Blog 10

As a group we found two articles that would be useful for our group research project. The first article that we search for was basic farming strategies to understand how farmers today use different strategies to farm compared to days of the past. The article that we found was “Precision Agriculture concept: Distribution Patterns of Selected Soil and Crop Characteristics Influenced by Fertigation”. Not this entire article was useful for what we were looking for but the sections of materials and methods were found to be the most useful. The article showed the deep thinking that farmers have to do in order to pick the perfect site for planting certain crops. In this case sugar beets. "Average annual temperature of 16.7° C, annual freezing days of 76 days and the annual rainfall of 116.9 mm are climate data of experimental site." Just from looking at the statement there are more number then you would think coming from choosing a location to plant a specific plant.

The second article that we found was title “bulk Soil Electrical Conductivity as an Estimator of Nutrients in the Maize Cultivated Land” which is about the use of electricity in the soil to determine the number of nutrients there were in the soil. "Laboratory soil test is usually time consuming and laborious. Since farmers cultivate annual crops more than once a year, this leads to delay in remedial action for the coming season. Hence, rapid measurement and monitoring of soil nutrient variability is needed to satisfy the precision farming requirements." This quote caught my eye because this show that choosing the best area of land to be used is a process that shows effort of being speed up which is important because this will increase the production of certain food products .

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=7&hid=111&sid=86eeb406-37d0-4e47-b2de-d4d574d692a4%40sessionmgr104

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=10&hid=111&sid=86eeb406-37d0-4e47-b2de-d4d574d692a4%40sessionmgr104

Blog 9

So far in our English class we have been assigned certain assignments in which we have had to research and use outside sources in order to validate and strengthen our argument. However, not just "any" source would suffice. We have had to use sources that are appropriate in our argument and ones that have been scholarly certified.

When I first receive an assignment in which I must use sources, I go through multiple steps in which I seek and determine whether sources are reliable and sufficient. I first decide which stance and side I will argue in the assignment and then try and decide which quotes or statistics would best help my argument. I then start my search by using the EBSCO search engine which I have just recently found to be a useful source in order for research thanks to this class. When using this search engine I first start very narrow in my search and if I have no success in finding the perfect quote I broaden my search until I find the appropriate article. I then run this article through Ulrich in order to determine whether it is peer reviewed and scholarly. Once I have decided the sources and quotes that I will use in my paper I then go about deciding on how to incorporate them accordingly into my paper in an effective way in which they will support my argument. I first decide which three main arguments I will make throughout my paper. Once I have done this I decide which quotes will best support these arguments and I place them accordingly. I can improve this process however by not looking for such specific quotes because I find myself sometimes not able to find "exactly" what I was looking for which leaves me empty handed sometimes. I also could use more search engines other than EBSCO in order to widen my options.