Searching, Searching, Searching

So, I identified my topic the last time I visited. I had a very helpful comment from one of my classmates that perhaps I would not feel overwhelmed in my search for information if I prioritized my questions. Great idea! But, I decided to do some research and searching for information first. As a result this is the first of my Webbing (searching) phases. I say phases cause there will definitely be more than one! Along with Lamb's 8W's, I'm also trying to follow the Research Cycle model. The Webbing phase of the 8W's is similar to the Gathering step in the Research Cycle. As I gathered, I started with a very broad search for topics related to my questions. No books or journals, just websites. When I do my research I like to know a little bit of the basics about what I'm actually looking for before I attempt to dig deeper. So, this is what I found during my first Webbing attempt and what I'll be basing my Wiggling (evaluating) phase on:

Organic Eating

Great site! Gives you the what, why and how of eating organic
http://www.organic.org/

An news article from the msnbc website discussing some of the newer reasons for eating organic
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3076638/

Lists the 12 foods you should eat organic and the 10 foods you don't need to
http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/Dirty-Dozen-Foods

Reducing Energy Consumption

The Natural Resources Defense Council's list of simple things to reduce energy usage
http://www.nrdc.org/air/energy/genergy.asp

20 things you can do to reduce your electricity use
http://www.powerscorecard.org/reduce_energy.cfm

How reducing consumption can reduce climate change
http://solveclimate.com/blog/20090830/reduce-climate-change-reduce-consumption

Garden Growing

The basics of how to grow a vegetable garden
http://www.thegardenhelper.com/vegetables.html

How to plan a garden
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/veggies/basics.html

Which vegetables grow well in Indiana
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/cropmap/indiana/crop/vegetable.html

Organizations working toward the betterment of the Earth's environment

World Wildlife Fund site
http://www.worldwildlife.org/home.html

The Natural Resource Defense Council's list of environmental groups
http://www.nrdc.org/reference/environGroups.asp

*** I found all of these sites using a basic search engine. I actually wanted very basic information, so I used the new search engine Bing and entered search criteria such as (organic food), (reducing energy consumption), (gardening basics) and (environmental organizations). I was very pleased with my results and felt like the top few results Bing brought back were high quality sites. I will continue to use this search engine for basic information.

I think it's time to get to Wiggling!

Stephi