Research Data and Design

What I did good:

The goal of this assignment is to create a research journal that documents the research process and identifies strategies to enhance future academic work, particularly in writing research papers. Each entry will analyze the author arguments and synthesize key findings, aligning them with the broader themes of the research. My teacher has given us two sources that talk about different things to analyze and to back up any information on the overall idea of the article by getting brief notes before starting to put everything together within the journals.

Source #1: In his article 'Animals and Climate Change, by Tobias Thornes discusses how human-induced climate change directly impacts animal habitats. To illustrate how industrialization causes physical and biological shifts in species, I used the example of the peppered moth during the Industrial Revolution. The soot from industrialization changed the moths' environment, forcing a rapid adaptation in color to survive, which directly supports Thornes' argument. Furthermore, this reinforces the author's claim that humanity has a moral obligation to protect the environment, as our industrial expansion and population growth directly threaten the reproductive capacity and survival of the animal kingdom.

Source #2: In my other analysis of the early 19th-century Mexican War of Independence.Translated by Timothy Henderson in Gilbert M. Joseph and Timothy J. Henderson. I wrote how it focused on the leadership of literate priests, such as Miguel Hidalgo, and the strategic use of guerrilla warfare. The key argument centers on the profound economic and social motivations driving the revolt, specifically the desire to eliminate Spanish "Gachupin" middlemen in global trade and to end the "Machiavellian" discrimination against native-born Creoles. Furthermore, I highlighted how the Spanish colonial system used systemic sabotage to intentionally keep native-born citizens out of high-ranking leadership roles.

In this assignment I believe I did a pretty nice job with putting my notes and thoughts together, and I also believe it helped me with enhancing my ability to work with articles that have multiple pages, and organize thoughts through introduction, body evidence, and conclusion.

What I need more work on:

This assignment served as a progress check on argumentative writing, requiring the synthesis of research to support a specific position. The goal was to analyze two distinct sources regarding hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and construct an argument against its continued widespread use and writing up to at least 4 paragraphs In only 80 minutes.

 Source 1 (Public Health Focus): Highlighted the risks to communities, including water contamination from chemicals, air pollution, and health issues such as respiratory problems, headaches. 

Source 2 (Economic/Environmental Synthesis): Provided a balanced view of the economic benefits of job creation, energy security, versus environmental costs, methane emissions, seismic activity, water usage. 

Using evidence from these sources, I argued that the long-term environmental degradation and public health risks, such as water contamination and chemical exposure, outweigh the short-term economic benefits of fracking. I positioned the argument that, despite its efficiency, fracking causes more pollution than existing methods and should be strictly limited. Overall I can do better by writing more, and making sure I properly explain any evidence correctly based on the articles given.