm for her work and for science in general is really refreshing. Unlike forensic scientists on shows like CSI or Bones – the kind who are on a mission – we get the feeling that Ella is here because she just loves a good puzzle. Sure, she wants to help people, but mostly she’s in this because forensic science is COOL.

As a former forensic scientist and the author of four kids’ books on the topic, I kind of agree with her.

Ella also knows who she is and never apologizes for it. She wears what she wants and says what she wants, and because she’s both a good person and really, really good at what she does, her coworkers accept and love her for it. That is also… not very realistic for many real women in STEM. But it’s very, very nice to see.

Overall, Ella is an unusual, refreshing, and totally endearing portrait of a woman in science, and I’d love to see more characters like her in TV and film.

Are you a fan of Lucifer? Do you love Ella, too? Who are some of your other favourite fictional women in STEM?

International Forest Day Twitter Party!

Saturday is UN International Day of Forests!

Here’s everything you need to know about my International Day of Forests Twitter Party!

When it is?

Saturday, March 21, from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM Eastern Time.

Do I have to have a Twitter account?

Nope! Twitter is 100% public and free. You can view all of the content I will be posting – fun facts, cute photos, links to resources – on my Twitter page:

Lindsey’s Twitter Feed

Note, you will need a Twitter account to enter the giveaway. More on that below.

Will any other authors be there?

I am so please to announce that kid lit creators Darren Lebeuf and Carmen Oliver will be special guests at this event! You can follow all of their posts here:

Darren’s Twitter Feed

Carmen’s Twitter Feed

I’m on Twitter: how can I participate?

Like, tweet, comment, retweet! The more the merrier.

#IntlForestDay is the official hashtag for the UN event. You can also email forest-themed photos to IDF@fao.org for possible inclusion in the UN’s official Day of Forests gallery.

And, of course, you can enter to win the giveaway!

How can I enter to win the exclusive Day of Forests Prize Pack?

Contest Begins: March 21, 1:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Contest Ends: March 21, 4:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Contest Rules:

One prize pack will be awarded, including 1 copy each of:

The Boreal Forest, by L. E. Carmichael, illustrations by Josée Bisaillon
My Forest is Green , by Darren LeBeuf, illustrations by Ashley Barron
Nature All Around: Trees , by Pamela Hickman, illustrations by Carolyn Gavin
The Busy Beaver , written and illustrated by Nicholas Oldland
A Voice for the Spirit Bears , by Carmen Oliver, illustrated by Katy Dockrill


There are two ways to enter!

ONE entry for each account that retweets the opening contest post, which will appear on Lindsey’s feed at 1:00PM
ONE entry for each account that tweets using #KCPKidsLoveTrees


Entries must be received during the contest period
Canadian and US shipping addresses only
No purchase necessary
Note: Creation of multiple accounts for the purpose of entering a contest is a violation of Twitter Rules – anyone found to be using multiple accounts will be disqualified.

Note, the Day of Forests Twitter Party prize pack is different than the giveaway I’m running here on the blog – it’s just for people who participate in the Twitter event. If you don’t want to be on Twitter, be sure to enter the blog contest below!

And remember, you can’t catch a virus from Twitter – this is the perfect bookish/educational activity for anyone in self-isolation or who’s social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hope to see you there!

Next week, I’ll be sharing another deleted scene from the first draft of The Boreal Forest. In the meantime, don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter, and to contact me if you have a copy of The Boreal Forest in need of an autographed book plate (book plate offer valid until June 12).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wendy McLeod MacKnight: When a Character in Your Book Isn’t a Person

Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s writers! Today’s guest: Wendy McLeod MacKnight . Take it away, Wendy!

I remember the first time I heard about the use of pathetic fallacy in literature. You know: ascribing human emotions to nature in order to give the reader a sense of mood or a hint of what is to come. For years afterwards, the school stories I passed in to my middle grade teachers were sure to have rain in the sad parts or take place on dark and stormy nights when something frightening was about to happen to a character (See: A Wrinkle in Time). I admit it: I was not a sophisticated story teller in those days. But weather has always fascinated me, and as our climate increasingly plays a critical role in society’s existence, it is safe to assume that pathetic fallacy will be alive and well for years to come.

My most recent middle grade novel, The Copycat, takes place in Saint John, New Brunswick. If you’ve ever visited Saint John, you will be well aware of its reputation as a very foggy place. Saint John citizens may rail against it from time to time, but it is romantic and moody and mysterious, and I couldn’t write a book set in the city without casting fog as a central character. When I remembered Carl Sandburg’s poem about fog, I knew that fog was as important to the story as all of the human characters:

The fog comes

On little cat feet.

