Research guide: How to navigate research during medical school by MMRA McGill

Research guide: How to navigate research during medical school

October 2020 MSS Medical Research Association Authors: Franรงois Fabi, Ph.D and Anne Xuan-Lan Nguyen Editors: Jobanpreet Dhillon, M.Sc and Caroline Najjar, B.Sc Acknowledgements: Michael Luo, M.Sc, Joan Miguel Romero, M.Sc, Kristina Wade, B.Sc, Britta Gustavson, M.Res, Laura (Xiang Qi) Meng, HBSc

Introduction

Research during Medical Education

The MMRA: Who are we?

Events organized by the MMRA Research Basics How to get involved in research Research Types A few words on the integrity of results

3 5 5 8 9

Research Opportunities

Communicating your results

Writing an abstract

Presenting your work at a meeting

Checklist for poster presentation

Checklist for oral presentation

Tips for performing your oral presentation

Creating a poster

Tools, Databases and Resources

POC Tools

PubMed

Citation Tools

McGill Resources

Final word

This document should be cited as: Fabi, F., Nguyen, A. X., Research guide: How to navigate research during medical school. McGill Medical Research Association (MMRA), 2019.

Introduction Research during Medical Education Modern medical education is inseparable from science’s ecosystem. Complete understanding of the various topics discussed during formal training requires students to read research articles, from basic science manuscripts to largescale reviews of randomized control trials. Certainly, our future life as physicians will be one of constant learning and unrelenting education; evidence-based medicine requires us to be informed of the latest scientific development for us to provide the best possible care to our patients. Research is thus linked inextricably to the practice of medicine, both in the scientific and clinical aspect of the medical profession. It is through research that we continuously build our understanding of the world, delve into the underlying causes of disease processes, determine the best protocols to be used during treatment, establish guidelines that will widely orient care trajectories and shape public policy for the benefit of society. Knowledge is everchanging; the ability to evaluate the legitimacy of “evidence” is thus eminently contingent on one’s ability to appraise critically the validity of said evidence. Research skills are eminently transferable, and act as crucial cognitive tools that will allow you to determine not only what is to be trusted but to identify the limitations of what is trusted. In that context, research experience should be seen as an opportunity to develop critical thinking as well as a framework to analyse articles and results, and thus, better appreciate the optimal methods by which to care for patients. Alternatively, and in part because of the skillset you will develop, research experience is usually seen as an important feature of students' resumes. Of course, strong recommendation letters from attendings, residents or faculty members will be the crux of your academic track record; however, when applying for a competitive residency position, especially in research-centric disciplines and centres (but not limited to them), research experience will allow you to separate yourself from some of the other candidates. Training in the field of research is a great way to demonstrate one’s ability to multitask and show that the candidate considers knowledge-seeking an important and worthy endeavour; it also underlines the ability of the candidate to navigate the complexity of the academic/clinical research landscape. Alternatively, it suggests that the candidate has potentially developed a robust framework for critical thinking, which is undoubtedly a potent skill to possess. Finally, it suggests a level of competency with scientific literature, something that will become crucial as you enter residency.

Overall, it is important to understand that research can be useful as a personal intellectual instrument, as a way to prepare for a clinical research career, but also represents a potent tool throughout your career that will also enhance your resume, even for those who are not embarked on an academic trajectory. The objective of this guide is to provide you with a simple roadmap for this voyage.

The MMRA: Who are we? The Medical Student Society (MSS) Medical Research Association (MMRA) aims to facilitate student participation in medical research by providing relevant skills workshops and opportunities for professional presentations. The MMRA also aims to act as a central database and liaison to connect students with current medical researchers to generate and initiate opportunities. Overall, the MMRAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s objective is to act as the primary hub for students looking to become involved in research as a logistic, knowledge-translation as well as network-facilitating tool. Events organized by the MMRA Every year, we organize a variety of networking events, hands-on workshops and competitions to allow students gain critical research skills and discover new opportunities. Table 1, which can be found on the next page, is an overview of the activities organized by our club. Please note that while table lists our main events, they are subject to change depending on MMRAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s yearly priorities.

