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Research Log:

Research Log Entry 11/19/07

1. What was discussed today in class?
In class we discussed how to make citations in APA and MLA format and when we should use the other as well as good places to help us cite and answer any questions.

2.Describe two differences between MLA and APA citation formats.

In MLA the date goes last while APA it goes right in the front.
MLA all the subject is Capped while in APA only the first word is.



Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Documenting Research

Well after reading the assignment I realized I had everything already, the general database search, the specific subject data base search, library book, and world wide web search, so immediately the hard part seemed to be making a bibliography since you left no real instructions on how to make it. But the first research tool I used was the Academic Search Premier because I felt it was a good starting place for any research, something that could give me a lot of different articles without having to narrow it down. After that I thought the next best place would be to go to the world wide web and search for the history of zero and the importance of mathematics, so I went to google. I did this because sometimes the World Wide Web searches can be very useful if you have a subject that would likely be found easily through a massive google search.

Well since my subject was a very good one with a ton of different articles and books from different ranges, I did not have much trouble finding what I need so I only used the basic search term History and number and zero, and found everything I needed. Well one of my evaluative technique is I looked at what type of magazines or books the articles were in to see what relevance they had and as well looked at the credibility of the authors. The only adjustment I had to make in my search is when I search the History and number and zero in the Academic Search Premier database, I got to large of a search and on the side it allowed me to narrow it to zero by searching ( history and number and zero ) and DE "ZERO (The number)" and this helped me narrow my search substantially.

Research Sources:
Murphy, Pat and Doherty, Paul. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. Fantasy & Science Fiction; Mar2005, Vol. 108 Issue 3, p137-143, 7p
Academic Search Premier: http://134.154.30.15:2059/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=4&sid=04da60f8-9634-4ba5-910a-ac706edea94d%40sessionmgr2
I choose this because it gives me a very large article about the history and importance of zero and it allows me to access it through a pdf file from any where

Singmaster, David. The nothing that is. (English summary). American Mathematical Society
201 Charles Street
Providence, RI 02904-2294
MathSiNet: http://134.154.30.15:2385/mathscinet/search/publdoc.html?arg3=&co4=AND&co5=AND&co6=AND&co7=AND&dr=all&pg4=AUCN&pg5=TI&pg6=PC&pg7=ALLF&pg8=ET&s4=&s5=&s6=&s7=history%20of%20zero&s8=All&yearRangeFirst=&yearRangeSecond=&yrop=eq&r=1&mx-pid=1768799
I choose this because it is an article reviewing the book I choose from the library, and it gives me a good review of the book without having to fully read it and it was from a specific subject database. Even though it lacks any credibility, it still is very nice reference for me.

Kaplan, Robert. The nothing that is : a natural history of zero. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2000
Call Back Number: QA141 .K36 2000
I choose this book because it is an entire book about the number zero, while it does give a lot of information, but it is to much for me to really use well.

O'Connor, J J and Robertson, E F. Zero. http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/HistTopics/Zero.html

I choose this because it is a nice outline of the history of zero but has no credible sources or institutions.
I learned that the idea of zero was created by Hindus in Ancient India. Well I guess another way I could continue my researching is maybe research about the importance of India to the creation of mathematics since they were monumental to mathematics. And I could try and research The founding of the concept of infinity in mathematics. And to find articles in these I could try Academic Search Premier or google.

Posted by Daniel Cabrales at 9:33 PM 1 comments

Thursday, November 8, 2007
Research Log Entry 11/8/07

1. a) The nothing that is : a natural history of zero
Kaplan, Robert, 1933-
Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2000
LOCATION CALL NO. STATUS
Book Stacks QA141 .K36 2000

b) Couldn't find any reference stacks, I tried multiple searches.

2. The nothing that is : a natural history of zero
Kaplan, Robert, 1933-
Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2000
LOCATION CALL NO. STATUS
Book Stacks QA141 .K36 2000

3. a). I went into the catalog and for my book stack I went to word catalog search and did history of zero and that was very easy because I found several books on the subject and had no trouble. But finding a reference book on it was impossible, I tried every type of search with every type of keyword and couldnt find anything.

b). I had a problem finding any source from reference stack, I couldnt find any search that could yield a source from the reference stack.

c) Well I found that if you try different ways to word a search and tried using titles rather than phrases sometimes, you may get a more broad search but sometimes it may give you exactly what your looking for.


Research Log Entry 11/2/07

1. What was discussed today in class?
We learned what call numbers are and how to organize them and then we used our knowledge to find books in the library using call numbers.

2. Describe the differences between words and subject headings
Well subject headings are searches were you will but a subject and get information and books that are related to the book, while words are just words in your search and are not a subject.

3. What are advantages and disadvantages of each of these search strategies?
The advantages of subject headings is you get a a lot of information about the topic but the search parameters are so large that finding relevant information might be difficult. While words gives you a very specific search for what you need but, may not have what you need.