It sits looking

Over harbor and city

On silent haunches

And then moves on

When the fog descends over the City for days on end in the story, it has a remarkable effect on my main character, Ali: she is suddenly a Copycat, able to change into any living thing.

It’s interesting, having a character that is omnipresent and wreaks so much havoc, and yet doesn’t actually say anything. In early drafts of the book, I contemplated allowing the fog more of a storytelling role, like the tree in Katherine Applegate’s fantastic Wishtree, but in the end, I decided against it. I wanted my fog to stay mysterious and unknowable all the way through the book. In the end, I think I veered more into the Farley Mowat Lost in the Barrens territory, a book which had a huge impact on me growing up, because the villain is mostly the wilderness and winter weather.

I also wanted my readers to realize that the fog has always been causing problems for this city, not just for Ali. My solution? The Copycat would have a book within a book. This fictional book, A History of Fog in the Bay of Fundy, is written by Percival T. Sloane, an ancestor of the book’s main character, Ali. It’s a snoozer of a read for her, but not for me. The book shares tales of its impacts on other people and other times, which allows fog to be a more fully-fleshed character. Who knew there were such things as fog catchers? Not me! It gave me a wonderful opportunity to research fog, and I am hopeful that the book will create converts who consider it as delightful as I do!

In the end, each story asks something different of its author. It was certainly challenging to cast a character that had no lines and was kind of wispy, but it was also a lot of fun! I highly recommend giving it a try!

Wendy McLeod MacKnight grew up in a small town with a library card as her most prized possession. She worked for the Government of New Brunswick for twenty-five years until the siren call of writing became impossible to ignore. She is the author of three middle grade novels: It’s a Mystery, Pig Face! (Sky Pony Press), The Frame-Up (a fantasy that asks “What if every original piece of art is actually alive?”) and The Copycat (both from Greenwillow Books). In her spare time, she gardens, hangs with her family and friends, and feeds raccoons.

 

 

Loons: Beautiful, Iconic, and Kind of Badass

It’s Forest Friday! First, some bookish events to announce!

March 19th – Sneak Peak at the Peterborough Library – CANCELLED

Unfortunately, due to the developing pandemic, PPL has cancelled their March Break events, including my readings. We are working to reschedule once the danger has passed, and I will update you when I can.

March 21st – Twitter Party!

In celebration of International Forest Day, I am hosting a party on Ye Olde Twitters! I’ll be posting pictures, sharing fun facts about forests, and generally geeking out about the boreal forest and the amazing animals that live in and around it. To make things even more exciting, my publisher, Kids Can Press, will be offering a prize pack of five forest-themed books to one attendee. Check back next week for details on the event and the contest.

Don’t forget…

To enter the Rafflecopter contest here on the blog, and – if you’re unable to attend an event – to contact me for a free autographed book plate. Book plate offer valid for all copies of The Boreal Forest purchased before June 12. And now, onto today’s main event!

The Boreal Forest: Deleted Scene

This is my first draft of the text that appears on Page 22-23:

Streams converge and merge, forming a river wide. It flows past pines, through greening aspen and birch.  It tumbles over a falls, sending ripples through a broad, still lake. Willows grow thick in the shallows.  A moose nibbles their fuzzy catkins.  Her twins play, stirring the rising mist with spindly legs.

An arctic loon patrols the shores of an island, protecting his nest. Kuik-kukuik-kukuik! His yodels pierce the heavy, humid air.  His mate surfaces, a perch in her beak. She offers it to their chick—gulp!—then lifts a wing, tucking him safe against her.

My editor, the fabulous Katie Scott, suggested that we cut the loons. One reason was that focusing on one type of animal would simplify Josée Bisaillon’s work as the illustrator (more on that in a later post). Another reason was because there were a lot of birds in the book already, and we wanted to show the widest possible range of species.

These were excellent reasons, but I was still sad to see the loons go. One reason is because Tech Support and I were lucky enough to live on a lake in Nova Scotia for a few years, and the lake supported a breeding pair of loons. I used to love the sound of their calls, which were often the loudest sounds in the area! Once, we were out in our canoe and the adult loons tried to scare us away from their chick – and then lost their chick, which had dived while they weren’t looking. The adults were frantic until they found their baby again, and while I felt terribly guilty about being involved in the crisis, however tangentially, witnessing their devotion was really moving.

The second reason is because of some fascinating info I turned up on loons – info that explains why you rarely see more than one pair of loons on a small lake. From the sidebar in that first draft:

Loons yodel to scare strange birds away from their nests. If yodels don’t work, males attack. They charge, stab with their bills, or beat the intruder with their wings. During some fights, birds actually drown.