Table 1. MMRA Events

Name (Link to previous presentation) Annual MMRA Workshop: What Makes an Award-Winning Poster? 2018-2019

Summer Research Opportunities Talk 2019-2020 (collaboration with ACE - take a look their MSS club page and mission Ambassadors for Comprehensive Education!): Annual MMRA Short Pitch Competition (2017-2020)

Description

Our workshop features submitted student posters doing the summer research bursary or other initiatives. In groups of 4-5, you will circulate in a room to each poster and have 10 minutes to read and discuss the strengths and areas for improvement with a facilitator. Professors and student-experts at each poster station will prompt you towards key discussion points and will also answer questions. At the end of the evening, station leaders will provide a document of strengths and improvement points to the owner of each poster. Overall, we hope to provide tips and tricks to blow away the competition at future research conferences. Come hear from a panel of different medical students about a variety of ways that you can choose to spend your preclinical summers. From research, to travel, to clinical internships, you won’t want to miss hearing about the different opportunities available to you, and how you can make them happen! Student speakers will share their first-hand experiences and offer you practical tips on how and when to prepare/apply to various summer opportunities at McGill. Feel free to reach out to your class’ ACE representative to learn more. Looking to add an oral research presentation to your resumé/CV? Want feedback on your presentation abilities from experts? Sign up for MMRA’s third annual Short Thesis Competition!

2018-2019 (1-Minute Pitch): 2017-2018 (Pitching with Pitchers):

Rules (2019-2020): You have 180 seconds and 1 static slide (no animations) to convince the judges (clinician researchers) how important and innovative your research is. All topics are welcome! #3MT

To Research or Not? Post-Match Talk

Want to know if you need research to match during CARMS? Or if the interviewers ask about your research experience?

2019-2020

The MMRA is inviting you to its post-match talk RESEARCH edition. Multiple fields will be represented such as: Internal medicine, Surgery, Obsgyn, Peds, Derm, Psych and ENT. Presenters will address various topics such as: How much research they did, when /how they got involved, if they spoke about it during their interviews, if, in general, it is necessary for the specialty they matched to, and if they would recommend getting research experience early versus late in medical school. If you have further questions following their speech, they will be more than happy to answer them.

Mendeley 101

Are you still typing “online citation generator” into your Google search bar? Or, worse, are you trying to manually follow all the rules on owl.purdue? Fret not, there is a better way!

2020

The MMRA is hosting a Mendeley 101 workshop where you can come learn how to use this popular, and FREE reference software. Two McGill MD-PhD students will help guide you through all there is to know about Mendeley in this quick 1 hr event. You'll learn how to generate an automatic bibliography, insert seamless in-text citations, link everything to your paper, and more.

Research Basics How to get involved in research TL;DR: Contact faculty offices or academic offices first for an overview of what’s available; contact principal investigators (PIs) directly for specific projects. PIs are like high-yield monsters; they feast only on high-yield stuff. Write a high-yield intro email. The usual first impulse you may have is to want to be involved in a field you see yourself applying for at residency. We want to emphasize that this is not necessary; research experience, even in fields outside of the specialty you are aiming for, is absolutely worthwhile and will enhance your resume. There is an abundance of examples where students who pursued research interest in an area and matched in another; a lot of MD-PhDs will be involved in one field during their studies and match in a completely other one afterwards! Do not limit the scope of your search for research involvement and remember that the main value of joining a research project is demonstrating your intellectual curiosity, your willpower, your ability to direct your own work and to develop an intellectual toolkit that will be useful in any medical specialty you might decide to pursue. Our recommendation is: find a field you are genuinely interested in and get involved in a project that seems intellectually compelling to you. It will be a lot easier to invest some time and effort if you are sincerely interested, and the adventure will be much more enjoyable. There are many ways to select a project. We suggest you give a quick look to table 2 in order to have a summarized overview of what to expect. Obviously, this is a vastly simplified outline and does not capture all the intricacies and specificities of every research project. Do not hesitate to contact a member of the MMRA if you have more specific questions or want some tips in regard to a specific project you’re interested in; we’ll be more than happy to help you determine whether this prospective venture is in line with your expectations and is a good fit for your academic trajectory. The first thing to consider is “how to contact a Principal Investigator”, which is the fabled “PI” and the head of the lab/research effort. In larger universities and research institutes, we suggest you first try to contact the academic office/department secretary. This reduces the chances that your email is lost in the inbox of a super busy PI; you will usually also be directed towards researchers that might have signified to the institution they needed students and/or were recruiting staff.

You can also directly contact professors and researchers in order to try to get involved in their research programs, known as cold emailing. First, you can identify PIs by going to the department, hospital and research institute websites; the researchers, who usually are either professors or physician-scientists, will often have personal pages, or perhaps a lab website, which allows you to peruse their publications list and research interests. However, be wary that papers published some years ago might not be a perfect representation of the PI’s current interests. Also, if you’ve read a specific paper of particular interest to you, you can try your luck by contacting the PI of this article; by convention, the PI of a report/article will be named last in an article author’s list. Contacting a PI to demonstrate interest and request a meeting for consideration as a potential disciple is an art in itself. You must be ready to receive many negative answers, or no answers at all for that matter, and accept that this is totally normal and not a reflection of your worth as a candidate. PIs receive a daily deluge of emails and they are inundated with requests for academic endeavours, peer-review, funding, young medical students wanting to participate in research projects….and let’s not forget some PIs are active, practicing physicians! Our suggestion is that you write a clear and concise email that includes the following: 1) 2) 3) 4)

