[KSCY Certificate of Research Class, Photo credit Erica Song]

2021 Korea Scholar’s Conference for Youth class was a remarkable experience for me to learn how to write a research paper as a beginner. This experience allowed me to endeavor on one specific research topic, deepening my knowledge of biology. 

Students, especially those attending International Schools, seek opportunities to justify their potential in their future admission processes. Explicitly, they strive to pursue their passion and demonstrate their ability within their interest by participating in extracurricular activities. However, finding a suitable and captivating activity is demanding for students.

I participated in an online class called Korea Scholar’s Conference for Youth from last October till November. The KSCY class is targeted at young students who are writing research papers for the first time. Students are able to gain knowledge of how to write a research plan and investigate their chosen topic in-depth, with the guidance of an assigned tutor. 

As my partner Rachel Lee (9th) and I partook in this online course through our school biology club, we centered on a general theme of biology. The topic we endeavored to research was “How Does Phytoncide in Cypress Tree Reduce Symptoms of COVID-19 in a Mouse Model?” As COVID-19 has been a critical issue since 2019, we wanted to investigate ways to help the community. 

Before writing an actual research paper, the initial process was to plan out the hypothesis, experiment design, expected effects, keyword analysis, and much more. We went through this process by filling out a “Toolkit” with our tutor. As the whole process was based on research rather than an actual experiment, the majority of sections had to be completed through comprehensive research. During this process, I was able to gather diverse perspectives about the experiment from my fellow partner as well as from the assigned tutor. We incorporated various ideas for the topic to support each part of the Toolkit by evidence. 

The following process was to simply start writing our research proposal by dividing each section among our group. We had to comprise both qualitative and quantitative data in the proposal. Under considerable guidance from our tutor, we hypothesized based on our research topic and ended by explaining the supposed effects. 

Through this KSCY class, the substantial learning I gained was the way of writing a research proposal. Even though this proposal wasn’t quite professional like what professional researchers or professors strive to write, it was an opportunity for me to focus on a singular subject that I was passionate about. Although the main intention of the KSCY class was to finish writing a research proposal, I  was able to gain more knowledge within the field of biology and the topic I decided on. 

Additionally, the Korea Scholars’ Conference for Youth genuinely allowed me to develop as a person and researcher/writer. As the class was done as a group, it supported me in collaborating and communicating with my fellow group members. I, personally, was in a group of 2 (small group), which made it easier for direct communication between my partner and myself. We worked on different sections of the proposal, nevertheless,   and collaborated with others as we gave each other feedback and double-checked the work. Furthermore, with working on one specific topic for four weeks, I was able to gain crucial knowledge of the function of Phytoncide to illnesses. 

As a participant who participated in KSCY Class last Autumn, I want to recommend others to partake in this program! It was an appreciative opportunity for me to deepen my knowledge in biology and step further with writing an actual research paper! I look forward to finding other ways to help me develop as a student.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Erica Minyoung Song

Grade 9

Chadwick International School

 
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