Loons are mean, people. Beautiful, but mean.

Have you had any encounters with loons – iconic birds of the boreal forest? I’d love to hear from you! And I hope to see you in Peterborough or around the internet – perhaps on International Forest Day!

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

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Mad Science Mondays: That Time We Ran a DNA Test on Sasquatch Hair

Sasquatch says, “Of course I exist, silly human.”

Welcome to Mad Science Mondays, where we talk about depictions of science in movies, TV shows, books, and the media. We dissect the good, the bad, the comical and the outright irresponsible. Who says learning about science can’t be fun?

Many moons ago when I was but a grad student, my lab, which specialized in wildlife genetics, received an unusual request:

Run a DNA test on this hair, because we’re pretty sure it’s Sasquatch.

To be clear, the sample did not come from my cat Sasquatch, so named because, as a 6-toed polydactyl, she has very, very large feet. Nope. These hairs were found in the wilderness, near what appeared to be a rather large footprint, by people who believed they’d seen an actual Bigfoot and were hoping for proof.

Spoiler alert – the hairs were from a bison. A major disappointment to those who’d submitted the samples, but as my colleague who’d actually run the test pointed out, science can’t prove a negative – just because these hairs weren’t from a Bigfoot doesn’t mean NO hairs are from Bigfoot. However unlikely it may be that large, social primates have thus far escaped the attention of mainstream science, we get new data and make new discoveries everyday.

Which is why cryptozoology – the study of animals whose very existence is in dispute – continues to capture popular imagination, and the attention of the media. To no one’s surprise, but everyone’s irritation, the Sasquatch story garnered international media attention for my lab… more attention than everything else the lab had ever done put together. The BBC showed up. They brought video cameras.

Hey, I get it. Folklore is awesome, urban legends are fun, and who wouldn’t like to see the Loch Ness Monster? Just last week I was reading a 2019 book about reported cryptid sightings. I was hoping to learn about common patterns that link different accounts of these creatures, and perhaps the psychology of the search for mysterious beasts. That is…. not what I got. Instead, I got a book that unequivocally accepted the existence of upright-walking dogmen, but thought that cow tipping was entirely unlikely. A book in which it was considered a given that illicit government research programs had managed to genetically engineer cloned dogs that run in lockstep, but were apparently “not smart enough” to make said artificial pooches walk in a “normal” way that would deflect suspicions. Yup, those are real quotes. And my head exploded just a little bit, because:

successfully cloning a mammal is insanely difficult
genetically engineering mammals out of raw DNA is simply not possible and
we assume people can do one of those two things and yet, they’re clearly not smart?

I did not finish reading this book.*

To be clear (again), I’m not saying cryptic species don’t exist – we thought coelacanths were extinct until we found one. And I kind of hope cryptids do exist, because a world without mystery is no fun at all (not to mention, if we run out of questions, we won’t need scientists anymore).

I’m just saying, let’s use our great big human brains for a little critical thinking? Once in a while, just to see what it feels like.

Forest Fridays: Researching The Boreal Forest

You guys. The Boreal Forest comes out in ONE MONTH.

ONE MONTH.

I started working on it three years and one whole province ago, and now it’s almost HERE.

Kermit GIF from Kermit GIFs

Want to celebrate with me? For details about live events in Ontario and Nova Scotia, check the Public Appearances page for updates on my schedule as they arise. But if you can’t make it in person, you can still join in the fun. Each Friday until June 12, I’ll be posting bonus content here on the blog – everything from deleted scenes to tour photos to behind-the-scenes insights into the creation of the book.  If you’re not already following me on social media, please do, because I’ll be posting unique content there, too.

Want to help spread the bookish word? Share my posts, write a book review, ask your library to buy a copy, tell everyone you know. THANK YOU, I LOVE YOU, and an author’s love is forever. But not in a creepy way, like that tree in The Last Unicorn. More like in a “FUN FOREST PRIZES” kind of way:

There’s a giveaway! The Boreal Forest Prize Pack includes a plush fox, a delicious pine-scented candle, and a fox-shaped multitool you can take on all your walks in the woods. See the Rafflecopter widget below (and on future Forest Friday posts) for all the ways you can enter to win!
And for those who want a signed book but can’t attend an event, contact me – I’ll send you an autographed bookplate for every copy of The Boreal Forest you purchase before June 12!

