complex topic

My newly developed topic is, how can you turn a liquid from the stages of ice, liquid, than to gas, and how are the molecules arranged differently in each phase.

My fellow group mates gave me ideas to try and rephrase my search, and they gave me words to use such as, 'molecular activity, molecules in ice, changes from phase to phase, and temperature of ice, water, and steam.' These different words to use can open up my search and broaden my search results, and ultimately help me find the answer to my cluster topic.

First article-I searched the words ice and water, and I found an article of help for me. I found that the database would give broad answers to your search, so I tried to narrow my search and make it as specific as possible. The article that I found was a scholarly one, as it was written by an expert or by someone who has a strong knowledge in the field of water quality. Some new steps would be that I be more specific in my search and find a smaller article.

Document CitationWorsnop, R. L. (1994, February 11). Water quality. CQ Researcher, 4, 121-144. Retrieved November 1, 2007, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1994021100.
Document ID: cqresrre1994021100Document URL: http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1994021100

Second-The second article I found by searching ice and water again, and I found a quality. I only found one article, so that was an obstacle. The article is trade/professional as it doesn't seem to be written by an expert. Next time I would like to find more results.

http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1241404051&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=17850&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Third-For my third article, I found a very specific article on ice molecules, as those were the terms that I entered. A difficulty was that the article and database were a bit confusing, but nonetheless helpful. The article is scholarly as it was written by a German professor, and he uses very scientific and specific terms about the topic. Next time, I would try refine my search and make it more direct, as some of the results that I got weren't entirely relevant to my search.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/search/allsearch?mode=viewselected&product=journal&ID=113468060&view_selected.x=52&view_selected.y=4

Magazines

Today in class, we were handed magazines, and were told to categorize the magazines into one of three groups: Popular, trade/professional or scholarly. We were to look at the magazine's appearance, context, advertisements, and other such attributes to find which type of magazine it is. A "popular" magazine is described as one that has a lot of advertisements, is designed for the general public, and it uses vocabulary that is considered basic. A popular magazine also has a lot of color, and essentially a lot of color. A "trade/professional magazine" is one that is geared towards members of a specific industry or profession, uses language that is more technical and relates to a certain profession, and has advertisements that are designed to pull in buyers from specific fields or professions. The final type of magazine is scholarly/research journal. These types of magazines are intended for scholars, researchers, and students with some insight to the field in which the magazine covers. These types of magazines also generally have less color and minimal to no advertisements.

Some advantages to having print and electronic forms of periodicals are that readers can gain quick access to whatever they may be searching for, and they can look for articles on past topics and important issues. Some disadvantages are that some periodicals become outdated, and their publishes don't print them past certain dates. Also, some periodicals require you be a buyer to get the information that you are looking for. This mainly happens online, but either way, you are going to be short some money if you end up having to buy the magazine.

Ice, Water, and Steam...

This week, we are discussing the different ways molecules can be heated and cooled and how they react once heated, cooled, or left at regular temperature. We are also discussing the different characteristics of these different phases, and how they relate and differ from one another. Initially I searched all three phrases together, but found it difficult to find clear cut answers when the three phases are put together. However if you search the substances individually, you will find more answers that are relevant to your search. I first used Google, as Google is arguably the largest database on the Internet. I used the Britannica Online database next, as I felt that this database would give me ample results with reputable sources backing those results. I then used CQ Researcher as we used this database in class on Friday, and it was the fresher one on my mind. However, CQ Researcher seemed confusing to me, and I couldn't exactly find what I was looking for. So for this particular search, CQ wasn't the best database to search. Finally I used Lexis-Nexis, because not only does it have a great name, but it is a helpful database, as you can type in whole phrases. So I was able to put in "ice, steam, and water" altogether as I did with Google, but I got a different variety of answers. I like the library databases, as there are so many different options for you to choose from, all of which can help you with specific types of research depending on what you are looking for, and how you want to search it.

What we discussed...

Today in class Professor Soules showed us some more search engines to use and some different databases than form what we learned about last week. We tried a database where you can modify your search to look for results pertaining to specific dates. For example we looked for "seed banks" on October 19th, 2007. This strategy will obviously give you updated data, but it also gives you the most relevant results. Although there may be fewer results than there would be without the specific date entered, this strategy is an affective way to find you're results, as well as entertaining. You can try typing in your birthday and seeing what results come up from date. We also used search engines that give you the opportunity to use several searches in one, essentially combining words. Using this style of database, you can split up a three worded phrase, and simply enter each word into its own line. This will give you a wider range of results and a variety to choose from as you look for the best possible answer to accommodate your search desires. To me, this is very important as some databases may be "confused" with a way that you phrase a search. However, if you use this style of search, you lower the possibility of coming up with vague and "confusing" results. This style of search forces you to be creative and to try different ways to come up with appropriate results.

