Posts

Get the body you want using Visible Body layers

Image
Exploring the different systems within the body and their relationships to each other is as simple as eating ice cream with a spoon using Visible Body. Start by selecting the area of the body that you want to concentrate on and then use the vertical menu in the left hand column to turn on different “system layers”. Below is a screenshot of the “Regions” menu from the horizontal green menu at the top. In this example we will select the thoracic spine. System Layer Menu Here is a screenshot from the Thoracic area with all layers turned off but skeletal. Blue icons in vertical menu bar on the left indicate which layers are selected.   Below, I have labelled the icons from the vertical menu to give you an idea of the layers available in Visible Body.   Label Menu Selecting a body part from the model will bring up a label menu with the name of the object selected and several options for learning about the selected part and exploring the area.     The book

Annotated Bibliographies 101: Short How to Guide

Image
What is an annotated bibliography? A standard annotated bibliography contains two main elements: citations and annotations. A bibliography is a list citations for books, articles, web pages or other sources of information used when researching a topic. They are sometimes called “References” or “Works Cited” and are usually found at the bottom of scholarly research articles. Annotations are short paragraphs that summarize each of the sources cited. They may be similar to book reports in that they summarize and evaluate written works but in a much shorter format. Researchers using an annotated bibliography can quickly determine which works might be useful for their own research, but the activity can also help those creating an annotated bibliography reflect on material they might have found. Annotations are added after each citation. Components of a Citation The citations can be in many different styles such as MLA, APA and others, but

Find 5 (or more) scholarly articles in under 20 seconds

Image
As an undergraduate at D'Youville College there are a lot of things competing for your attention and most of them rank above having to do a research paper. We can't help you get out of writing your paper, but we can ease the search process - saving you what little time and energy you have left to write that paper and get back to your life. So, so very busy! Your instructor wants you to include "peer reviewed" or "scholarly" articles. This rules out a quick Google search, but it does not mean that you have to spend hours trying to figure out where to get a quality article or to even have to figure out what is "peer reviewed" and what is not.  Your instructor might have offered a tip like "try the library". You are skeptical because you are not sure where to start and you don't want to waste any time.  It is a great piece of advice though if you only need to find 3 or 4 peer reviewed articles on your topic. The

3 things every student should know before searching for peer reviewed articles

Image
What is a Peer Reviewed Article? Peer review is a process where a specialist reviews the work of others in the same field to determine whether their work is worth publishing. The reviewer evaluates the research to make sure that it meets the standards of given profession and that the included research was done properly. If the material is not judged to meet the critical requirements it is rejected for publication (or the reviewers may send it back to the writers for additional clarifications and changes).  ( George , 2008) It’s kind of like this but the writer is awarded with publication. What is the difference between scholarly, refereed and peer reviewed journals? It depends on who is asking, but for the most part these three terms are used interchangeably. While peer reviewed and refereed are different ways of describing the same process, scholarly journals are different. Scholarly journals do not necessarily go through the same rigorous process of examina

Are Your Study Habits Hurting Your Grades?

Image
Everybody thinks they know how to study. There is so much information that is repeated and ingrained into every student’s brain that there is no reason to question effectiveness of the common methods. Recent studies have called some of these ideas into question though by providing some evidence based data to the study lore. Below are some research based study methods that will help you improve your study habits and hopefully your grades and understanding of a subject. Alternate the place where you study can help improve retention. One experiment had one group of college students study a list of vocabulary words in two distinctly different places and another group limit their studying to one room. The group that changed their location did far better. This finding has been confirmed in several subsequent studies. (Carey D.1) Check out this list of  great study spaces at D'Youville (not all are in the Montante Family Library). Do you believe that you r

Great looking visuals make you look good!

Image
Improving your presentations can be one way to increase student engagement in your classes. Students report that impressive presentations can make a difference in their overall impression of an instructor. This favorable impression goes beyond the presentation of information and into all aspects of the class experience [1].  Visual representations are especially important in anatomy classes. An old black and white handout of the skeletal system is likely to provoke some questions of your competency among students. Illustration: Presentation Diagnosis - DOA Minimize text information on your visuals and try not to read the text to the class. Not only can everyone read the text, but information presented in this way is not as easily absorbed as simply viewing visuals and listening to a speaker. The visual should emphasize the information being presented. [2][2] Text information related to the image should be within close proximity so that viewers can make an easy associati