Original Question:
How do humans impact North American seasonal bird migration?
Broadened Questions:
How do humans effect animal migration world wide?
How do humans impact the lives of birds?
Narrowed Questions:
How do humans negatively effect bird migration around the great lakes?
How does industry and business impact travel for birds along the mississippi flyway?
I really like your narrowed questions as your main research questions. They're very specific and will lead you into some pretty deep research.
ReplyDeleteSo, what I'm going to do is ask you to pick one of your narrowed questions as your main research question, and then formulate a response to that question.
That's because the response to your main research question will become your working thesis.
It's a "working" thesis statement because the thesis statement should be changing and evolving as you do more research.
Your purpose for writing will be one of these three: Analyze, persuade, argue. You can start out with one purpose in mind and end the semester with another purpose in mind, but the purpose will still be one of these three.
Any other research questions you formulate will help you with your future writing. For example, the response to any of your sub-questions can be the topic sentence of a paragraph.
Also, give me a focused audience.
Although this isn't due until Sunday, don't forget the source analysis (authority, accuracy, currency, objectivity) AND the annotated bib entry for each of the sources you have found.
Post everything as a reply (or replies) here.
I choose the question of "How do humans effect bird migration around the great lakes?"
ReplyDeleteAnnotated Bibliography Entry #1
Sibley, D. "Identification of North American birds and trees."Sibley Guides, 2010. Sun.5 Feb.2012 http://www.sibleyguides.com/conservation/causes
-of-bird-mortality/
Summary: The main purpose of this site is to summarize
the multiple causes of bird mortality. The main topics
are Collisions, Poisoning, Predation and disease.
Assessment: This source is useful because it includes
information pertinent to one of the biggest issues
during bird migration around the great lakes,
collisions. The information is reliable because it is
written by David Sibley who has published field guides
about birds. This source may be slightly biased,
because the author is and advocate for bird safety.
Reflect: I will most likely use this source because it has a good graph and links that pertain to bird migration.
Authority: David Sibley is a highly respected writer on bird behavior and bird field guides.
Accuracy: There are multiple links on the site to other sources of information, and David Sibley is most likey up to date on issues impacting wild birds.
Currency: The web page was recently updated (about a year ago)
Objectivity: The page isn't completely objective, as the author wants birds to be protected from the causes of mortality, but the causes of mortality are pretty concrete.
Audience: The general public, animal lovers, bird enthusiests, animal ecologists, civil engineers, citizens that live around the great lakes, and biologists.
Excellent work on the annotated bib entry.
ReplyDeleteAll I need from you is a response to your main research question. That response will be your working thesis.
Post as a reply here.
Almost done!!
Humans effect the migration of birds around the great lakes in a pronounced negative way, as a result of extensive urban development and the loss of natural areas.
ReplyDeleteBOOM! There it is. You are finished with this blog. =)
ReplyDelete