Goals

Internship Goals

Improve ability to receive feedback

In order to reach this goal, I asked for specific, constructive criticism each week and continually sought to not only implement given feedback, but critically improve beyond the feedback. My manuscript writing skills, independent project management, and confidence has grown from meeting with Dr. McHenry and others each week to receive feedback.

Improve my scientific writing for better accessibility

Writing needs to be accessible across audiences in order to be impactful, but I tend to write as a long-winded scientist. I have attended a manuscript writing workshop hosted by Dr. McHenry, a grant writing workshop through IU, and a semester-long 'Writing in the Sciences' course. Much of my duties throughout the year have involved copy-editing manuscripts to truly learn ways I can hone the tone of my writing.

Become more confident in my abilities within the professional workplace

Beyond learning to receive feedback effectively, I also wanted to improve my confidence in presenting and speaking when meeting with others over my individual or our collective work. Through continually meeting with Dr. McHenry in order to evaluate my thoughts behind each manuscript revision, I have continued to learn how to communicate my ideas. I feel more confident to explain my research or writing to individuals who may never have known about asymptomatic malaria (for example) before.

Since setting these goals, I have been writing more than I anticipated and fine-tuned my ability to write quickly yet effectively, which often means that I am able to complete my work in a shorter time span that was expected of me at the same quality standard. I look forward to dedicating more hours to growing as a manuscript editor with Dr. McHenry over the summer. From this internship, I have learned new parts of my professional and academic identity that I never would have anticipated. I am not only learning how to build better professional relationships with others, but also how to develop a sense of identity within myself in the career world of public health.

Art from the University Writing Center

Learning new skills and confidence

Career Goals

I have always wanted to play a role in creating impactful changes for vulnerable communities. Before the LHSI experience, I was unsure about the ways my skills as a writer and public health researcher would fit into my ultimate career goal. The great aspect about my Community Health and English degrees are that they are so applicable, but it can also be hard to pinpoint how I will specifically use my experiences and skill. By gaining practical experience and insight, I feel more confident in finding my place among many leaders of change post-graduation, including Dr. McHenry.

I am passionate about writing and it is a natural skill that I am lucky to have, however I enjoy the sense of improving communities and helping others that comes from engaging in the dissemination of science. Especially in the past year, I think many scientific researchers have recognized the need to maintain a steady stream of trustworthy and accessible communication with the public, and for me I am passionate about embodying a connection between the general public and the body of science. I believe that mediating this gap truly does help others, whether that be at an individual, community or global scale. I feel confident in my writing abilities, but through my current internship, I have learned that just because I am a good writer doesn’t necessarily mean that my writing skills flow intuitively into scientific writing. It truly is a whole new discipline that has changed drastically within the past few years.

My time at my internship has taught me about the importance of self-management for your own career goals. My supervisor has suggested starting my own business in manuscript and grant writing once I gain more experience over the summer, where I am able to converse with authors independently and set a freelance price. This is a career path I have never considered, but its flexibility and independence appeals to me as I continue to grow my self-knowledge and career preferences. I have had many experiences over the past 2 years at IUPUI that have helped me feel more assured in making career-related decisions, especially as I continue to explore career options in the realm of manuscript writing. As I continue through IUPUI, I am hoping to maintain a self-sufficient working relationship to edit manuscripts and grants with other faculty members across campus.

Where do I see myself in 5 years?

Over the next few years, I would like to specifically finetune my identity within writing in the sciences, while maintaining my strengths in both writing and public health. I have had some great exploratory experiences so far at IUPUI and I would like to continue to engage in the community, listen to others’ stories, and build confidence within my science writing abilities. This can be achieved through work and volunteering experiences, but I also hope to travel internationally again someday and engage in a public research project through IUPUI. By gaining insight into the world, I hope to not only learn about others, and also about my own professional place as a leader and community-builder.

In 5 years, I hope to be a part of many diverse projects, similar to my internship experience today. Writing as a skill is transferable, intertwining my desire for creativity, empathy, leadership and teamwork through my career. Because I am interested in continually growing as a science writer, I would love to be in multiple different teams to develop stories through a wide range of mediums: news stories, research manuscripts, books, international research, or even developing my own classes in the field. I hope to share stories and experiences from different perspectives, and being a part of many projects will allow me to follow through with this goal. I see myself working from a multitude of areas as a science writing and, of course, always learning.

Becoming Published

To reach my career goal of creating published work, I am going to continually work on developing and writing manuscripts of my own. In the process, I am going to learn skills in project management, team-based manuscript writing, and copy-editing my own work. Throughout the years, I am excited to contribute to the publication of many crucial research projects, and I look forward to one day seeing the citation "Thomas et al."

Before starting this internship, my main career goal was to establish my own non-profit organization aimed at community development in Indianapolis. My goals have changed as I have learned the various ways that clinical research communication can create an impactful change within vulnerable communities. Writing and clinical research suits my goals and skills well, but in order to establish myself as a professional in this emerging field, it is critical that I am a part of creating high-quality, published journal articles. Next year, I would love to continue working with Dr. McHenry as I become an independent scientific manuscript editor.

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