Sorry for being so late, I have no excuse, just lately things have been becoming more and more hectic and it feels like everything is moving so quickly and I am just missing so many deadlines and I cant keep up.



Friday, November 2, 2007
Research Log Entry 11/2/07

1. The importance of the number zero in history.

2. History of zero, History and zero and importance, number zero, origin of zero, origin and zero, zero and number.

3. I was not able to log on to the home page for some reasons, I am having some trouble shooting so I am going to talk to someone because this has happened to me before forcing me to go to library to do it, I input my log in correctly and password but it says invalid, sorry.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Research Log Entry 10/29/07

1. What was discussed today in class?
Well today we discussed how to look at magazines and distinguish them as popular, scholarly, and trade. We learned the difference between them and how to tell them apart, and also we learned how to find the information page in magazines.

2. Describe the difference among a "popular", a "trade/professional," and a "scholarly" journal.
The difference between the three is that popular journals are very appealing and really are topics that are of interest to the reader, while scholarly is very plain and is only to inform someone on a specific topic. While trade journals are somewhat appealing and deal only with people interested in the specific trade.

3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of print and electronic forms of periodicals?
The advantages of periodicals is that you get views on topics from different sources and can add more appeal to your research rather than just all textbooks. But the disadvantage is it could be biased or even not really valid or helpful.



Thursday, October 25, 2007
Research Log Entry 10/25/07

1. Write a brief topic sentence and statement of exploration for your topic.

Well my previous topics had nothing really to do with my cluster but were rather something that I have great interest in. So after much deliberation my I decided my topic would be the importance of the number 0 to history.

2. Formulate appropriate search terms that you might use to being your research process. Some search terms I would use in my research topic would be History and zero and importance, history of zero, zero.

3. Examine the various library databases available to you through this library and list the possible databases you might use to begin your search process. Britannica Online, CQ Researcher, ProQuest Newspapers, Lexis-Nexis, and Academic Search Premier.





Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Research Log Entry 10/22/07

1. What was discussed today in class? Well in class we discussed and practiced how to find certain things in databases and encyclopedia and used Britannica Online, CQ Researcher, ProQuest Newspapers, Lexis-Nexis, and Academic Search Premier for different searches of the same topic.

2. What points were particularly important to you and why? Well the points that were very important to me was the fact that some databases and search engines will not have what you are looking for while others to, so in order to get a good amount of research it is best to try multiple databases.

3. When engaging in the search process, what techniques might you use to ensure that you can continue your exploration without running into a dead end? Well in order to ensure you don't run into dead ends, try to change certain words and take out or adjust words in order to find more searches and never stop trying different things.

Thursday, October 18, 2007
Research Log Entry 10/18/07

1. What was your final question?
What is the importance of prime numbers to mathematics?

2. What terms did you use to conduct your search? Did they work or not? Why?
The terms I used to conduct my search was prime number or importance and mathematics. But it did not really work no matter what searches I did because the topic is just to vague and I couldn't really find anything worth while

3. Did you need to try alternate terms? If so, what terms did you choose? Did your new terms work any better?
Yes I did try alternate terms like just prime numbers and mathematics but that search ended up being to big and wasn't really helpful. I also tried other things, but to no avail, maybe I just need to make the question somewhat better.


Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Research Log Entry 10/15/07

1. What was discussed today in class? We discussed the importance of databases and what databases are and we did an exercise that showed us the importance of organizing and searching databases. Along with the exercise we learned the phrase for searching databases that or is more.

2. What points were particularly important to you and why? I liked learning how to search the database and it was important to me because if I ever need research for a paper or assignment I have a good source of information that is easier to access than rummaging through google searches for hours looking for credible sources.

3. How can you use the techniques discussed in class today? Well the or is more and using and correctly in searches can will help me narrow down my searches more in the database and allow me to get the information I need more efficiently.

4.What ideas and thoughts do you have about this search strategy? Well I think this was very necessary information to help us with college papers and research, and I am glad I am able to navigate a database with more ease than if I hadn’t had this lesson.

And I apologize for being so late, it simply slipped my mind. I take full responsibility, and I am not saying your class is not important to me, I just got caught up in studying for my statistics midterm next Tuesday, since it is my first real college midterm, that it slipped my mind. I am sincerely sorry and I do not expect any you to go easy on me for this momentary lapse of reason.


Thursday, October 11, 2007
Research Log Entry 10/11/07

1. What was your first question? My first question was what is the highest prime number?

2.List all the intermediate questions that you formed between the first question and your final question? How do they find these high prime numbers? What do they use to calculate it? Who discovered these numbers? Who is Mersenne?

3. What approaches and ideas did you implement in each of these stages? For each of these questions I searched for an answer and each answer led me to a new question that I had to ask. After I found the highest prime number, I wondered how they found it, and I searched it on google, and then I wondered how they calculated it and did another search, and I became curious about who found it.

