Week 13 RJA

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/23/opinion/23sat3.html?_r=1&ref=editorials

The application project that I have chosen to do is an editorial. This specific piece that I have chosen is about gun control. The fact that it is such a controversial subject creates a desire for people to read the article. Whether the reader agrees or disagrees does not matter because both sides feel the urge to read other people's opinions. Although my topic is not as controversial or important as gun control, I hope to write an editorial that will make people want to read it. A good editorial brings up the argument quickly and then delves into what the writer believes. There is no exploring other ideas, only the writer's own.  

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.

Week 11 RJA

Annotated Bibliography

Parsell, D.L.(2001, May 10). Mass Extinction That Led to Age of Dinosaurs Was Swift, Study Shows. National Geographic News. Retrieved April 10, 2011 from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/05/0510_massex.html.

     The time period that it takes for a mass extinction to occur is one of the determining factors into what actually caused the extinction. The extinction that occurred previously to the age of the dinosaurs is important as a comparison to what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. This particular study has found that the previous mass extinction occurred very quickly, leading scientists to conclude that it was most likely caused by a cataclysmic event, such as an asteroid striking the Earth's surface. This event was important in shaping the way the dinosaurs evolved.


Britt, Robert Roy. (2004, October 14). In Extinction Debate, Dinosaurs and Science Writers are the Losers. Space.com. Retrieved April 10, 2011 from http://www.space.com/420-extinction-debate-dinosaurs-science-writers-losers.html.

    The scientific world has been divided over the causes of the extinction of the dinosaurs. They fall into two different categories. One group believes that the dinosaur extinction occurred suddenly and the other believes that the dinosaurs were already declining when a catastrophic natural event caused a massive climate change that destroyed a large part of the life on this planet. Whichever you believe, the debate has raged on so long that people are becoming discouraged by the disagreement. It is very possible that we will never discover the truth behind the disappearance of the dinosaurs.


Handewerk, Brian. "Lost World" of Dinosaurs Survived Mass Extinction?(2009, May 1). National Geographic News. Retrieved April 10, 2011 from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/05/090501-dinosaur-lost-world.html.

     Scientists have discovered a small area in Colorado and New Mexico that contains dinosaur bones dated earlier than the believed mass extinction event that occurred between the Cretaceous and Tertiary period. The discovery of these bones has created a little controversy. Some scientists believe there was a pocket of dinosaurs that somehow survived the mass extinction while others believe that it is possible that the asteroid did not cause the mass killing of the dinosaurs. Either way, more study needs to be done.


Dalton, Rex. Gas may be to blame for extinction. (2007, October 31). Nature News. Retrieved April 10, 2011 from http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071031/full/news.2007.205.html.

    A study of plankton found that there is a good possibility that gas released because of volcanic activity may have been the main cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs. The group the leading the charge in this theory has always suggested there is an alternative to the impact theory because of dating of core samples that have led some scientists to believe that the impact occurred 300,000 years prior to the mass extinction event. If this is the case, then the cause of the extinction could be blamed on volcanism.

Visual Aid Ideas


A map of the Chixculub Crater off of the Yucatan peninsula showing the impact size and area affected by the impact.
A sample of rock showing the layer of iridium that is believed to have been left by the impact of the asteroid.
A core sample and graph showing the age of the impact and comparison to the theorized date of the mass extinction.
A fossil sample dated after the believed impact theory.
Samples of rocks from the Deccan Traps in India dated to the mass extinction


 

Week 10 RJA

APA-style Annotated Bibliography

T. Rex Cousin Discovered in China. (2011). The History Channel website. Retrieved 9:27, April 4, 2011, from http://www.history.com/topics/t-rex-cousin-discovered-in-china.

    In a paper published on April 1, 2011, scientists in China have discovered a dinosaur similar to the Tyrannosaurus Rex in size and features. This creature, called Zhuchengtyrannus Magnus was excavated from a mine. It is slightly smaller than its Tyrannosaur cousin but is still considered to be one of the largest carnivores to walk the planet.

