Week 3 Entry: Background research

Part One: Background Information

Number and enter answers to ALL of the prompts in the following questions into your Research Journal blog.

1. What is your research topic? This should be a general area of interest at this point. It should NOT be a research question yet.

            Deep sea anglerfish

2. Select an unfamiliar Search Engine or Metasearch Engine from the list linked in the lesson and run a search for your topic. DO NOT use Google for this assignment!

a. Tell me which search engine or metasearch engine you used. Scan a few webpages from your search and answer the following:

      Newslookup.com

b. What new ideas or information did you find about the topic?

      There is a new species scientist discovered

c. What are some subtopics you read about in your search?

      New species, oceanography, ceratoid angler fish, evolution, and bioluminescence

d. What possible research questions came up while you were reading?

      How did a species evolve into a new species?

      What concludes it as a new species?

      Have there been other new discoveries of species with in the last 5 to 10 years?

e. List words that might be used for future searches. Be sure to include and label at least one:

DISTINCTIVE ~ Deep sea anglerfish; Evolution

BROAD ~ Marine wildlife;                  Science

NARROW ~ Lasiognathus dinema;     Evolution process of new deep sea anglerfish

RELATED ~ Bioluminescence;                       Natural selection

These should be single words or short phrases indicating a single concept. For example, instead of writing “the influence of climate change on salmon fisheries,” you would list “climate change” “salmon” and “fisheries” as three separate search terms.

Part Two: Evaluating the Website

Whether you are doing background research, thinking of buying a new car, looking for health care information, or just satisfying your curiosity about any question, you will want to ask yourself about the source of the information. This week you will walk through the steps of evaluating one website.

Please respond to each of the points below in your evaluation of a website of your choice.

1.     Search the web, select one website that relates to your topic, and give me the URL.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-08/nsu-nsu080515.php

2. Identify the website's domain, including the suffix (for example, .org or .net). What does that tell

you about the website?

(.org); it is used by a non-profit organization or advocacy groups.

3. Authority — Scan the page for:

• Information about the sponsors and/or authors of the page. Is there an “about us” link?

            Joe Donzelli

            jdonzelli@nova.edu

• Are there any author names, either individual or organizational?

            Nova Southeastern University

            American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

• What are the author’s credentials?

No credentials were found other than being associated with Nova Southeastern University.

4. Currency

• Can you tell if the page has been updated? Is there a “date last updated” or copyright date?

Copyright date of 2016 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science is provided. However, a public release date of August, 5 2015 is listed.

• Do you consider this page sufficiently current for the topic you are researching?

Yes, because the website has been recently updated and the article is a little over a year old.

5. Accuracy and Objectivity

• Does the page have quality information? Are information sources documented with footnotes or links? Does it seem as credible as information in books, journals, textbooks?

It does appear to be accurate and objective information because the university had conducted the discovery and research. Also, the discovering researcher, Tracey Sutton, Ph.D., was included within the article along with other specialists in the field. My only critique is, I wish there was more detail information on the species. For an example, what made this a new species? What factors concluded this?

• Why was the page put on the web? Is the purpose to sell something or convince you of a particular point of view? If they are making an argument, do they address conflicting opinions? What biases can you identify?

The webpage did not appear to push an agenda, advertise to me, or had an opinion about the subject other than that it was a new discovery.

Part Three: Reflect

Finally, reflect on how you will apply what you learned this week to your future research.

            For future research, I will utilize the Evaluating Internet Resources handout posted on blackboard. I found it the most helpful part of the lesson when sifting through webpages to determine the best source for me to use. I have been so used to using scholarly articles and databases from WSU that when I had an assignment presented to me in my Biology course, it required me to use an online source and I found myself confused on how to go about this and to know for sure if the webpage I am looking at is accurate. Of course I know a little bit of how to look for the right webpage but sometimes during the research process, things get confusing and frustrating and the article will be a great tool to get back on track. It is great to have a quick, step-by-step cheat sheet to help identify whether or not a website will be a reliable and valid source.