Week 12 RJA

For my field research, I wanted to interview some of the paleontologists from the Museum of Nature and Science. None of the paleontologists ever returned my emails or calls. I visited the museum and went through their Prehistoric Journey exhibit and discovered many interesting facts about dinosaurs and their extinction. I also conducted a survey of some friends and family to get their opinions. This is a copy of the questions I asked and their results:

1.       What field do you work in?

Sales – 15

Business – 6

Education – 3

Other – 6

2.       Are you currently or have you attended college?

Yes – 20

No – 10

3.       Have you ever studied paleontology?

Yes – 6

No – 24

4.       65 million years ago the dinosaurs disappeared off the face of the planet. What do you think caused the extinction?

Asteroid – 18

Volcanoes – 5

Don’t know – 6

Both asteroid and volcanoes – 1

5.       Is it possible that we are causing another mass extinction with global warming and pollution of the planet?

Yes – 24

No – 6

6.       Do you think it is important to study the extinction of the dinosaurs?

Yes – 24

No –6

 

As you can see most people know about the extinction and most have come to accept the impact theory that has been pushed ahead by the majority in the scientific world. I believe that it was a combination of many things that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

For my application project i intend on writing an editorial explaining why my opinion is right. I will focus on the idea that there are many causes of the extinction but omit any arguments against. I will focus on how each theory interacts with these others in order to prove my opinion is right.