Author Archives: liamd8

Wikipedia is an open access online encyclopedia that anyone can read and edit. This is why teachers don’t like students using it as a citation! However, it is an excellent starting point in research and can help you gain an appreciable understanding of a subject relatively quickly. I have personally used it countless times throughoutContinue reading “Becoming a Wikipedian 2.0”

I recently listened to Episode 174 from the podcast “People Behind the Science”, hosted by Dr. Marie McNeely. This is a great episode where Dr. Dawn Bazely, an ecologist and professor at York University, is interviewed about her field of research in plant-animal interactions. Towards the end (57:10), Dr. Bazely provides a piece of adviceContinue reading “Advice for Science Students!”

Accessing peer-reviewed journal articles For students, it is very important to be able to access peer-reviewed journal articles in order to write papers. You may be able to get free access to some articles using Google Scholar, but many others will be often stuck behind paywalls. Thankfully, educational institutions have agreements with many different journalContinue reading “Getting behind paywalls (legally)!”

I must admit that when I was growing up, I was more of an animal person than a plant person (sorry Prof. Bazely!) and yet here I am today, the proud owner of the all the Aloe vera plants in the pictures! You may be thinking, why or how did I come to own allContinue reading “The story behind how the Aloe vera became my favourite plant”

At some point during your education, I am sure that you have encountered assignments that mention the use of primary, secondary or tertiary literature. If you are like me and don’t have the greatest memory, you may find yourself having to refresh yourself on the differences between these three types of literature. Therefore, I decidedContinue reading “A simple guide to understanding primary, secondary and tertiary literature”