Week 2 Reflection: Birds and Elephants

This week, I read the multimedia article "Why Birds Matter" by Jonathan Franzen and annotated the first chapter “Trumpets of Elephants” in Beyond Words by Carl Safina. Franzen opened my eyes to the diversity of birds in the world, highlighted birds’ behaviors, and emphasized how important it is for humans to them. I also learned that last year was the centennial anniversary of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, which banned the hunting, capturing, killing, selling, importing/exporting of any migratory bird. It is one of the oldest bird protection law, yet Trump’s administration is making alterations to it, allowing businesses to get away with killing birds without fines or getting prosecuted. The first chapter of Safina’s book also compared animals to humans, especially elephants. His unique, vivid storytelling compelled me to read more and more, immersing myself into the African plain setting.

I also learned about the library's numerous resources and researched some topics I found interesting. Before completing the tutorial, I did not know that there were so many resources offered to students at UC Irvine. I learned about the CQ Researcher, which allowed me to explore and read about different possible topics I can pick for my focus later in the class. I read about the topics of climate change and it’s the effect on the environment and animals, consumer behavior on tourism, and commercial law on fishing. In addition, I learned about the Academic Search Complete, which gives me access to thousands of scholarly articles with a press of a button.

Moreover, the tutorial gave me insight into the research process. It warned me that the research process is not a clear, direct path. Instead, I will be constantly tweaking my topic and researching for more sources that fit with my topic. Although I do not know exactly what I want to research on, I know that I am interested in topics relating to aquatic animal life.

Although I did not write any new tweets nor retweeted since the last blog post, I have been checking my feed daily. I am constantly learning new animal facts and becoming more and more exposed to current animal news. Did you know that a snail can sleep for up to three years? Or that Canada just passed the Bill S-203, which bans the captivity of whales, dolphins, and porpoises for entertainment?

Although the workload this week was heavier than last weeks, I am learning so much and am excited for the research projects in the coming weeks.