Interview Questions & Responses

Our research questions are bolded. I asked sub questions, they are in black
font and her response is in red.

What are the genres of writing that are involved in every step of the
research process? Scientific writing: she studies how conditions affect parents and
offspring. She reads mostly peered-reviewed journals, which are not fun to read. This is
because she tries to avoid what has already been done, how someone elses research
related to hers, what could she add to someone elses research, or what questions are left
from other research.

What type of documents do you produce? She has to write a study protocol, an animal
use protocol, and papers to be published. In the animal protocol, she has to explain her
research in a non-scientific way so that everyone can understand it because the
committee (IACUC: Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) is made up of
scientist, non-scientist. It should be explained in a way anyone could understand. She
finds this hard because key terms and scientific jargon that she use on a daily basis,
others do not understand. She must define her terms as she uses them. Scientists are
trained to write concisely; they are given a limit in their writing.

What part of your writing has limits? The lay explanation has limits, the abstract, and
journals have limits.

What is your background in writing? She went to a small liberal arts private college
where she gathered her English background. This school was heavy on written and oral
speaking components, however she did not learn much about scientific writing until
grad school. From there, she could mesh together the two forms of writing, giving her
the expertise she has today.
2. How much-written material do you consume in the research process?
One paper could be limited to 60 references but you must read the citations of those
references to make sure that their work is credible before adding it to your own. Of
course, that reference could have 400 hundred references. I am not going to read all of
those references but I will check a few of them to make sure they are good. So it easily
multiplies Also, we have weekly lab meeting where someone is responsible for
researching an article that is related to our study and sharing it with the group. In a
semester, that could be about anot14-15 papers.
3.
What is the process of writing a research report? It could take a couple of
months to write the first draft. 4-6 months before I could release it. It goes out to peers,
sometimes 4 revisions. Draft to PI to peers. Articles can be 25-30 pgs.
What counts as authorship and how many? It depends on. People do different levels of
work. Authorship constitutes participation in writing, analyzing, and organizing the
data. One should be able to understand and can explain the entire research paper.
Students who weigh the subject models, run errands, etc do not count for authorship.
How many peer reviews? Two people who know your research. Because they know your
research, they can be biased and not find anything. At that point, you want to invite
another person in. Or, there can be a debate between two peer reviewers then youll
need another person to break the tie. Higher ranking journals require having 5-7 peer
reviews. Can have more if necessary.
Because you are a scientist, do you find that you have trouble with writing? I do well
with writing because of where I went to school. It was a liberal arts college and it was
very writing and speaking intensive. We were taught to persuade and influence. They
did not teach scientific writing so I did not learn how to do that until I went to graduate
school. The word the disappeared and they wanted fewer words.
What advice would you give people going into your field that will be writing? What
would you have done differently? I should have been writing for the wall street journal
because they write in such a way they can get their point across but are still concise. I
wish I had read more of those because it was good training. I also recommend a podcast
called, The American Life. They present stories told in away that is so compelling about
topics that are uninteresting to me like fracking and space but Im interested in it
because of how they tell the story. That is how I want to present my work. I want to
mesh scientific writing in a compelling way.
How many publications have you done? I have done 27 over the course of 14 years. I try
to get out 2 papers a year which is an okay rate. One paper could consist of 3
experiments and could take a year to run. The largest lab I would ever want to have you
be 3 grad students and 1 post-doc.
What are your target audiences and how do you adjust your writing
based on audience? People who are interested in hormonal/ endocrine studies as I
am. I only submit my publications to journals that specialize in my research. I do not
change my work, but I change who I send it to.
What are some setbacks when it comes to writing? Wanting to wait until I have time to
write but it is unrealistic because we always have something to do. It is not the best way
to do scientific writing. I recommend this book called How To Write A lot by Paul Silvia,
it recommends the pomadora method which is to do everything in 20 mins. So you
would set down for 20 minutes and just write and only focus on writing. If time is
running low, dont just scribble/word vomit to say you met your goal. Instead, make a
list of things that you plan on writing about when you resume so that you can pick up
where you left off. I find that if I dont complete my thoughts, I make more progress. I
also recommend the app, Be Focus, and the book How to Write A Lot by Paul Sylvia.
I recommend that you just write your thoughts down and dont worry about trying to
make it pretty because you can do that later. We waste time trying to be perfect and it
allows us to lose our thoughts.
 Observations:
Bookshelf organized with books she values and seems to reference
Office was very organized, in front of a big open window
Dressed workplace casual/professional with hair pulled back
Had pictures of her family and awards/accomplishments around the room, showing the
things she values

Erin and Aileen, 3/31:

5. How much of your workload is writing?
About 60-65% of appointment is research work is research, and after you finish the
research aspect you have to write it up
the amount of writing should be equivalent to the amount of research done
Most researchers she said put off writing
writing = reading and understanding of data
Dr Glasper teaches several classes: Hormones and behavior, Foundational readings
course, and organizes topics and network seminar for Neuroplasticity class

Would you rather be doing more writing and examining the literature?
Dr. Glasper stated that if she could, she would spend much more time writing but just
doesnt have the time to do so

6. What skills do you utilize most daily? (what skills in yourself benefit
your writing process)

trying to stay up to date on what's being published in the field

has google alerts for keywords for things that have been published
forces her to have to read papers and stay current on news
timer app to allow her to focus/write for approximately 25 minutes.... just gives her
enough time to get her ideas out so she can come back to the ideas later and be more
productive
doesn't try to be perfect in her drafts.can fix imperfections later
She put large emphasis on this ^ not overvaluing perfection
most times you don't have a deadline her field (other than an internal one)
stay up to date on topics so you can go back and revise your work later on (does this
about every 6 months)
Keeps articles and mind and integrates new data and research into her papers even if
she considers them pretty much done

7. How have journal article formats and styles changed over the course of
your career?
likes format to be simple and upfront
less and less space nowadays to present work
 everything is now in supplemental documents...this is where you find the most
important information
stripping articles of so much information, makes articles difficult to read by themselves;
makes it easier to read but overall not effective because you lose critical information
Titles need to be straightforward and have all the necessary infor, i.e. keywords
8. What level of formality do you maintain in your writing?
extremely formal
use cover letters very often
even if letter is to a friend, you maintain the formality
received an acceptance letter realized it was written by a very good friend and it
maintained a very formal tone
factual; no guessing, believing, hoping, feeling

What forms of writing used in the past arent really the norm now?
no examples of any writing style not used anymore
some people blog and use twitter, its not for her but it is a skill in itself
spoken form - over phone - accessible but still hard science
9. What aspects of and approaches to rhetoric do you utilize most

study parenting or lack thereof

easy to describe child being raised for example with only one parent - puts it in a more
relevant context ( used mostly in spoken presentations or something not for publication)
less rhetoric upfront to draw person in
bring it back to the human condition
This is less formal, but is mostly used for explaining her research when others may not
be familiar on the topic- its important that everyone in a room can understand and
contribute. This strategy is not used in formal papers, for the most part.

ROOM OBSERVATIONS

Baby photos on sill

Chairs folded up, always ready to hold meetings in her office
Hair pulled back neatly, very profession
Was 15 min late - very busy, had just come from a meeting with a
supervisor.