Self-discipline better than IQ in achievement

David Munger, a research blogger who reports on cognitive research, has a recent article, "High IQ: Not as Good for You as You Thought", which reports on research by Angela Duckworth and Martin Seligman that shows that self-discipline is much more important than IQ in academic achievement. According to the study,

Most impressive was the whopping .67 correlation between self-discipline and final GPA, compared to a .32 correlation for IQ.

In other words, practice makes perfect, and the more one practices, the more perfect one becames.

That makes sense. We wouldn't expect an Olympic athlete to not put in lots of hours of practice and work-outs if s/he wanted to win a gold medal. Why would anyone think differently about academic achievement?

Oral presentations

Today in class, we covered the elements of oral presentations. For evaluation criteria, students came up with speaking, content, organization, presentation aids, thesis statement, creativity, and coherence. We then compared it to an article on Steve Jobs' presentation skills, "How to Wow 'Em Like Steve Jobs" by Camine Gallo in BusinessWeek Online. According to Gallo, what makes Jobs' presentations great are the following elements: Sell the Benefit; Practice, Practice, and More Practice; Keep it Visual; Exude passion, energy, and enthusiasm; and "And One More Thing ...". Obviously, there were some connections and some not-connections.

After comparing Jobs' style, we then looked at The Ten Commandments of Client Presentations. Three of the 10 commandments were Tell a Story, Don't Tell What it is, Show What it Means; and Be a Person. These three in particular reminded me of the summary on Steve Jobs' presentations.

When we think about how to apply these different perspectives to an academic presentation, it becomes more interesing. Research papers have a question/thesis, data collection methods, analysis/interpretation of the data, comparison with readings of research in that area, and then a conclusion. It seems that "Sell the benefit" would be related to the research question/thesis, and "Keep it visual" would connect to graphs and charts on one's data. But some of the other aspects take more imagination to connect. Hmm. Why?

Little things matter

Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Nissan, believes little things matter (from Garr Reynolds of the Presentation Zen blog). Despite managing the huge company of Nissan, he has taken the time to learn how to use chopsticks in order to influence company employees. Rivas-Mcoud states:

"Holding chopsticks correctly was necessary if Ghosn hoped to make a good impression on Japanese subordinates and colleagues. The lesson reminded Ghosn of the importance of the tiniest facets of managing a company. You can not ignore them, just as you cannot ignore the proper way of holding chopsticks."

Garr Reynolds condenses key presentation points down to four items: 1. Show more passion. 2. End cookie-cutter design. 3. End confusion. 4. Think benefits not technology.

Annotated Bibliography

Just a few notes on the Annotated Bibliography to turn in on Monday. Mostly, you will simply copy and paste what you've already done at goodwriting.editme.com into a MS Word document so you can print it out and turn it in. That is, you will keep both the bibliography information and the paragraph(s) summarizing and responding to the article.

After that, you'll need to make sure that you have the correct format. Are you using APA, MLA, or another style? See what the journal requires. If you're not certain, visit or email me. According to the journal format you're using, it should be either alphabetical or perhaps numerical in order, which means that the summaries you have can't stay in the same order as they are at goodwriting.editme.com.

I took two examples from goodwriting.editme.com to post here. Notice that the two authors are in alphabetical order. The difference between here and in print is that you need to indent (tab) the second and third lines of the bibliography information. I wasn't quite sure how to do that on this blog, but it's easy in MS Word. Also, I had problems getting the font and font size the same for all the entries, but again, that's easy to do in MS Word.

Elias, P. (2005, August 18). Researchers Creating Life from Scratch. Retrieved February 2, 2005 from Breitbart.com Website: http//www.breitbart.com/news/2005/08/18/D8C2G7P01.html

Paul Elias, a biotechnology writer, calls synthetic biologist “bold” because of what they are claiming. Synthetic biologists believe to make living thing one molecule after another. They are mostly combining DNA’s chemical computers for a better future, which will be to make biologically based computers and an more improvement in medicine. That group of biologists, synthetic biologists, gathered together after 30 years of work from other scientists who tried to combine genetic materials of two species which was not successful. Synthetic biologists bring in a different approach that consist of using the same strategies in architecture and computerization. Synthetic Biologists have created a polio virus and another smaller virus. The world tiniest computer has been created in Israel by engineering DNA to carry out mathematical functions. The biological revolution has been a money attraction. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated millions in grant to the creation of a new malaria drug.

This article gives an overview of what synthetic biologists really do and what their intentions. It does show that they are determined to improve our world. The article gives information to those who are interested in synthetic biology, what the goals really are, and what is involved in their researches.

Hamburg, D (2006, February 22-28). Government Of, By and For the Pharmaceutical Industry. Retrieved
March 15,2006 from Santa Monica Mirror Online Web site: http://www.smmirror.com/MainPages/DisplayArticleDetails.asp?eid=2423

In this article, Dan Hamburg talks about another issue concerning the controversial issue: Thimerosal in Vaccines. Since Thimerosal has been added in vaccines, Autism has rose except for those who have been exempt because of religious reasons. While Autism has increased among children being vaccinated, it has not been among populations that do not get any vaccines. To prevent pharmaceutical companies from being sued, the President has passed a law prohibit parent from suing pharmaceutical companies for reasons such as Autism.

There is evidence that can definitely relate Thimerosal and Autism even though the relation between them has not been proved. The fact that Autism has not been found among people like the Amish should be used in order to prove that mercury in vaccines in harmful.

Using Citation

Citation, our bibliographic software, has been a little confusing, especially as we started in the middle of the semester. Plus, today, while wanting to use it through the projector for all to see, I learned it hadn't been yet integrated into the teacher's computer. The learning curve is a little steep, and the time remaining is more than a little short. So, I can't require that it be used. Still, if time is spent at home learning to use Citation, it will be worth it, as it can be used in other classes before graduation and perhaps even after.