A Report on Webinar

“How to Read Scientific Literature

&

Introduction to MANAV-The Human Atlas Initiative”

The Department of Zoology, Cotton University (CU) & Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune, jointly organized a webinar on 6^th July, 2020 where Dr. Anjana Singha Naorem from Zoology Department (CU) was the co-ordinator. The webinar was attended by 190 participants from different institutes across the country. Dr. Anupama Harshal W. from IISER, Pune was the invited speaker for the session & the theme was “How to Read Scientific Literature & Introduction to MANAV-The Human Atlas Initiative”.

Session started by a welcome speech by Dr. Naorem which was followed by a brief introduction of Cotton University by Ms. Santana Saikia, Research Scholar (CU). The speaker along with the participants were wholeheartedly welcomed by the Respected Registrar, Cotton University, Dr. Diganta Kumar Das in his keynote address which was followed by an introductory speech by the Dean of Life Sciences, Dr. Karobi Saikia. Ms. Anandita Buragohain, Research Scholar (CU) introduced the speaker of the session.

The session was then taken over by Dr. Anupama. In her speech, she gave a brief perspective on research article & its components and highlighted on the issue of how to read the scientific literature, importance of title of the research papers, essence of referring to the source (that is citation), a correct approach of being meticulous in giving the details of the research methodology while writing papers, etc. She also mentioned efficient ways to select and read the research articles and importance of annotation was also discussed. In her informative talk, she also described that reading a correct research article is very important within same field of enquiry and also enlightened us with her vast knowledge on the webinar topic.

Dr. Harshal then, proceeded to the next topic of the session, MANAV- the Human Atlas Initiative, which is a project funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India in collaboration with Persistent System, NCCS and IISER, Pune. In this program, students can join & contribute by highlighting/collating important information on scientific articles.

After the talk, there was an elaborate interactive session which was hosted by Ms. Rubina Azmeera Begum, Research Scholar (CU). Students across the nation participated and interacted with the resource person and found it useful for them.

After the session, there was an online test of English Proficiency and a session-based Questionnaire test taken up by the participants. Participants who registered, attended and took the tests were entitled to receive the E-certificates.

Ms. Anandita Buragohain gave the vote of thanks and the webinar was finally concluded by the Convener Dr. Naorem.