Thomas Kalinoski
Thomas Kalinoski is an undergraduate Biochemistry student at North Dakota State University. He is currently in Junior academic standing, and involved in organic chemistry research under the direction of Dr. Mukund Sibi.
Introduction to my portfolio
Due to the increasing concerns over resistance of pathogenic bacteria to commonly used antibiotics, many researchers are looking for safe and effective alternatives to these drugs. Phage therapy, which is the application of bacteriophage viruses to therapeutic effect in the body, is one such potential alternative. In order evaluate the potential of this treatment to someday be used alongside or in place of antibiotics, I conducted a comprehensive literature review of recent research on phage therapy. This study on alternatives to antibiotics fulfills part of a larger mission by this website to educate the public about antibiotic resistance. This website, called “The Growing Danger of Antibiotic Resistance,” was created by Dale Sullivan’s Fall 2010 “Writing in the Sciences” class at North Dakota State University. In order to fulfill its objective, this website forms a collaboration of many different projects by students of diverse academic fields to provide a complete understanding of the subject.
Through this online writing course, students were expected to communicate effectively in a variety of contexts and genres, as well as integrate knowledge and ideas successfully in order to manage sophisticated writing and research projects. In order to be successful in this course, students needed to understand a variety of scientific genres, and be able to write about them clearly, with understanding, and with correct prose for a variety of scientific and public audiences. Students were also expected to be able to properly cite sources using standard citation practices.
This portfolio includes the complete literature review as mentioned, as well as this project’s proposal, progress report, and annotated bibliography. Also included is a comprehensive review of one of the articles used in the final project, as well as reading responses to two different academic texts. Most of the documents included in this portfolio required extensive reading and interpretation of a variety of different scientific documents. This is seen clearly in the article review and the final project, which required the interpretation of complex research articles on the selected topic. These articles needed to sum up the information clearly and in the correct prose for the selected audience, and were cited according to standard citation procedures. The reading responses also involved interpretation of scientific writing, which needed to be analyzed in order to form an informed opinion of the text. The various documents included in this portfolio demonstrate effective communication in a variety of different contexts.
Documents in my portfolio
Proposal: The first document completed in this portfolio was the project proposal. The purpose of the project proposal was to offer a project idea to the editor that was intended to make a useful contribution to the website. The proposal includes an abstract and introduction to the topic, as well as background information. The proposal specifically discusses the projects goals and the methods used to reach that goal. The proposal also offers a timeline to the editor of when they can expect work to be accomplished.
Article review: The next document that was completed was a comprehensive review of a chosen research article that was relevant to the topic of the final project. The article review first gives a summary of the research article. The article is then evaluated for its information and clarity. The information in the article is finally analyzed for its potential use in the final project.
Annotated bibliography: The annotated bibliography was put together next. The annotated bibliography completely documents all of the sources used in the final project. The final completed document contains descriptions for a total of twelve research articles that were used in the final project, as well as one diagram. A paragraph describing each article was included below each citation.
Progress report: A progress report was completed for the final project about halfway through the agreed project timeline. The progress report includes the work completed up to the date of submission, as well as future work that is scheduled to be completed. The progress report concludes with a summary of the progress on the project, as well as a description of its contribution to the website.
Reading response 1: The reading responses were written throughout the semester in response to two texts. The first was in response to the first couple chapters of The Antibiotic Paradox. The response gives a reaction to the content of these chapters, as well as evaluates the writers prose and ability to explain difficult concepts in the chapters.
Reading response 2: The second reading response was in regards to chapter 3 of Writing in the Sciences. This response includes a reaction to the content and an opinion on what was discussed.
Final project: The final project is a literature review of the current research on Phage Therapy. This review brings together twelve research articles and integrates a variety of different findings in order to give a comprehensive review of the potential of phage therapy in western medicine. This article includes an introduction and background on the topic, and then goes into the effectiveness and safety of phage therapy. The article finally comes to a conclusion of the potential of phage therapy to be used in medicine, and discusses some of the hurdles that must be overcome for this to happen.