Quick personal introduction Motivation for doing research in general Why you elected to contact this PI specifically (cite one of their papers, and read it (really!)) If possible, try to state your interest on a specific angle of their current research projects (e.g. A PI is working on the COVID19 pandemic epidemiological characteristics; perhaps mention that you are very interested in understanding the role of ethnicity in this setting) 5) Ask for a meeting to discuss your potential involvement in their research activities 6) If possible, propose a few research ideas of your own that fall in line with the PI’s research interests 7) Attach your resume for their perusal

Example of a good email introduction Hi Dr. [insert PI name], My name is [insert name] and I am an entering [insert: first, second, third or fourth]-year medical student at McGill University. I am interested in the research project[s] you are supervising as part of the [insert research bursary/program name]. I have an interest in [insert field], more specifically in [insert elements related to PIs work that you are genuinely interested in, you can even cite one of their papers if applicable]. My previous research experiences include [insert relevant research experience], and I attached my CV for your interest. OR While I do not have previous research experience, I am [insert relevant qualities] that I have gained through [insert other relevant experience, could be related to work, volunteering, statistical courses, writing aptitudes, etc.], and I attached my CV for your interest. [CV.pdf attached]

I was wondering if you have any availability for a meeting. ● ●

Optional sentences: I also have a few research ideas that I believe would align with your expertise: [insert ideas]. If you are extra keen: I also attached a letter of intent. [letter.pdf attached]

I am looking forward to discussing this opportunity with you further. Best regards, [insert student name]

Example of a poor email introduction Hi Dr. [insert PI name], My name is [insert student name] and I would like to apply for the project that you are supervising as part of the [insert research bursary/program name]. I am available in the upcoming days for a meeting. When and where should I meet you? Thanks for the opportunity! [insert student name] Email sent at 3AM

It is recommended that the sender schedules the email to be sent at a reasonable time (e.g. 8AM).

Remember that PIs usually have very little free time, and as such, select students who pursue excellence and value curiosity, as well as display strong work ethic, above all else. With this in mind, your short email will be a high-impact, potent communication device that will very probably be actually read. Try to target early-career scientists or even senior residents; they will have more time to answer your email and usually are more open to training students. They will also usually be more flexible in regard to your medical schedule, which might prevent frustrations for both parties down the line. Also, it is important to understand that it might be harder to reach and interest a late-career scientist who manages a large lab and an extensive team since they will have so many administrative and academic duties. This is also compounded by the fact that these PIs usually work with a plethora of experts, which might make them less interested in taking up an untrained medical student for a research project. That does not mean itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impossible to join such a team; just adjust your expectations accordingly! You will encounter a multiplicity of research strategies and design during your medical education. You will also receive more formal information on that topic and will learn the basis of their methods and rationale as you go through your preclinical years, with a sharp emphasis on how epidemiological studies are conducted. In Table 2, which can be found on the next page, we present the most common options that will be presented to you as far as research opportunities go. We also comment on their pros and cons, so you can briefly appreciate what are their primary advantages and pitfalls (from an early-career medical student point-of-view) when selecting a project to get involved with.

Research Types Table 2: Research types

A few words on the integrity of results Do not, under any circumstances, fabricate results or fake data. We cannot stress this enough. Whatever the reason, the deadline, the situation; regardless of whether you have a lab meeting, or a national presentation. Even (or rather, especially) if the publication of your paper hinges on a result. Never Falsify Data. Many scientist’s careers were destroyed because of scientific misconduct, often because the pressure to publish interesting results can sometimes be crushingly overwhelming. If you involve yourself in research, at some point, you will probably feel the urge to tweak a result, delete a data point, or perhaps even just mislabel a figure. Do not, under any circumstances, gamble your future medical career by falsifying results. This, of course, extends to other forms of scientific misconduct such as plagiarism, ethical considerations, p-hacking, etc. Alternatively, even when you conduct science in a genuine, thorough and honest manner, there are still a lot of erroneous ways to conduct science. This is a more advanced, perhaps somewhat epistemological discussion. If you would like to read about some of the most regularly encountered pitfalls of research, we suggest reading this paper, this short blogpost, this article (very important if you will analyse big data), this one (which introduces the concept of researcher’s degrees of freedom) and finally this one, which suggests a framework to prevent misconduct/p-hacking (which refers to the conscious or subconscious manipulation of data in a way that produces a desired p-value). On a similar note, if you would like to read on the current reproducibility crisis in science, you can start here, here and here. If this subject interests you, contact the MMRA and we will be happy to direct you to other resources. Always remember that if your name is on the author’s list, no matter what is presented, you are responsible for the integrity and probity of the reported results. If you believe something is amiss, do not hesitate to discuss this with your colleagues, the research professionals, or the PI if necessary. When reading an article, you can use a simple framework to determine, “at-a-glance”, the validity of the reported results. The full paper that suggested this framework can be found here. You should ask the same types of questions for any work you are involved in; these six questions are not sufficient to ensure the quality, scientific accuracy and the validity of your work but are a good starting point when evaluating your plan: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)