What Killed the Dinosaurs? (2006) DinoBuzz website. Retrieved April 1, 2011, from http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/extinctheory.html.
 
   The article What Killed the Dinosaurs? goes into an in-depth discussion of the different theories of the extinction of the dinosaurs. It looks at the competing theories and delves into the differences and the reasons why scientists believe the different theories. Almost every scientist believes that it was a culmination of events that led to the disappearance of the dinosaurs, but what events culminated is the origin of the differences.

Why Did They Go Extinct? Smithsonian Natural Museum of Natural History website. Retrieved April 4, 2011, from http://paleobiology.si.edu/dinosaurs/info/everything/why_6.html.

     This article discusses the history of the theories of the extinction of the dinosaurs including related evidence supporting the most prevalent theory of an asteroid impact. The article goes into in depth reasons why the asteroid impact is the most widely accepted hypothesis. It also discusses the history of the paleontologists that first suggested this theory.

 National Science Foundation (2009, April 28). New Blow Against Dinosaur-killing Asteroid Theory, Geologists Find. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 4, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2009/04/090427010803.htm

    The theory that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs is accepted by the majority of scientists. Here we see that not everyone believes this is the case. With recent scientific discoveries, it is now believed that the asteroid impact that occurred off the Yucatan peninsula possibly happened 300,000 years before the K-T extinction. If this is actually true then the cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs would have to be reevaluated. 

Presentation outline

What Killed the Dinosaurs?

I.                    Introduction

II.                  Asteroid impact theory

   A.                  Chicxulub crater

   B.                  India crater

III.                Volcanic activity theory

   A.                  Deccan Traps

   B.                  Tectonic plate movement

IV.                Climate change

   A.                  Effects of climate change on the planet

   B.                  Effects of climate change on animals

V.                  Natural evolution

   A.                  Lack of diversity in dinosaur family

   B.                  Mammal egg eating

   C.                  Destruction of flora

VI.                Common ground of all theories

   A.                  Global climate change

   B.                  Layer of iridium

   C.                  Many species affected

VII.              Conclusion

Week 9 RJA

Thesis Statement:
The extinction of the dinosaurs has been credited to many different theories including asteroids, volcanoes and climate change, but one claim, evolution, has been largely ignored.


Argument:

Research question: What killed the dinosaurs?
Thesis: Although it is almost impossible to discover the truth, I believe that evolution played an important role in the extinction of the dinosaurs.
   Reason #1: With carbon dating, scientists claim that the K-T extinction occurred between 65.5 and 66 million years ago. That is a window of 500,000 years in which the dinosaurs were killed off.
  Reason #2: A combination of evolution and climate change possibly could have eliminated 75% of the species of plants and animals on the planet.
  Reason #3: A mass extinction caused by a natural disaster would have taken much less time to destroy the flora and fauna on the planet.
  Reason #4: The claims that a large meteorite or volcanic eruptions caused the extinction of the dinosaurs does not explain how mammals were able to survive in a post-apocalyptic reality.

  Counterargument #1: Super volcanoes caused by the shifting of the tectonic plates caused the extinction of the dinosaurs
  Counterargument#2: A large meteorite or asteroid crashed into the Earth creating an explosion that wiped the plants and animals off the face of the planet.
  Counterargument#3: Climate change caused by either of the previous arguments or by greenhouse gases created a planet that was uninhabitable.

Week 8 RJA

 Field Research Plan
For my field research, I plan on interviewing a paleontologist at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I am currently waiting for a response to the e-mail I sent to three different paleontologists. My plan is to interview at least one, maybe two of them, and discuss their ideas on what caused the K-T extinction. Some of the questions I plan on asking are as follows:
1. What field do you specialize in?
2. Where did you go to school?
3. What are the prominent theories about the extinction of the dinosaurs at the K-T boundary?

4.  How have the theories changed in the last twenty years?
5. What do you believe caused the extinction?
6. What are the theories of the causes of the other mass extinctions?
7. Is it possible that we are causing another mass extinction with global warming and pollution of the planet?



Bibliography
 Officer, Charles and Page, Jake. The Great Dinosaur Extinction Controversy. New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.,1996. Print.