To kick things off, I thought I’d talk a little bit about…

How I Researched The Boreal Forest:

I read 238 books, scientific articles, and websites, adding up to untold thousands of pages of research (I didn’t actually count)
I took 72,400 words of notes (those I did count, or rather, my word processor did)

The published book is less than 9000 words long. And that’s including front AND back matter, like the table of contents and the glossary. The main text is much shorter… which explains why I’ve got so much extra super cool info to share with you over the coming weeks!

And by the way, this ratio of research to finished word count? It’s not unusual. A science writer does her homework and checks her facts.

In many cases, that involves checking facts with experts. For this book, I consulted three kinds.

Boreal scientists who were kind enough to share their expertise by answering specific questions

Experts like Dr. Cindy Prescott of the University of British Columbia, who studies the way leaves and other bits of organic material decompose and become part of the forest’s soil. When I emailed Dr. Prescott about some confusing information in published sources, she said, “How exciting to have a question about decomposition!” and proceeded, not only to answer the question, but to send me a couple of additional sources AND her own lecture notes from a course she teaches on the subject. Scientists are awesome, ya’ll.

Boreal scientists who went above and beyond to review the entire manuscript, saving me from several embarrassing errors

Yes – even after reading 238 sources, I still messed stuff up. Science writers do our homework, but book research is no substitute for an entire career devoted to learning about a particular topic. Dr. Jill Johnstone, Dr. Maara Packalen, Dr. Kara Webster, and Alasdair Veitch all told me where I was going wrong. Special shout out to Alasdair, retired NWT wildlife biologist, who’s been saving me from embarrassing errors since I was a graduate student.

Needless to say, any whoopsies that are still present in the text are on me.

Members of Indigenous communities whose Traditional Ecological Knowledge appears in the book

I didn’t want to talk about the ecology of the boreal forest without acknowledging that Indigenous peoples around the globe have been intimately connected with the forest for thousands of years. For space reasons, it was impossible to include information on all of the relevant nations, so I used two criteria to decide which groups to include. One was geography – this is a book about the global boreal biome, so I wanted to represent peoples living in several different countries. The other was availability of information – whether an Indigenous community’s knowledge about the boreal forest had been published or otherwise made public.

I also wanted to make sure that I was representing each community’s Traditional Knowledge as accurately as possible, which is why I asked members of each nation to review what I’d written about them. The following people were also kind enough to review the entire manuscript for me:

Marie Enoksson of the Sami Parliament
Alex Peters, of The Whitefeather Forest Initiative and the Pikangikum First Nation
Alestine Andre of the Gwich’in First Nation.

Indigenous experts were also kind enough to send me audio files of words from their languages that appear in the text. Pronunciations written in the book are as close as my editor and I, with our white settler ears, could make them – and we apologize if we still got it wrong!

So there you have it – a sneak peak at what goes into researching a children’s science book. Next week, our first deleted scene, about an iconic boreal species – the loon. No, not the author, the bird.

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway – your chances to win start now!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Teach Write: The Purpose of Lit Reviews, Critical Analyses, and Other Forms of Academic Writing

Welcome to Teach Write! This column draws on my 20 years’ experience teaching writing to kids, university students, and adult learners. It includes ideas and exercises that teachers can use in the classroom, and creative writers can use to level up their process.

Last time, I talked about the purpose of the most popular form of academic writing – the argumentative essay. You can also read about the distinct (but closely related) purposes of lab reports and scientific papers here. If you’re a student, however, you’ll probably be assigned several other types of documents, and today we’re going to take a quick peak at the goals of those.

Critical Analysis

The goal of a critical analysis is to break down a published paper, identifying its strengths and weaknesses. Key point: both strengths and weaknesses. The most common error I’ve seen in these types of papers is focusing entirely on weakness and overlooking strengths. It’s very important to keep in mind the purpose of the type of document you’re analyzing – if you know what an argumentative essay is supposed to do, you’ll have more luck figuring out whether the one you’re writing about is actually successful.

Science students often ask me what to do if the results of the experiment they are analyzing turn out to be wrong. True story: that happened to me when I was an undergraduate! I found a second experiment that directly contradicted the paper I was writing about. With a little further research, I figured out that my focal paper was incorrect, but also why the experiment had given a false result. And let me tell you, if you can do the same, your instructor will be seriously impressed.

Hot tip: when choosing your focal paper for a critical analysis, read newer papers that cite your paper – you’re allowed to reference other people’s opinions in your own analysis.

Literature Reviews

A lit review is a research paper that provides a summary of existing scholarship on a topic. The goal is to provide an up-to-date overview of what we already know, and what questions still remain to be answered. The audience (remember when we talked about audience?) is people who are familiar with the field (for example, microbiology), but might not know much about this particular subtopic (for example, designer bacteria for cleaning up oil spills).