Were experiments performed blinded? Were basic experiments repeated? Were all the results presented? Were there positive and negative controls? Were reagents validated? Were statistical tests appropriate?

Research Opportunities Table 3 highlights resources available for McGill medical students. While these are traditionally the opportunities available for you, some bursaries might not be available in the upcoming year. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, some McGill summer research projects might be cancelled, or changed to allow the student to conduct it remotely. For McGill Global Health scholars pursuing international projects, alternative arrangements might be made between the McGill Global Health scholar, GHP and the PI in case of changes in the country status. Table 3. Research opportunities for McGill medical students

Name ($$$) Summer Research Bursary (typically $3,125)

Application Steps 1. Applicants need to email PIs of interest amongst the list of projects and supervisors ASAP. Tip: Contact more than one PI EARLY, as this program has typically a greater number of applicants than spots 2. Typically, chosen candidates will have the opportunity to meet PIs for an interview. 3. Successful candidates will need to review the "Student project proposal guidelines" and "Important application details" 4. They will need to complete and submit the Student Project Proposal Form - Summer 2020 and the Agreement & Ethics Form - Summer 2020.

Application Timeline ●

● ●

●

Jan.-Feb.: List of projects and supervisors available Variable: Interviews Early March: Deadline to submit proposal Late May: Status Early Sept.: Deadline to submit final abstracts / reports & supervisor evaluations Early Nov.: Poster presentation at Student Research Day (reports and poster prizes)

Work Type, Award Period, Internship Location Full-time (35h/week) 8 consecutive weeks during the summer term (between end of May and end of August) McGill University or one of its affiliated institutions

Note: Students receiving a Summer Research Bursary can apply for a Fall Research Bursary or Winter Research Bursary to continue their research.

McGill Global Health Scholars (typically $5,000 for projects outside of Montreal and $2,500 for Montreal projects)

1. Applicants need to email PIs of ● Nov.-Dec.: interest amongst the list of Mandatory projects and supervisors ASAP. information session Tip: Contact more than one PI ● Early Jan.: Opening of EARLY, as this program has application portal typically a greater number of ● Mid. Feb.: Deadline applicants than spots to submit proposal 2. Typically, chosen candidates will ● March: Interviews have the opportunity to meet ● April: Status PIs for an interview. Before internship 3. Selected scholars must take part (variable timeline): in special workshops facilitated ● Two-part GHP by McGill Global Health orientation session Programs (GHP) during the on research ethics academic semester or year and pre-departure following their summer project training (depending (course schedule will be taken on project) into account). After internship: 4. Selected scholars must enroll in ● Variable: Deadline to the Interprofessional Global submit a brief report Health Course or PPHS 511 ● Early Nov.: Poster Fundamentals of Global Health presentation at in the academic year following McGill Global Health their summer project (if they Night have not already taken it).

Full-time (35h/week) Travel: 8 consecutive weeks during the summer term (between end of May and end of August) International* or local projects *The McGill GHP office does not guarantee that selected scholars will receive a visa for international projects.

Note: Students may also be eligible for additional funding from the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid. Upon completion of this program, participation in this project will be part of the student’s McGill Co-Curricular Record.

There are also opportunities available from various sources, based at other Quebec universities, or organized by regional, national and international organizations. For example, there are summer internships programs affiliated with Université de Montréal (ex. Summer Internships Program of the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Centre) and Université de Sherbrooke typically releases a list of summer research projects and supervisors in March-April. SARROS, as well as IFMSA and CFMS Research Exchanges, are very popular internships amongst McGill medical students.

Communicating your results You’ve done the work. You read the papers, did the experiments, gathered the data and wrote the report. Now it’s time to let the world know what you’ve found. Here are a few guidelines NB: Always submit your work/poster/abstract to your PI before sending it to a conference/meeting. It’s a major faux pas to attend a conference and/or submit an abstract for a poster/oral presentation without approval from the PI, especially when you are early in your training.

