For my research paper I decided to do it on the mechanics and perceptions of climate change. By looking at both what causes climate change and how people view it, I was intending to inform the reader how climate change works, and dispel some of the misconceptions of climate change. Overall I am happy with my choice of topic. By picking an issue that I feel is important, I had more than simply the motivation to finish the paper propelling me. I was actually interested in this topic and I wanted to know how climate change worked so I could help explain the phenomenon to people.
For the research paper I wanted to have a comprehensive explanation of how climate changed worked, from sunlight being trapped by green house gasses to how the actual change will effect peoples lives day to day. I think I did a good job in creating a comprehensive picture of how climate change worked. If I could of done it again I think I would of added more in the way of how it affects people everyday. I talked about how climate change will effect the agricultural industry which will effect our food production but I felt I could of hit on other topics too.
The facts that interested me the most is how the warming of the oceans is the mechanism that causes the rest of the cascading effects of climate change. By warming the oceans the ocean influences the environment around them and this helps to explain the irregular El Ninos that are happening. El Nino is regular temperature cycles of the oceans and as of late we have been having longer more intense El Ninos because of the increased level of ocean temperatures. What people fail to realize however is that these El Ninos are likely to stay and aren't some anomaly. This has been coming for a long time and the worlds oceans will be generally warmer from here on out. This research paper helped me make that connection specifically. It helped me see how all the pieces fit together with climate change.
I collected roughly 7 scholarly sources, with 2 of them being books. During my time of writing this paper, my interest in climate change peaked a lot, and outside of writing the paper I watched a lot of videos on climate change and read a number of articles. This helped me get a better degree of background information and also allowed me to have a fuller understanding of climate change when it came to write the full paper. Finding the information wasn't too bad, overall it took me about 3 hours to find the sources I wanted and to write the annotated bibliography that was needed for the sources.
The most challenging part was ensuring that the information presented didn't go over the head of the common individual and also making sure that the logic behind my progression made sense. There are a lot of impacts climate change has on the world, and essentially I illustrated one pathway that climate change effects something in our everyday life like agriculture and food.
From this project I learned much about the research process. I learned that it is all about how you integrate your sources together and ensuring that you don't simply parrot the sources but also add more to what the sources were saying. One of the misconception I had about research is that you are very much encouraged to use research other people have done and report on it. I've always thought it was a fine line of trying to not plagiarize but I'm coming to realize that what you do becomes another original article assuming it is integrated properly and you draw new conclusions from the research.
The hardest piece of the research to write about I would say would either have to be the bit on Argo floats, or the societal perception of climate change. In terms of the perception I was walking the line of trying to not sound too bias in my explanation. In terms of the Argo floats, I wanted to make sure I properly understood the research so that I could properly explain what was going on in the study. The Argo floats portion of my paper I thought was one of my strongest data driven sources so I wanted to make sure that this part of the paper was written well.
In terms of organizing the pieces I tried to make a logical progression by starting from the heat energy trapped by the sun which then heats the oceans, which then creates pressure imbalanced in the atmosphere, while also heating the atmosphere too, which changes rainfall patterns and climate patterns, which then effects food production, that then effects us directly. I tried to make sure that each source and paragraph flowed into the next as the progression went on. I think my integration of sources to create a progression was one of the high points of my paper.
By working with my peers I learned not to trust peers for edition but merely to have them give you an idea of how the audience is going to receive the paper. I made a lot of trips to the writing center this semester which helped out immensely for my paper. From reading my classmate pieces however, I've learned that I am surrounded by a lot of people who can communicate effectively in writing. They really knew how to do their stuff and it gives me a greater appreciation as a reader and writing to be a part of the peer review process.
Overall this class provided me with the necessary background and tools to be able to tackle APA style formatted papers and future research papers. While I may not know everything there is to know about writing in APA format, I now have the resources to get where I need to be when the occasion arises and I need to use these skills and if I get stuck. Overall I enjoyed this class. I love writing and for me it is a nice way to express myself. I wasn't always patient with this class as being a science major as a freshmen I had a pile for work put on me I was not used to from my other classes, which made it harder for me to give this class the time it really deserved. I may take another writing course in the future as its something I find enjoyable, but for the time being I think I'll learn the writing skills I need from my other science classes I'll be taking in college. There is definitely a lot for me to learn in the world of writing, but this class has given me the necessary start for me to progress on in my college experience. I hope my writing remains to be informative and allows people to understand science a little better.
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