Foundation students present posters at annual research forum

April, 2014

Foundation students presented posters about pressing health issues affecting Qatar at the third annual Foundation Program Research Forum.

As part of the English for Academic Purposes course of Dr. Rachid Bendriss, Lecturer of English for Academic Purposes and Assistant Dean for Student Recruitment, students spent four weeks learning research skills and putting them into practice to create poster presentations about obesity, smoking, diabetes and the increasing prevalence of cardiovascular disease among Qatari women.

The students, working in coeducational groups of four, displayed their posters to the rest of the college at the open forum event on Wednesday 23 April.

Foundation students Mohammed Alabidi, Khulood Abdul Hameed, Bashayer Al-Mulla and Mohammed Al-Abdulla presented a poster about Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

Mohammed Al-Abdulla said: “We chose to study MERS because the virus that causes the syndrome is novel and because it is clearly highly relevant to us here in Qatar. A problem with MERS is that it is extremely difficult to diagnose because the symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath, which are virtually the same as a case of flu or a cold.”

Faculty members and students from the college’s Pre-medical and Medical programs dropped into the research forum to discuss the posters on display.

The other poster presentations were by Noora Al-Hail, Sulaiman Alshakhs, Nasser Binmarzook and Dana Sheban (cardiovascular disease); Nouf Al-Khal, Aysha Al-Thani, Ahmed Al-Neama and Mohammed J. Al-Kubaisi (smoking); Sham Hasnah, Fatima Al-Khawaja, Abdulaziz Al-Abdulghani and Abdulrahman Al-Mohammadi (obesity); and Abdulla Al-Mulla, Hamad Al-Naimi, Aisha AlMulla and Albandary Al-Qorashi (diabetes).

Collaborating with WCMC-Q’s Distributed Library, Dr. Bendriss invited Regan Gunningham, Electronic Resources Librarian, and Reya Saliba, Information Services Specialist, to deliver three information literacy sessions. The students were taught how to find scholarly sources, evaluate sources for relevance and quality, and correctly cite sources and avoid plagiarism. Students also conducted interviews with clinicians to gather material for their research projects.

Reya said: “The aim was to improve the information literacy of the students and to equip them with key skills that will allow them to effectively conduct independent research. One important element was familiarizing the students with academic databases – where previously they would use Google to search for materials, they now know how to identify a suitable academic database and how to use various search methods to find the type of source they need.”

Dr. Bendriss said: “Preparing their projects for the forum is a very effective way for the Foundation students to develop key research skills. The students have learned how to frame a research question, develop a research strategy, find pertinent sources, and how to present their findings in a coherent, sophisticated manner.

“The research paper is the last project the Foundation students undertake before they complete the course, and it is an effective way to draw together a lot of the skills and knowledge they have learned during the program, and to apply them to a practical task.

“In addition to learning key skills such as how to find and present information in the style demanded by academia, the students have also learned to work effectively as members of a team, which will be of great use to them as they progress with their studies and in their future careers as physicians.”