Writing an abstract An abstract is a summarized version of the entire work you are presenting, from a poster presentation to a bona fide scientific article. This summary previews the selected methodology and reports the objectives, rationale as well as the findings of the study. An abstract is usually 250 words long and does not include any references or figures. It usually follows a pretty standard structure: Define the purpose of the research: What is the context? What is the problem? What is the question that you tried (and potentially succeeded) to answer? Describe the methods that you used: Be dry. Give a summary of the main results: What did you discover? Present the conclusions of the study: Did you resolve the problem? How did you answer your research question? If there are limitations to your answer, identify and state them briefly. It is worth noting that your abstract is quite possibly one of the most important parts of your report as the abstract will usually be used to judge whether your work is worth the reader’s time or should be discarded. It will also be used to determine if your material will be selected for poster presentations or oral presentations. Remember that the abstract is the business card of your academic work; it opens, and can close, many doors. Writing good abstracts is an art that takes time to develop; it is useful to go through many versions and submit them to senior members of your research team in order to receive critiques, comments and improvement. Be aware that many changes will be stylistic in nature; this shouldn’t surprise or upset you. It takes time to get a good feel of academic writing and abstract composition in particular. Take it as an opportunity to learn!

Tips to write a good abstract 1) Have a good, clear, evocative title 2) Be concise and straight to the point. Reader’s will have an opportunity to appreciate how articulate you are in your main work. Remember that an abstract purpose is to convey critical information and to draw the reader’s attention! 3) Have a clear research question(s). State it using as few words as possible, without using convoluted literary language. 4) Be transparent in what methods were used and what are the results of the study. Try not to use vague statements or comment on the importance/impact of the results. 5) If possible, have a punchy, final 2-sentence summary. Many people will read only the last paragraph and it helps to have solid statements at the end of the abstract. 6) Go through this content checklist: “Is my methodology is briefly described? Did I summarize the important findings? Do I have a concise description of the main conclusions of the study?” 7) Remember that abstract succinctness does not imply simple or work of lesser value. Case in point. Example of a good abstract, with a standardized sectioned structure. Taken from Lin SL. et al. 2009, which can be found here.

Example of a good abstract, with a non-sectioned structure. Taken from Tsherniak A. et al. 2018, which can be found here.

A novel variant of ER-alpha, ER-alpha36 mediates testosteronestimulated ERK and Akt activation in endometrial cancer Hec1A cells

Defining a Cancer Dependency Map

Background Endometrial cancer is one of the most common gynecologic malignancies and its incidence has recently increased. Experimental and epidemiological data support that testosterone plays an important role in the pathogenesis of endometrial cancer, but the underlying mechanism has not been fully understood. Recently, we identified and cloned a variant of estrogen receptor (ER) alpha, ER-alpha36. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of ER-alpha36 in testosterone carcinogenesis. Methods The cellular localization of ER-alpha36 was determined by immunofluorescence. Hec1A endometrial cancer cells (Hec1A/V) and Hec1A cells with siRNA knockdown of ER-alpha36 (Hec1A/RNAi) were treated with testosterone, ERK and Akt phosphorylation was assessed by Western blot analysis. Furthermore, the kinase inhibitors U0126 and LY294002 and the aromatase inhibitor letrozole were used to elucidate the pathway underlying testosterone-induced activities.

Most human epithelial tumors harbor numerous alterations, making it difficult to predict which genes are required for tumor survival. To systematically identify cancer dependencies, we analyzed 501 genomescale loss-of-function screens performed in diverse human cancer cell lines. We developed DEMETER, an analytical framework that segregates on-from off-target effects of RNAi. 769 genes were differentially required in subsets of these cell lines at a threshold of six standard deviations from the mean. We found predictive models for 426 dependencies (55%) by nonlinear regression modeling considering 66,646 molecular features. Many dependencies fall into a limited number of classes, and unexpectedly, in 82% of models, the top biomarkers were expressionbased. We demonstrated the basis behind one such predictive model linking hypermethylation of the UBB ubiquitin gene to a dependency on UBC. Together, these observations provide a foundation for a cancer dependency map that facilitates the prioritization of therapeutic targets.

Results Immunofluorescence shows that ER-alpha36 was localized on the plasma membrane of the both ER-alpha- and androgen receptor-negative endometrial cancer Hec1A cells. Testosterone induced ERK and Akt phosphorylation, which could be abrogated by ER-alpha 36 shRNA knockdown or the kinase inhibitors, U0126 and LY294002, and the aromatase inhibitor letrozole. Conclusion Testosterone induces ERK and Akt phosphorylation via the membraneinitiated signaling pathways mediated by ER-alpha36, suggesting a possible involvement of ER-alpha 36 in testosterone carcinogenesis