Because lit reviews typically follow a chronological structure, one of the biggest mistakes people make when writing them is to fall into a “This happened, and then this happened, and then this happened” pattern. Remember that part of the goal is always to show your instructor that you understand your research: context, synthesis, and a point of view matter just as much as summary.

Annotated Bibliography

This is basically “lit review light” and might actually be assigned as an early stage of your total assignment. In addition to providing citation information for your sources, you will give a short summary of the main points of each source. Short is the operative word – focus on major ideas that relate to your overall assignment. As always, there are two goals: a) to direct researchers in your field to useful sources of information, and b) to prove to your instructor that you actually did the reading!

Case Study

These are more commonly assigned in business or medical degree programs, so I have less direct experience with them. Generally speaking, you’ll be given a scenario, asked to analyze it in the context of theory in your field, and required to provide recommendations for action. Case studies test your ability to relate theory to the real world, so your goal will be to demonstrate that you understand how principles are used in practice.

Final Thoughts…

After essays and lab reports, these are the most common assignment types I’ve encountered in my decades as an academic writer and writing instructor. We’ll be looking at personal statements and letters of intent in a later post, but let me know if there are other genres you’d like to see discussed in this column. Also bear in mind that your assignment may involve a new and exciting hybrid of any of these elements. If you’re ever in doubt about what you’re being asked to do, always check with your instructor before you start.

Happy writing!

Hey, did you know I teach writing workshops? It’s true – I work with adult writers, teachers, and students of all ages. Contact me to learn more.

STEMinism Sunday: What Not to Wear

The only picture of me wearing a lab coat in existence. Ironically, it’s not my lab coat. It’s not even my lab. This photo was taken specifically for my book Fuzzy Forensics, which was written several years AFTER I finished my PhD and left academia! Notice the sweater – it was cold in this lab, too.

Welcome to STEMinism Sunday! As a former woman in science, I have a deep and enduring interest in the experiences and representation of women in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math). This series will be an opportunity for me – and you – to learn more about these intellectual badasses.

So, you’re a woman in science. Good for you! Have you thought about what you’re going to wear?

Nope, I’m not talking about latex gloves, hip waders, or safety goggles, although you do look very cute in those. I’m talking about what’s under your lab coat – those outfits you’ll wear to work, or during class, or at a conference…. all places where, I’m sorry to say, you will be judged on the presentation of your femininity far more than the presentation of your results.

If you’ve been a woman in science for more than five minutes, you know this already. From this hahahsob piece of satire about planetary bodies bold enough to go #nomakeup to a professor friend’s recent quest to find a safety pin for raising the neckline of her dress, to the entirely serious online articles offering sartorial advice to the lady scientist, to the offhand comments of male students and colleagues, we all know that we’re going to be judged on the way we look.

And though we are disappointed, we are not surprised, because we’re women. Being judged for the way we look is a defining experience of femininity. And it’s exhausting in all contexts, but especially in contexts where women are outnumbered and therefore operating at a disadvantage.

Such as STEM (science, engineering, technology, and math) fields.

It wasn’t as bad for me as it was for some of my friends. Because genetics is a biological science, there tended to be more women around than there are in “hard” sciences that were and continue to be dominated by men. I spent most of my lab hours in jeans and t-shirts (or sweaters, because it was freezing in there). But when I needed to assert my authority – for example, as a TA instructing a room full of students – or my credibility – at conferences – I was (and still am) intensely aware of my clothing choices. I need to look professional, but approachable. Authoritative, but not intimidating. And, every woman’s favourite – “appropriate.” Heaven forbid my heels are slightly too high or my neckline an inch too low and suddenly become #distractinglysexy

Because of my own experiences and those of many of my friends, I was particularly fascinated by this article by Canadian scientist Eve Forster. Forgoing her usual bun and letting her literal hair down ONE DAY resulted in such an egregious example of mansplaining (by one of her students, no less), that she decided to run a short experiment – tweeting exactly as she normally would for a week, using a female avatar, then tweeting exactly as she normally would for a week while using a male avatar. The results are a female scientist’s working environment in miniature. It’s a longer article, but pretty eye-opening.

As a white woman, I can’t even imagine how much harder it us for women of colour, or indigenous women, or women with disabilities, or anyone in the LGBTQ+ community to be taken seriously. All I know is that I was interviewed for this article on gender equality in science back in 2006…. and we still have a long, long way to go.

Your turn. Have you been told what not to wear at work? In school? In public? How do you handle these kinds of issues in your own life? Share your storied in the comments.