The Great Dinosaur Extinction Controversy describes in detail the history of the "Asteroid Theory" and how it became accepted by the majority of the world. The authors then explain how scientific discoveries have shown that this theory could be wrong. It goes into scientific detail about the effects an asteroid or volcano would have on the planet. The detail in this book is very technical, but explains how an asteroid could not have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Keller, G., Sahni, A., and Bajpai, S. "Deccan volcanism, the K-T mass extinction and dinosaurs." Journal of Biosciences. Volume 34, Issue 5, November 2009. Pgs. 709-728.

This article goes into detail about the Deccan volcano theory of the extinction of the dinosaurs. It uses scientific research to show the large eruptions of volcanoes in three different time periods around the same time as the extinction of the dinosaurs. This theory contradicts the idea that an asteroid caused the mass extinction and goes further to explain the scientific reasoning behind the volcanic theory.

 Cowen, Richard. "The K-T Extinction". ucmp.berkeley.edu. 1999. Web. 14 March 2011.

This article explores both the asteroid and volcano theories. It discusses the scientific findings by geologists and how both theories are possible. It also touches on the other theories that are possible including an evolutionary theory. It also talks about "the ecology of a catastrophe" as well as "the doubts of a catastrophe". The author does a great job of looking at more than one side of the topic.

Week 7 RJA

Evaluation of Sources
To start with my evaluations, I have chosen an encyclopedia article from www.encyclopedia.com. I searched the site for information about the article and found all the information I needed quickly and easily. The article actually comes from The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. The encyclopedia was copyrighted in 2008, which for my topic, fits the timeliness. I did not find the name of the author, but since it is in a recognized encyclopedia, I can find that information. There also were no citations, but there were many links to related articles. Overall this source is reliable and suitable for my paper.

My second evaluation is on the book The evolution and extinction of the dinosaurs by Professor David Fastovsky, Cambridge [U.K.]; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. He is a professor at University of Rhode Island in Geosciences. He has earned a PhD in Geology and has worked at many fossil digs. He used many sources that are all cited in the book. Again the timeliness of the book is okay for my topic and the suitability is great. He has written in many journals and is considered an authority on this subject matter. I would consider this an excellent source of information.

For my periodical article, I have chosen to use an article titled Mass extinctions and macroevolution from the journal Paleobiology. The article was written by David Jablonski who is a professor at University of Chicago. The article was published in June of 2005. The author is writing in a scientific journal and is, therefore, writing to his peers. The article was peer reviewed and cites sources for his information. The timeliness is still okay for my topic and the suitability is good for my research. Overall this is an okay source but I will continue to look for better articles.

For my website, there was one site that every search engine refers to. It is called DinoBuzz and is written by the University of California Museum of Paleontology. There are many links to all subjects related to dinosaurs. The authors of the site last updated in 2005 but it is still within the right time frame for my subject. All sources are cited on each article. The site is not as easy to navigate as some that I have looked at, but the information is suitable for my paper. DinoBuzz is a good source for basic information.

Quotation, Paraphrase and Summary
"But before we dive into the complex issue of the K-T extinction, we need essential background information to understand the basics of the controversy. The "great dying," as it is sometimes called, is an example of a mass extinction: an episode in evolutionary history where more than 50% of all known species living at that time went extinct in a short period of time (less than 2 million years or so)." www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/extinction.html


Research into the extinction of the dinosaurs begins with a definition. We define a mass extinction as "an episode in evolutionary history where more than 50% of all known species living at that time went extinct in a short period of time (less than 2 million years or so)." With that definition in  mind we will now delve into the extinction of the dinosaurs approximately 65 million years ago.

Before we can discuss the extinction of the dinosaurs we must define what constitutes a mass extinction. It is when most of the species on Earth died off over a period of time. This is the beginning of the controversy surrounding what actually caused the extinction.

As we begin our research of what caused the dinosaurs to die, we have to first decide what entails mass extinction. Mass extinction is a period of time that sees the majority of the species of life on the planet disappear over a period of about 2 million years.

Webpage Annotation
DinoBuzz