Research Log

My final question in my research was Earth's gravity. At first I just searched the word 'gravity' by itself, but there were too many results and I had a broad variety of answers. So I narrowed my search by being more specific by using phrases such as "gravity and how it works on earth." This worked, but I still had varied results. Some answers were too broad, while others gave inadequate answers and explanations to my search. I then tried omitting connecting words such as 'the' and 'on.' I also entered the word 'and' into my search as we learned in class on Friday, this will provide more detailed and relevant answers. This technique helped me in my search, however I still had to many results. So that's how I got my final search of Earth's gravity. This was the most specific and helpful way to arrange my words. I got fewer results, but these results were more beneficial and relevant to what I was searching for. I feel that after my final search, I had just enough results to accommodate my question. I had plenty of results in the end, and a majority of them were very helpful to my inquires. I think that any number between 1,000-50,000 is adequate. If you only have a three digit number as your number of results, you may not have creditable sources.If you have results in the millions, you may have too many generic answers. Some of my results helped me out, and helped me to understand my question. Whereas other results only confused me, and created even more ideas in my head, and ultimately more searches. So I guess even the confusing results helped me out in a sense. Boolean operators helped me to refine my search and to find more specific answers to what I was looking for. By entering words such as 'and, or' and also 'only' you get results that aren't generic, but more precise to what you are looking for. As we discussed Friday, databases are smart devices, and by using Boolean operators, a database will give you more clear-cut results.

Database

In class we discussed what a database is, and looked into the true meaning of the word database. We used candy to demonstrate how a database sorts information. I found it interesting and important on some of the confusions of a database. It didn't occur to me before the importance of clarity in a database. If your search is missing words or isn't precise, the results of your research my be skewed. As we discussed in class, it is vital that you be as specific as possible without using generic words for your search. When generic words are used, your search will be very broad and in most cases insufficient. So it is important that you enter specific words and also multiple words to narrow your search. This search strategy is by far the most effective. Although you may have fewer results, if you use specific words your results will be narrowed down to only those that will be beneficial. Using this strategy forces you to be creative in that you have to be very clear and descriptive when soring a database and using this strategy. As we saw with the candy, saying chocolate "or" almonds, is very different from saying chocolate "and" almonds. You get different results with each of these phrases, but when you enter the word "and" in between what you are searching, you will get less results that tend to be more precise and accurate.

Question in class

My first question came from my physics class, which was asking about the differences between velocity and speed. While finding info in regards to this question, some more question were created such as, what does the word acceleration mean, as the definition to velocity had acceleration in it. Also, I thought of the different units in which speed can be measured in. While conducting my searches, I attempted to implement different approaches to finding results. I tried changing words around, I used the least amount of words as I could to be more specific, and I also different online definitions to get a clear and definitive answer. In the end, I found that my original question is much simpler than the complex one that came out of this research. I could definitely continue further with this process as the answers that I found were sometimes confusing, and thus making me curious as to find what the wrong answers meant. Some other questions to help my research would be, does velocity and speed change in higher elevations, or is there any constant value for speed of velocity in any one circumstance. Specific questions like this would help in my exploration.

In class today...

Today we discussed newspapers and how the major newspapers for the big cities have some similarities as well as many differences. The points of how each paper is affected by their owners was the ost important piece of information presented in class. I never would have thought of how the owner of a major newspaper can affect the way the writers talk about a certain topic or issue. Now that I know this bit of information, I will look closer at a topic discussed in a newspaper, as the information may be slighly altered in a way that the owner desires it to be. Also, knowing that the source of information can be affected, I will research mulpitle sources to find my answeres, so that way I can somewhat gather a census and make sure that the authorities of the news sources are accurate. With the issues discussed in class, I have realized that certain topics and issues may not be as accurate as people think them to be. I have noticed that issuses need to throughly researched, as topic delevopment today may lead to inadequate or misleading information.

Research Log entry #2

This past week in my Physics class, we were discussing ramps, and so I tried to answer the question on what the exact definitions of two words are and how they differentiate. I used Google to find the answers as I feel that Google does the best job of finding answers to such questions. I used a couple of terms to find my answers. I put in the words 'acceleration and velocity' as well as 'the definitions of.' In the end I found both definitions which were that acceleration is a change of speed, and velocity is speed. I tried re-arranging words, and omitting certain words as well to modify my search. The thought of looking up the definition to the word 'speed' came up, as the definition of the word velocity came up as speed. So I wanted to see what the dictionary had to say about the speed in a scientific sense.