Sharing my research experience, I was doing a computational study on the BCR phili gene. The entire research project was broken down into multiple parts: Computational Data, Analysis, Literature comparison, and finally presenting my findings to a committee in order to complete the requirement for my undergraduate graduation. After collecting the data for about two months (half a semester) through software and analyzing the BRC gene and it’s correlation to cancer. One of the major setbacks was the computer memory. The computers and software were set in the lab where all of the computational data obtained during a trail was lost if you signed off the computer (did not know this). This resulted in gaps in my computational data that needed to be compared to published literature and analyzed. After saving most of my data every time, there were some days when I did not save the data assuming it would be stored on the computer. This assumption resulted in spending another semester at the college and redoing the entire computational part of the data during the summer time. When it came to compile all the data and analyze it, my research professor and I realized it was missing big chucks of sequences. In other words, the data compiled was useless and could not be compared to any published findings and relate to its effect on cancer. The only option I had was to work on the entire computational during the summer and save the data each time, and finally I was able to present my findings to the committee and graduate. So one assumption caused a 6 month delay in my undergraduate and work life.

This taught me the importance of breaking your work down and managing the collected information and verifying it as you obtain it. Rather than wait until the end to find out you have wasted a lot of time that could of been used to do something more productive. This is the closest thing that refers to this week’s lecture that I personally experienced and how planning is essential.