About Dr Fiona Ray
I live in Sydney, Australia, on a suburban block that interfaces with the bush. I occasionally see wallabies and echidnas in my backyard.
I have a science degree with first class honours in anatomy, and a medical degree, both from the University of Sydney. I am also a Prosector of the University of Sydney.
When doing my science degree I chose all my subjects according to the number of essays required - I listed all the subjects I was interested in and ruled out any requiring more than one or two essays. Writing was not my strong point. I spent a maximum of two days writing any one essay, I would spend many weeks beforehand reading the required data and worrying, but could not put pen to paper until the deadline loomed. Then I did my honours year and was suddenly required to produce a 5000 word literature review. I loved my topic (a structure study using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometry of parathyroid hormone related protein (PTHrP) which caused humeral hypercalcemia of malignancy (HHM),) and had a wonderful supervisor, Dr Julian Barden, who I did not wish to disappoint. And I also had my first ever computer, I think it was a Macintosh SE or SE/30. For some reason I didn't think of the literature review as an essay. I decided to type into the computer the summaries I had written and quotes I had highlighted from all the papers I had read (10,000 words typed in one day!) Then I spent three weeks rearranging and ordering my notes, and in the end produced a great 'essay' which became the introduction for my thesis.
I was approached a number of years ago by a work colleague who was writing her first journal article and did not know how to go about writing the required literature review. Over a lovely lunch in Kings Cross, I outlined to her how I wrote the literature review for my honours thesis during my science degree.
I particularly love anatomy. Like many other systems of classification, it is a methodical 'language' that allows people from very diverse backgrounds to know exactly what another is talking about. I had long planned a 'book' and later a 'website' to help others to learn anatomy, but having no background in IT or computer programming did not know where to start. I searched the internet, read books, and talked to people, but still felt unqualified to begin. Eventually, I decided that the only way my anatomy website was going to happen was if I made a start despite not knowing how, and I would learn as I went.
The first things I had to learn were how to choose and buy a domain name, how to create a website (which i found almost impossible until I discovered Weebly), and learn about search engine optimisation (SEO - after all, what is the point of having a website to help people if no-one ever finds the site?) I needed a simple topic (but good content) for my first site and remembered the page of notes I wrote for my colleague regarding writing literature reviews.
So this represents my first attempt to build a website.
I hope Thesis Literature Review is useful to you.
Regards,
Fiona
I have a science degree with first class honours in anatomy, and a medical degree, both from the University of Sydney. I am also a Prosector of the University of Sydney.
When doing my science degree I chose all my subjects according to the number of essays required - I listed all the subjects I was interested in and ruled out any requiring more than one or two essays. Writing was not my strong point. I spent a maximum of two days writing any one essay, I would spend many weeks beforehand reading the required data and worrying, but could not put pen to paper until the deadline loomed. Then I did my honours year and was suddenly required to produce a 5000 word literature review. I loved my topic (a structure study using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometry of parathyroid hormone related protein (PTHrP) which caused humeral hypercalcemia of malignancy (HHM),) and had a wonderful supervisor, Dr Julian Barden, who I did not wish to disappoint. And I also had my first ever computer, I think it was a Macintosh SE or SE/30. For some reason I didn't think of the literature review as an essay. I decided to type into the computer the summaries I had written and quotes I had highlighted from all the papers I had read (10,000 words typed in one day!) Then I spent three weeks rearranging and ordering my notes, and in the end produced a great 'essay' which became the introduction for my thesis.
I was approached a number of years ago by a work colleague who was writing her first journal article and did not know how to go about writing the required literature review. Over a lovely lunch in Kings Cross, I outlined to her how I wrote the literature review for my honours thesis during my science degree.
I particularly love anatomy. Like many other systems of classification, it is a methodical 'language' that allows people from very diverse backgrounds to know exactly what another is talking about. I had long planned a 'book' and later a 'website' to help others to learn anatomy, but having no background in IT or computer programming did not know where to start. I searched the internet, read books, and talked to people, but still felt unqualified to begin. Eventually, I decided that the only way my anatomy website was going to happen was if I made a start despite not knowing how, and I would learn as I went.
The first things I had to learn were how to choose and buy a domain name, how to create a website (which i found almost impossible until I discovered Weebly), and learn about search engine optimisation (SEO - after all, what is the point of having a website to help people if no-one ever finds the site?) I needed a simple topic (but good content) for my first site and remembered the page of notes I wrote for my colleague regarding writing literature reviews.
So this represents my first attempt to build a website.
I hope Thesis Literature Review is useful to you.
Regards,
Fiona