1) It is difficult to describe the emotional state I am in right now. A mixture of excitement, anxiety, and of course a healthy (unhealthy?) dose of stress. I am of course referring to the two weeks left till I am due to submit my masters dissertation. Looking back, I cannot believe how fast the year has passed by, and how many crazy things have happened since then. It was not an easy decision for me to take a year out of medicine to intercalate, but after going through this course here in UK, I am confident that I made the right choice.
2) Throughout this course, I feel that I have learnt how to write scientific essays. We had an essay to write for each of the four modules we took, with each essay having a 2000 word count limit. As I've discovered, writing scientific essays is not the same as any regular essay or opinion piece - there are strict rules to follow regarding the use of scientific objective language, as well as proper citations and referencing.
3) In addition, I've learnt the importance of statistical analysis for literally every experiment carried out. I still remember how difficult I found the concepts of SPSS (a statistical software package) when I was first introduced to it for a summer research project in first year of medical school. After coming here, I've realised that there are a range of other programmes out there (e.g. R, STATA, Prism), which allow more flexibility and customisability options.
4) Last but not least, the dissertation project has taken up the most time and effort. It has been quite an experience conducting a novel project from start to finish, and learning how to interpret data and troubleshoot problems. Thankfully, I have had wonderful support and encouragement from my supervisor, my friend and colleague, and of course my parents back home. The next two weeks will require a lot of focus and determination, to make sure everything is finalised and that the dissertation is submitted in time. As it is, I'm left with the "Discussion" section to tidy up, and then the references need to be added, followed by an abstract, cover page, acknowledgement, and table of contents, and I'll be good to go.
5) Thanks very much for accompanying me on this journey, as I finish up the last bits of my project before returning home. And what a journey it has been! Have a nice week ahead, cheers :D
The last hurdle - quite literally...
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