Presenting your work at a meeting It is crucial that you try to attend scientific conferences as early as possible. Participating in meetings is one of the coolest, most interesting, rewarding and important parts of conducting research. If you have the opportunity to sign up for a meeting (symposium, research day, international conference...sky’s the limit!), you should absolutely do it. Going to such an event with your team will strengthen your bond with your colleagues, allow you to see them in another light, learn more about a field you are interested in and teach you how to effectively network. Attending seminars and conferences will allow you to slowly gain a better understanding of the ecosystem of science; like any environment, it takes a lot of time, and quite a lot of first-hand experience, to understand “how things work”. Overall, attending meetings is a component of research training that is, in our opinion, just as crucial as learning how to write academically, conduct experiments or use statistical tools. Presenting at conferences is also the best way to make you more comfortable with the art of sharing your research to a live audience. First, always make sure that your advisor is okay with your participation; remember that you are representing their work and their lab. If they believe your work is not yet advanced enough or if they fear that perhaps they could get scooped, they might prefer you do not present. If that happens, discuss other options with your PI and mention how important presenting the results of your efforts is to you. In any case, they have the final say in this. With their approval, submit an abstract; see section above for tips on how to write one! The process might seem scary, but dive head-first into it. If you apply yourself, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to get your work accepted for presentation, especially in smaller conferences/meetings. Once you’ve established what will be the subject of your presentation, it’s time to determine its format. We recommend you start by applying for poster presentations. You can find a premade poster in the section below, which you can use as the basis to make your own! This type of format has many advantages and is an excellent way to get to know the field before jumping to oral presentation, which has a somewhat higher profile but is usually reserved for more advanced presenters/scientists; if you do end up being selected for an oral presentation, rejoice!

Checklist for poster presentation 1) Check abstract submission deadline 2) Confirm poster format/size (check meeting website) 3) Check, recheck, and re-recheck typos 4) Print handouts of the poster (helps remember you better) 5) Check if there is a poster competition; don’t miss the judges! 6) Check if there is a mandatory presentation time for your poster (usually 1 hour) during which you have to be in front of the poster Checklist for oral presentation 1) Check abstract submission deadline 2) Check time allowed for presentation 3) Send the presentation to the staff beforehand and carry a copy of your presentation on a USB stick at all times 4) Have your own clicker-pointer to change slides; there’s always a technical snafu, so you’ll either save yourself or save someone who’ll really like you from then on. Tips for performing your oral presentation 1) Try to have about 1 minute per slide, at least. Moving too fast might be confusing 2) Less text, more images; busy slides don’t capture interest 3) Prepare a couple of “extra slides” (slides that go after you last “official” slide) that you can use for questions you expect to have to answer. Having the right slide for the right questions is probably the greatest confidence booster there is. 4) Relax. It’s only an oral presentation in a meeting, this isn’t an exam. Have fun When presenting with a poster, you can first start by simply setting the poster up and then walking around to see other posters. You can also hear others present their work without engaging them directly; being such an observer, of both the posters and the presentation that goes with them, can be very reassuring at first. However, you will often have to stay in front of your work for a pre-set amount of time, as indicated by the meeting’s agenda. During that time (usually no more than an hour), people will go through the multiple presented posters and stop to discuss with the presenters. More often than not, you will not need to have a speech prepared; interested parties will just want to chat about your results, your methodology, your current view of the field and your favourite presentations of the day. See this as a unique and privileged opportunity to expand your networking horizon, get insights into questions you never even considered and immerse yourself in the social, very human aspect of science and research. Also, remember that you do not have to be able to answer every question that gets thrown your way; if you do not have the answer, say it! There’s no shame in not knowing, only from not learning. We have often extracted great kernels of knowledge from discussing with someone who asked a question we didn’t have an answer for; the rationale behind the initial question, and their input on what they think could be the answer (from their point of view and in light of their expertise), is often illuminating.

Remember that you aren’t there to defend your results but to present them. You are looking for input, not acceptance. Use this opportunity to objectively reconsider your work with the new insight provided by the interactions you’ve had with colleagues and better plan the next phases of your project (or perhaps even re-evaluate some conclusions you’ve already reached). It also helps that, usually, scientists at a meeting are there to have an enjoyable time; it is way harder to present to your PI, who knows everything about your work and is actively looking for flaws, than it is to present to someone who comes by your poster to ask a question or two about what you have worked on. Keep this in mind if anxiety creeps up: “It’s way harder to present in my faculty than it is to present here. I got this.” If you leave your ego at the door, present your work to the best of your ability, consider opposing opinions with objectivity and genuinely interest yourself in all the tremendous science presented during the meeting (even outside of your field of interest), we promise these opportunities will prove themselves to be profoundly powerful tools in your scientific and personal growth. Creating a poster Here is a sample poster you can use as the basis for your own. It includes everything you need to make a simple, traditional and good-looking poster and is modifiable directly in PowerPoint. The document also includes tips in the various placeholder sections of the poster. It is important to note that this is one of many possible formats you can use; feel free to modify it so it fits your needs. You should also ask other members of your labs to see their own poster, so you can have a feel of the wide range of possible ways to make a poster. Finally, here is a collection of posters we consider of high quality that could orient the creation of your own! Various alternatives to the traditional poster presentation have been suggested throughout the years. One of those has gained more traction and an example of this brief, QR code-centric poster “better poster” format can be found here. Depending on the field you are presenting in, this type of non-standard presentation method can be welcomed with various levels of approval and interest. As a general rule, always discuss presentation modalities with your PI, as your work represents their lab, their work and their reputation. It is also always a good idea to do a couple test runs of your presentation with your PI as well as your colleagues to iron out the little kinks you might find out, as well as allow you to identify potential questions you’ll be asked.

