Week 6 RJA

For my first internet search I chose to try a different search engine. I used All the web to see if I received any new web sites as a result of my search. I actually did find a few sites that didn't pop up on bing, yahoo or google.

• All the web
• extinction, dinosaurs, comets, volcanoes
• extinction+dinosaurs, dinosaurs+volcanoes, extinction+comets
• 2/27-2/28
• There was actually over two million hits for my first search but I narrowed it down with other searches
• relevancy was 4 out of 5

For my meta search engine I used Academic index.net. I was hoping to find more scholarly journals and sites. I was not disappointed. I found many sites that I had not found previously including more scientific sites.

• Academic index.net
• extinction, dinosaurs, asteroids, volcanoes
• extinction+dinosaurs, extinction+dinosaurs+asteroids
• 2/26-2/28
• There were a large number of sites again, but I actually found an article that has changed my ideas about the time of the extinction.
• 5 out of 5

For my directory search I used Open Directory Project. I don't remember actually ever using directories prior to this but I found several great essays about my topic.

• Open Directory Project
• extinction, paleontology, dinosaurs
• extinction+dinosaurs, with a little help from the site I was able to narrow down my topic. Earth Sciences: Paleontology: Extinction: Cretaceous-Tertiary
• 2/28
• I found fourteen articles on my topic
• 5 out of 5

For my search through the invisible web, I used IncyWincy. I was never aware of the amount of information that is out there that we never see.

• IncyWincy
• extinction, dinosaurs, K-T
• extinction+dinosaurs
• 2/28
• There were over 1100 hits
• 3 out of 5

My search for social media was much more difficult. The number of sites and blogs about my topic are very limited.

• Addictomatic
• extinction, dinosaurs, paleontology
• extinction+dinosaurs+paleontology
• 2/27
• only about three hits actually had any relevancy for me\
• 1 out of 5

• Blog catalog
• dinosaurs
• dinosaurs - I actually had to broaden my search to find anything at all about dinosaurs
• 2/28
• 0 relevant blogs
• 0 out of 5

•  Icerocket
• Dinosaurs
• Dinosaurs- again broad term
• 2/28
• 0 relevant social media hits
• 0 out of 5

 For my multimedia search I found many relevant videos as well as many links to Discovery Channel, BBC, and PBS shows.

• Blinkx
• Dinosaurs, extinction
• dinosaurs+extinction
• 2/27
• 832 videos but most were aimed towards children and lacked much relevancy.
• 2 out of 5

Week 5 RJA

Bloom, Arnold J.

The Age of the Dinosaurs

The Encyclopedia of Earth

Online

December 18, 2010
Edited: January 28, 2011

http://www.eoearth.org/article/The_Age_of_the_Dinosaurs?topic=54289

02/20/2011

"mass extinction." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 21 Feb. 2011 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

As I began my search for the right sources to reference for my topic, I started with books, then moved on to periodicals and finished up with my reference sources. It was actually a good thing I did. Searching for books was quite easy online and in the library; the periodicals were easier to find online; and the reference sources were easier in the library. As I was searching for reference materials online, I only found three sources that were easy to access and get information. The relevancy of the articles I found were very high (five out of five).I searched a few different encyclopedias and dictionaries. I used very general keywords and search strings. I only used dinosaur and extinction, because the more specific the words the less information was found. I started this search on 2/19 and finished on 2/21.

Books
Fastovsky, David E.
The evolution and extinction of the dinosaurs/ David E. Fastovsky, David B. Weishampel: with illustrations by John Sibbick
Cambridge [U.K.]; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2005.
2nd ed.

Officer, Charles B.
The great dinosaur extinction controversy/ Charles Officer and Jake Page
Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, c1996
Helix Books

Ward, Peter Douglas
Under a green sky: global warming, the mass extinctions of the past, and what they mean for our future
New York : Smithsonian Books/Collins, 2007.
1st Smithsonian Books ed.


Frankel, Charles
The end of the dinosaurs : Chicxulub crater and mass extinctions
New York : Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Researching the books I wanted to use took quite a bit of time. I started out looking on the Auraria Library web site and found many different books just using the keywords extinction and dinosaurs. I started off using the search string KT dinosaur extinction and then become a little more general. I found 29 books with high relevancy for my topic, four out of five. I then went to Barnes and Noble and bought two of the books (the first and fourth ones). I also went to the Denver Library and found the second one. I feel like the books I found will be very beneficial to my subject. I do plan on returning to the library for other books as well. I am finding that this topic has many possible sources.

 Periodicals
Keller, G. , Sahni, A. , Bajpai, S.
Deccan volcanism, the KT mass extinction and dinosaurs
Journal of Biosciences
Vol.: 34 Issue: 5 Pgs.: 709-728
Published: Nov. 2009

Buffetaut, E.
Polar dinosaurs and the question of dinosaur extinction: a brief review
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
Volume: 214    Issue: 3    Pages: 225-231    Published: NOV 18 2004

My research with periodicals was quite easy. I used the databases from the Auraria Library, specifically the ISI web of knowledge and Academic Search Premier Plus. I easily found a large amount of relevant information using only two keywords and one search string. The keywords I used were extinction and dinosaurs and the search string I used was “mass extinction” and dinosaur not animals. I started my search on 2/19 and finished my readings on 2/21. Of the thirty articles I found the average relevancy was around a four (out of five).

week 4 RJA

Keyword
  Extinction, Disappearance, Dinosaurs, Animals, Lizards, Volcanoes, Asteroids, Cretaceous, Tertiary, Meteor, Disease, Climate change,

Search Strings
  Dinosaur and Extinction not Animals
  Extinction near dinosaurs
  Extinction or disappearance and dinosaurs
  Volcanoes+Asteroids -Meteor
  (Meteor*+lizards*)-animals
   disease+climate change+meteor+volcano+extinction+dinosaurs -animals

Field Research Options
  Interview a scientist at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science
  Attend a Dinosaur Ridge Tour
  Attend live chat with paleontologist
  Visit Morrison Natural History Museum
  Attend lecture by a paleontologist

week 3 RJA

Research Topic Exploration

                While exploring my topic, I discovered that there were many more sub topics than I thought. Many scientists actually doubt the idea that the dinosaur extinction was one catastrophic event. Mass extinction has happened a few times in history and could have actually happened over a period of millions of years. If evolution does not occur, species will die off. Many scientists debate the different ideas of extinction, including the scientists at University of California at Berkeley who originally proposed different theories of the extinction. The evidence discovered by archaeologists lead scientists to discuss the ideas of asteroids, volcanoes, disease and climate change, although there are many more theories. The topic of the dinosaur extinction is much more involved than I originally thought.

Research Topic Focus

                I believe that my ideas are still going to focus on the four major theories of the extinction of the dinosaurs which are asteroids, volcanoes, disease and climate change. After the little amount of research I have done, I am beginning to believe that it might have been a combination of all of these things. If you ask most people the two major theories are asteroids and volcanoes. My issue with these ideas is the lack of evidence to support one catastrophic event causing the extinction of 70% of the life on the planet. This was not the first major extinction. Previous to this there was an extinction that caused the loss of 90% of the life on this planet. Is it possible that both of these extinctions could have been caused by the same things? Could it happen to us? These are the questions that need to be answered by the scientific investigation.

Research Question

What caused the extinction of the dinosaurs?

When did this happen and was it a catastrophic event or a process of time?

Why did it happen (overpopulation, weather, etc.)?

Would this have happened under different circumstances?

If this was caused by a major catastrophic event, where did it happen?

How did the environment impact the extinction of the dinosaurs?

Who originally proposed the different theories of the extinction of the dinosaurs?