Review

As we have been going through the quarter, we were told to listen closely in our classes, and come up with a an issue relevant to our cluster, a "cluster topic." I decided to use the topic of ice, liquid, and gas molecules and how their molecules are arranged and related in the three different phases as my cluster is "How Things Work." We have been using different databases and using the University catalog to search for things relevant to our topics. For this Review assignment, we were to find material while utilizing a variety of databases and then to evaluate our searches and discussing our thoughts on a blog.

The first research tool that I used was the EBSCO database which was a part of the Academic Search Premier. I used this first, because it is a generic database and it gave me a wide variety of results to work with. Also this database helped me to narrow my searches later in my review as I tried multiple searches and realized that I needed to be more direct in finding articles and other materials for my cluster topic. I initially got a wide base of results, and from this I could refine my search and use more specific terms to find my results, so therefor using this database was a good research tool to use first as it gave me a good start and allowed me to brainstorm some ideas. After I found some material from this database, I then used a database specific to science as I used Science.Gov, where they have a search engine to find specific databases. This was by far the most difficult part of my research. I tried many different ways to such my topic and I altered the words 'ice, water, and molecules' in a variety of ways. I also used Boolean operators in my searches, but even when I found databases that catered to my needs in this search, the information that I found gave me minimal relevant information. Using Science.Gov gave me many choices, but for the most part I ran into dead ends. In the end, I found some material on the site itself, rather than find material on one of the databases that it found for me. The article actually came from mms.gov which is the site for Minerals Management Service, and there I found material that was helpful to my search.

I searched just the word 'ice' to find this result, as I grew frustrated from my other searches. The engine on Science.Gov gave me complex results when I searched multiple words or terms, so I decided to try and just search a single word. That is how I found the most relevant topics to my cluster. Like I mentioned earlier, I also tried to incorporate Boolean operators into my searches as this can help, especially when using EBSCO.

As far as evaluative techniques is concerned, I mainly looked at its URL if it was an online source, and if it was in a text, I looked at the author. I found a few articles on my topic, however the author didn't seem credible, so I didn't use it. So if I found an article by a professor, I looked at what school he or she taught at. With the URL, I looked to see if it stemmed from a credible source, such as science.gov, or mms.gov, the Minerals Management Service. This way I knew that the material presented came from an expert or experts on the issue.

As my search continued, I tried using different terms and words to find results. I also changed the database that I used frequently. I was having a tough time with some databases, so I used a variety, especially on science.gov, as they gave me many databases to choose from, some of which were completely unhelpful. I found that with certain branches from Science.gov not every database was even a useful one to my search, so that's when I had to go back to my results page, and start a whole new search in a new field. Science.gov actually gives you a broad topic to browse through, such as 'Environment' and that is where you will find an appropriate database to use.

With each database I found different material to use. I searched through EBSCO, Applied Science, Anthropological Literature Online, Science.gov, databases within USGS, and Google. I chose these databases as the seemed to be the most relevant and helpful as they are specific to science and my cluster topic as a whole. EBSCO was the most helpful as I have used it in other assignments, so I was familiar with it. The other databases were a little more confusing, so I didn't get a whole lot of help from those databases. Science.gov was good as it is a search engine for other Government funded databases that were specific to my topic. USGS was broad, but helpful, and Google was obviously easy to use, but also not a search engine specific to my cluster topic. Here's the list of what I found in my searches.

1. In EBSCO Host, I found an article called Thermophysical Properties of Ice, Water, and Steam

• The Author is Liley, P.E.
• International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education Jan 2005
• Article
• General database

2. Mechanical Properties of Sea Ice

• Minerals Management Service, Dr. Gordon F. Cox
• June 30, 1987
• http://www.mms.gov/
• Specific subject database

3. Combined Ice and Water Balances

• Wendell V. Tangborn, Lawrence R. Mayo, David R. Scully and Robert M. Krimmel
• United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 1977
• Haystac catalog

4. Fire & ice - methane hydrate, made of natural-gas molecules trapped in ice

• Chana Freiman Stiefel
• Science World, March 21st, 1997
• findarticles.com
• Article
• World Wide Web source

For the sources that I used material on, I logged the title of the article, authors, publishers, and its date of publication as well. I feel that these facts are the most important and relevant information to keep on a bibliography as they give you what it is called, who wrote it, where it is from, and when it was written. These characteristics are the standard for most bibliographies as well, and they help you a lot when you need to go back and find the material again.

With this assignment, I learned that there is a lot of difference in the chemical makeup, characteristics, and molecular arrangement between the phases of ice, liquid, and gas. Before I started working on this cluster topic, I assumed that ice, liquid, and gas would be very simple and similar. However as I did my research I found that the three phases are quite different and complex in their own specific way.

My two new research questions are "How can ice bergs coexist in water while gas molecules exist as well," and also, "Can the molecules of each phase be affected by pollution and global warming."

In the future, I would like to use Technology Abstracts, as I didn't us that database with this review. I would also like to take advantage of some more of the databases on Science.gov by using the databases that aren't necessarily generated towards the environment. For example I would like to use some of the databases under the technology section, as I might be able to find something about melting ice by using technology, or maybe even something about vehicle omissions and how they can affect the phases of ice. liquid, and gas, and maybe if they can affect the molecules of each of these phases. I would also like to look into Lexis-Nexis. I like that database, however I didn't use it for this assignment as I was overwhelmed with the other databases, and once I found one thing, I found another so I got side-tracked with some of my searches, so therefor I didn't get to use this database. All in all this was a good review. This review assignment displayed me to a plethora of sources of information and materials, and many databases that I will use in the future. It also helped me to see what databases help you the most and the least when doing an assignment involving a lot of research and sorting through informative material.