Once you’ve produced your poster, it is time to print it! Discuss with your colleagues whether the lab, or yourself, is expected to pay for the printing fees. There are many options for printing services; however, we recommend CopieUS. CopieUS is an affordable printing on-campus print service. All the details concerning their services (size range, line drawing, image/text/color, costs) are available on their website. While opening hours may change due to the COVID19 pandemic, there are other print shops near campus, such as Rubiks, Copie Nova, Copie Express and Staples. Before your printing appointment, CopieUS provides key recommendations, which are also applicable to most print shops. “1. Decide on your poster size before beginning your poster. (You can change the size later, but you’ll risk shifting all of your formatted hard work into a big mess.) How to format your poster size using PowerPoint: ● Select “Design” → “Page SetUp”. Then select the size (width and height). NOTE: One side of the poster must be less than or equal to 36 inches. Otherwise, it will be too large for our printer to print! ● Help? Google “how to size PowerPoint slide”. It’s all there. 2. Double check your poster: ● Avoid copy pasting screenshots, they will pixelate when enlarged to poster size. Remember that your appointment is only 20 minutes long. All of that time is required in order for you to download your poster onto our computers, insert your choice of poster paper into the printer, and print it! There is no time for last minute formatting. 3. Save your poster as a PDF file and put it on a USB! This is the best way to ensure that your print job is to your liking.” Excerpt from “What to do BEFORE your printing appointment” by CopieUS

Online poster presentations are an increasingly popular format for virtual and in-person events. Often, when the conference is online, you may be asked to record yourself and present your e-poster. The format might be similar to oral presentations. The most simple and popular platform used to record your virtual presentation is Zoom. This web conferencing tool allows you to record your presentation (audio, powerpoint and yourself). With your McGill single sign-on (SSO), you can access a Zoom version with more advanced options than the free one.

Tools, Databases and Resources POC Tools TL;DR: POC tools are the Wikipedia of the medical world; theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re the best way to get a quick and valid overview of a subject but may not be as precise or in depth as classic scientific articles. Considering POCs usually assemble seminal studies and high-quality references, they are a fantastic starting point to learn on a subject and delve into the scientific literature, but are also excellent tools to make clinical decisions. The most well-regarded, widely used POC is UpToDate (UtD). Simply put, POCs are exceptionally high yield. McGill university offers membership and access to many POC through the library website. You can access the landing page which regroups most websites directly through this link. Point-of-care tools (POCs) are resources that allow a clinician to access prefiltered information efficiently during care, such as in the clinic or at the bedside. Articles found in POCs are generally written by eminent specialists in the field and allow a clear, clean, concise overview of a subject. It is a versatile tool that allows everything from guidelines identification to pathophysiological mechanistic understanding. More importantly, it allows the user to read information that has been critically appraised and validated by experts, which might be difficult for students to do, especially early in their education and career. POCs articles are much easier to peruse and utilize than primary literature (such as a scientific article reporting the results of a randomized controlled trial); furthermore, POCs can be classified as secondary literature but will be a more effective source of information than more classical secondary literature (such as a meta-review of a specific intervention). This stems from the fact that POCs articles are generally written as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;review of reviewsâ&#x20AC;?, a synthesized overview of metareviews, trials and expert opinions. It should be noted that some primary literature, in the form of either trials or experimental/basic research manuscripts, are also included when necessary. POCs articles are also organized in order to provide clinical information in the most readable, effective format possible. Finally, evidence found in POCs is usually rated (levels of evidence/grade of recommendation) and will provide a bibliographical reference to all primary studies and reviews that were used to design and write the article, which makes it an excellent way to gain a sense of where to start when delving into a new subject.

