Romanticizing Research

By: Angelina Davis

My summer experience looks different from others participating in Global Scholars – what I mean by that is my peers are navigating research in a new country, while I explore research in my hometown. I thought I knew the ins and outs of Ocala, Florida; after all, I grew up here. However, the research assistantship I landed is all new to me. Examining the global characteristics of research concerning minor cognitive impairments and Alzheimer’s Disease predictors has made me want to examine my world in Ocala more closely, even if I thought it was familiar before

On the topic of the two most important E’s of this summer: examination and exploration, I have a to-do list of tasks that will help me improve my summer experience. Since my research assistantship is remote, I want to complete my data extraction in different locations throughout the summer. This can be in the form of different aesthetic coffee shops, parks, or bookstores. This is a personal task that I believe will make the data collection duties of my project more enjoyable and also “romanticizes” what it’s like to participate in research. It would also be a fun challenge to attempt to find new spots in Ocala that I have been oblivious to.

To further move my project forward, I plan to go through “Better Data Visualization for Scholars, Researchers, and Wonks,” which was suggested to me by Cary. This comprehensive data visualization guide will help me get creative with how I present my research in the future. This reading is also a great way to utilize my creative side. After all, research does not have to be plain or lackluster. Interesting charts & graphs are the cute outfits of the research world — Dress up your poster! Don’t let your research poster be caught in last season’s graph styles!

Lastly, I want to set up a Zoom interview with my research mentor. This further advances my project by giving a professional narrative to the data I am collecting. Equally important, it allows me to test and develop my communication skills; the more educated I am on the project & its background information, the easier it will be to go through literature and find the information that plays a role in my own personal data collection.

The ability to review and understand complex literature, along with detail orientation, will be worked on, especially this summer. There are many scholarly articles that I have to go through that use area-specific terms still unfamiliar to me; I hope to pick up on these words & acronyms so I do not have to consult Google as frequently. Being familiar with the terms will also make it easier to explain to an audience at a research conference. It would also make me sound super cool to know these terms — like who is this girl in research? What is she studying? What’s her story?

Furthermore, romanticizing my remote research in my hometown brings about a need for good music. The right playlist can make you feel like you are in a movie. With that, “Don’t Dream It’s Over” by Crowded House is a song I listened to when I did my first portion of data extraction, and listening to it made me feel like the coolest person ever.All I could think about was how important I felt at that moment to be contributing to a team research effort while simultaneously collecting my own data for Global Scholars. It was a proud moment, so there are some good emotions associated with that song. I hope that this summer holds many more moments just like that one, and I look forward to seeing what the future holds!