Journal Club

Research groups around the world stay informed and for­mu­late new ques­tions by read­ing and dis­cussing pub­lished sci­en­tif­ic lit­er­a­ture. From two sci­en­tists hav­ing a debate by the water­cool­er to an inter­na­tion­al con­fer­ence of thou­sands, col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly ana­lyz­ing and ques­tion­ing the pub­lished work of oth­er sci­en­tists is one of the most fun­da­men­tal steps in the process of science.

Massasoit’s pub­lic Jour­nal Club is where our com­mu­ni­ty of future and cur­rent sci­en­tists come togeth­er to explore and dis­cuss peer-reviewed sci­en­tif­ic lit­er­a­ture. Our stu­dent researchers seek out pub­lished sci­en­tif­ic work that relates to our research goals and try to present it clear­ly and in a way the elic­its aca­d­e­m­ic dis­cus­sion and some­times debate.

Par­tic­i­pa­tion in Jour­nal Club sharp­ens the sci­en­tif­ic minds of any­one from the begin­ning sci­ence stu­dent, to the informed cit­i­zen, to the sea­soned researcher. We crit­i­cal­ly dis­cuss whether the authors’ study design appro­pri­ate­ly address­es their ques­tions, and whether their con­clu­sions are sup­port­ed by their results. We think cre­ative­ly to devel­op our own ques­tions based on their find­ings. These are just some of the chal­lenges posed to every­one in the ‘Club.’

Stu­dents who have moved on to four-year degrees, grad­u­ate pro­grams, or even into entry-lev­el sci­ence posi­tions con­sis­tent­ly report back that Jour­nal Club was among the most impor­tant aspects of their sci­ence edu­ca­tion at Mas­sas­oit. Being able to simul­ta­ne­ous­ly apply con­cepts from Eng­lish, math, physics, chem­istry, and biol­o­gy course­work to under­stand­ing and inter­pret­ing sci­en­tif­ic work is a prac­tice from which any STEM stu­dent can benefit.

Join us as we unrav­el the rela­tion­ships of human­i­ty with nature, one sci­en­tif­ic debate at a time.


Jornal Club 2023- Join us Fridays @ Noon!

Jour­nal Club 2023 will hap­pen most Fri­days at noon in S115, Each week a stu­dent researcher will present a paper relat­ed to our native pol­li­na­tor project! Open to the public!

0 com­ments
A fly perches on a cluster of white and yellow flowers

Journal Club Article for June 10, 2022

This Fri­day, June 10th, 2022, from 12–1 PM EST, we will dis­cuss the linked arti­cle at our next week­ly Jour­nal Club meet­ing. The arti­cle is titled “Exot­ic flies main­tain pollination […]

0 com­ments
A bee on one of many blooming sunflowers

Journal Club Article for April 22, 2022

This Fri­day, April 22, 2022, from 12–1 pm EDT, we will dis­cuss the linked arti­cle at our next week­ly Jour­nal Club meet­ing. The arti­cle is titled “Wild Bee Abun­dance Declines […]

0 com­ments
A fuzzy bumble bee nestles into a red-orange flower

Journal Club Article for April 15, 2022

This Fri­day, April 15, 2022, from 12–1pm EDT, we will dis­cuss the linked arti­cle at our next week­ly Jour­nal Club meet­ing. The arti­cle is titled “The Util­i­ty of a Bumble […]

0 com­ments

Journal Club Article for March 21, 2022

On Mon­day, March 21, 2022, from 12–1PM EDT, we will dis­cuss the linked arti­cle at our next week­ly Jour­nal Club meet­ing. The arti­cle is titled “The effects of for­est fragmentation […]

0 com­ments
A field of sunflowers

Journal Club Article for February 28, 2022

On Mon­day, Feb­ru­ary 28, 2022, from 12–1PM EST, we will dis­cuss the linked arti­cle at our next week­ly Jour­nal Club meet­ing. The arti­cle is titled “Med­i­c­i­nal val­ue of sun­flower pollen […]

0 com­ments
A fire hydrant and plants by a pond

Journal Club Article for December 3, 2021

This Fri­day, Decem­ber 3rd, 2021, from 12–1pm, we will dis­cuss the linked arti­cle at our next week­ly Jour­nal Club meet­ing. The arti­cle is titled “The effects of urban­iza­tion on bee […]

0 com­ments
An insect perched on a plant burr

10/29 Journal Club Rescheduled to 11/3!

Please note we have resched­uled our Octo­ber 29 Jour­nal Club to Novem­ber 3 due to impacts from the recent storm. On Wednes­day, Novem­ber 3, from 12–1pm, we will dis­cuss the […]

0 com­ments
An insect perched on a plant burr

Journal Club Article for October 29, 2021

This Fri­day, Octo­ber 29th, from 12–1pm, we will dis­cuss the linked arti­cle at our next week­ly Jour­nal Club meet­ing. The arti­cle is titled “More than 75 per­cent decline over 27 […]

0 com­ments
A bumblebee flies against a green and pink background

Journal Club for October 22, 2021

Join us for our final #STEMWeek event! On Fri­day, Octo­ber 22nd , 2021, from 12–1pm, STEM Men­tor Belun­da Moi­se will present her Stone­hill Col­lege senior the­sis, “Analy­sis of native bee […]

0 com­ments