It is easy to become overwhelmed by the amount of novel literature published every day; even though POCs will not necessarily be entirely up to date with the most cutting edge scientific discoveries, they represent an excellent way to keep up with the most current information and guidelines for all but very niche subjects. While specialist physicians might consider some of the articles insufficient in regard to their level of scientific depth and timely relevance, POCs can be seen as medical student’s gold standard tool to identify current medical consensus. They should not be construed, however, as an effective tool to identify the latest clinical breakthrough or as an authoritative source on physiological, pathological, cellular and/or molecular mechanisms.

PubMed TL;DR: If Up-to-Date is the Wikipedia of the medical world, PubMed would be Google. It is your entry point in the world of research articles, your one-stop shop to find papers on all types of subjects. This is where you go to read the sources, the nitty-gritty stuff, where you get the specifics and where you can do a truly deep dive. It’s not, clinically, as high-yield as POCs, but this is where the underlying science is found. Delve into it here. PubMed is the largest and most widely used bibliographic database that indexes life sciences and biomedical articles and abstracts, as well as textbooks and biomedical books through the NCBI Bookshelf. It covers every field related to life sciences, from proteomics to crystallography as well as every health discipline, be it nursing, dentistry, medicine, chiropractic or space physiology. The database is compiled and maintained by the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), which is part of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), which itself is a branch/institute within the National Institutes of Health (NIH; United States of America). PubMed is capable of searching, through MEDLINE, articles from almost every journal which publishes information related to life sciences, medicine and biomedical sciences. In academic circles, an article that cannot be queried on PubMed is almost considered to not truly exist, as it means it is not indexed by any major databases (there are caveats to that, but it goes to show how eminent of a portal PubMed is). Use PubMed to find specific articles, from experimental oncology papers to meta-reviews examining the importance of walking to prevent heart disease. Or papers about whether full or empty beer bottles can fracture a human skull. Or a paper about how a black hole in the center of the earth allows communication through dark DNA. While pretty funny, this also underlines another essential caveat of repositories such as PubMed: they are not necessarily curated. It is the searcher’s responsibility to evaluate and appraise the validity of the information, which makes it fundamentally different from POC tools.

PubMed acts as a free resource that allows effective, comprehensive search of its literature and reference database and is now considered the primary source of scientific literature referencing. It is important to note that PubMed itself does not host most of the full-length articles but rather the bibliographic information, the abstract and the updated link to the complete document. Some of the articles will be hosted on PubMed Central (PMC), which is a full-text archive of various journals and publishers that struck agreements with PubMed in order to provide complete manuscripts without the hindrance of a paywall; some publishers and journals are also “open access”, therefore do not require an account nor payment to gain access to the full text. Finally, many major publications will necessitate that you use access credentials to download the full-length manuscript. Luckily, McGill library has an extensive membership portfolio, allowing your library access credentials to let you read most major journal articles when going through the library website. Contact your librarian for help if you can’t access an article you want to read! Alternatively, contact a member of the MMRA and we will be more than happy to lend a hand! Finally, for the medicine and science geek out there, it should be noted that through PMC and some other programs, as well as bibliographic conservation efforts, PubMed is capable of referencing full texts from 1950 onward through numerization of paper articles. Yay! For example, you can read the original paper in which Rous reported that a solid tumour could be induced by a filtered agent (which contained oncoviruses, but they didn’t know!). This result suggested (for the very first time!) the possibility of an exogenous source of neoplasia, which led to the emergence of the entire concept of oncogenes and opened the way to our current understanding of oncogenicity. It warms our little scientific hearts that we can access, freely, such meaningful contributions to science.

Citation Tools These tools are invaluable to allow you to reference past literature in your work. McGill offers a variety of free software on your personal computers at home or at the university. For more details, consult McGill citation guides & software.

McGill Resources At the beginning of your first year of medical school, you will have a small group and a short lecture with librarians who will help you navigate the library and provide you with useful knowledge concerning basic searches on the web using common databases. Throughout the year, McGill library offers a wide variety of helpful workshops, ranging from introduction to citation tools (ex. EndNote, Zotero) to tips to conduct a systematic review. For any specific questions that you might have, we suggest that you email Lucy Kiester, the current librarian for McGill undergraduate medical students.

Final word This guide was created in the hope of orienting you in the vast world of research as you begin your journey into medical school. We present tips and advices that we believe will help you navigate this environment, but always remember that research is an everchanging entity; discuss it with your peers and colleagues, seek mentorship opportunities and embrace the constant growth that these opportunities provide. Keep an open mind while always remaining critical. Most of all, try to have fun. We thank you for reading the MMRA research guide and hope that you found it helpful. It was a privilege to design and write it, and we are thankful for our colleaguesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; input, which most definitely improved the quality of our work. We invite you to come join us on our social media platforms to stay up to date on the MMRA activities and to have access to other relevant resources. Facebook Instagram mmramcgill@gmail.com