4. How would you evaluate your final question? Is it more complex? Do you think you could continue further with this process and come up with something even more complex? I would evaluate my final question by doing some research on Marin Mersenne and find out who he was and how he developed these numbers and what exactly it is. It is more complex because there is a big history behind Mersenne Prime Number. Yes I believe if I continued I would find more complex questions.

5. What other questions might help you to continue your exploration? Who discovered the idea of prime numbers, and what is a titanic prime?



Sunday, October 7, 2007
Research Log Entry 10/8/07

1. What was discussed today in class? Today in class we discussed different medians of news from different newspapers like the SF chronicle or USA today and the differences in articles and the spillover. Along with that we discussed different ways to advance searches and we talked about del.ios.us and we talked about the difference between objective and objectionable. Then we played telephone.

2.What points were particularly important to you and why? I guess the parts that were important to me would be del.ious.us because it looked very useful to keep my favorites on different computer and could be quite handy to me.

3. What change will you make in your approach to research? I will try to make my searches on search engines more efficient with better key words, and I will also cite it well so that other can follow my work.

4. What other ideas and thoughts do you have about researching the authority of a source, whether it's news, a website, or some other information source? The best way in my opinion to check the authority of the source is by the .com, because a .edu or .org would probably more reliable. And to tell it is news or other information would have to be a personal judgment you could only acquire through practice.

5. What other ideas and thoughts do you have about topic development? I think it is good for us to learn to discern the difference between information and research from a biased article or media that would tarnish a good research paper.



Research Log Entry 10/4/07

1. What question did you try to answer?
What is the largest prime number?

2. What search engine or engines did you use?
I used google as my primary search engine.

3. What search terms did you use to ask your question?
What is the largest prime numbers? I did not have to do a second search because my answer was correctly answered in one search.

4. What was your evaluation of your results? My evaluation of my results have checking several sites is that the largest prime number is 232,582,657 − 1 and is 9,808,358 digits long!

5. What other search strategies could you try? I could try several different search engines as well as several different search phrases along with more advanced and precise searches. But my question was answered without much effort.

6. What other questions came into your mind to continue your exploration?
What is a Mersenne number?



Researcg Log Entry 10/1/07

1. What was discussed today in class that you knew already? Well I was not able to find the room, so I cannot answer this very well, but by looking at the URL sheet, I knew URL stood for Uniform Resource Locator and what .edu, .com, .gov, .net, .mil, .org stood for.

2. What was discussed today in class that was new to you? Well one thing that was discussed that was new to me is that http stood for Hyper text transfer protocol and that html was hypertext markup language.

3. If you were given an assignment to do research and you chose the web as one strategy for your search, what three important elements do you need to consider?
1. Good Keywords, be able to optimize your searches
2. Try multiple searches with different phrases
3. What is your best search engine

4. What other ideas and thoughts do you have about exploring the web? In order to be efficient in exploring the web, you must be confident, and know good starting points, like google or wikipedia. Once you have good starting stone, you can start to branch out into other things on the web.

Self-assessment Essay

Well coming into this class to be comepletely honest, having said this in many of my posts in my research log, I did not think I would get anything useful from this class. Especially after completely missing the first day because of some confusion, I felt like I was wasting my time. I thought the best way to write this essay is to try and focus on what I should have gotten from this class.

Well to be honest, for the most part I have always been able to articulate and recognize an information need. I had in the past done several research papers and done an extensive research for them, so even before the class I felt comfortable about formulating search questions. But I must admit even though this contradicts what I just said, I did learn some tips from the class about formulating very good complex research questions. Rather than very simple research questions, I learned from our weekly research questions, you can take a topic and make more complex. I will admit at first, my first couple of research logs, the research question was very simple. But after reading your posts and tips I was able to formulate my own complex research question.

I am also glad that I was able to learn how to use the library supplied databases,which will come in handy for writing papers. I always thought I was comfortable with database search engines, but I learned a lot from the or is more and using and efficiently. Although I already knew before this class that to search by main and important words rather than phrases is more efficient. For instance in my question about the history and importance of zero in my research log, by searching zero and history, I got much more valuable information than searching the history of zero.

I guess beyond learning how to use the database and learning those techniques, the trial and error of different terms and phrases is something I had learned before entering this class. Being able to find what terms work in searches and abandoning certain words, was something learned way before.

I guess the most helpful thing about this class was understanding and being able to navigate the book stacks in the library. I had no idea at all how to do this, but after learning how to organize and were to find a book in a book stack in the library was so important. If I had to pick the most important thing in this class, it would for me be that. Because nothing is more fundamentally important than being able to use your resources to their fullest.

I think overall this class was a blast of fun, and I really do admire the amount of effort you put into teaching this class. Coming in to the class I thought it would be pointless, but I now see why this course is a requirement. And I thank you for your understanding of certain things, and your kindness and help. Thank you and I hope to see you outside of this course.

Sincerely,
Daniel Cabrales