Emaan Ahmed

Research
February 3, 2020

Evidence of Learning #1

The first thing to do when it comes to writing an article is coming up with some initial

topics for it, and then fleshing them out until I find a story idea I can work with. For this purpose,

I came up with a list of potential topics in different scientific fields, got audience feedback on

them at the Research Showcase, and then researched and developed them. This assignment

details my initial research into the most well-received fields, and some possible topics in them.

Since my last article was written on electricity, I still have resources available to further

explore the field, this time focusing specifically on clean energy. As industries develop and

consumer demand grows, so does the consumption of energy—the USA’s energy needs alone are

“expected to grow by 33 percent during the next 20 years.” Many people believe that clean

energy can step up to fill the gap, perhaps even replacing traditional fossil fuels altogether. The

energy field is developing at a rapid pace, and I am interested in writing about some of the

newest innovations in it. I could also do an overview of the political and economic obstacles in

the way of full clean energy implementation, such as lobbying by oil companies and high

installation prices for new green technology.

The environment is always a field of interest for me. Even as climate change

progressively gets worse, there are people out there who fervently deny it, and I believe that

good science writing could help absolve them of their ignorance and raise awareness. There are

many topics to write about in this field, ranging from pollution to climate change, which I
explored through Global Stewards’ informational site. I could do a cause-and-effect article

analyzing the link between hereditary diseases and air quality, or an article predicting the state of

the world decades in the future if nothing is done to stop climate change. The long-term effects

of radiation from nuclear disaster like Chernobyl on the environment also got some interest. I am

also interested in the role of social media in modern environmental activism, as people take to

popular platforms like Twitter to spread awareness of environment problems around the world.

Lastly, the field that got the most interest from the audience, as well as one I am deeply

fascinated with, is astronomy. This field in particular would require a lot of research on my part,

so that I understand the complex physics that go into each piece of information, but I am sure it

will make for an even more interesting article. There are a plethora of topics to write about in

astronomy, as we learn critical new information about the universe we live in every week; I used

the Astronomy Center website to browse various different topics in the field. For example, I

could do a thorough overview of everything we know about stellar evolution and what comes

after the death of stars, using multimedia like H-R Diagrams to help illustrate the article. I am

also interested in exploring some more obscure physical theories, such as those regarding parallel

universes and time travel—concepts taken from science fiction which have been legitimately

explored. It might also be fascinating to take a more general approach to astronomy, and instead

of writing about ​what​ we know about space, write about ​how​ we know what we know. An article

on this topic would go into the techniques used to observe and gather information about distant

celestial objects, and what physical experiments were used to make certain assumptions about

them.
 With this review of different scientific fields, I am able to determine that astronomy is

definitely the field that I most want to write about, which will also provide me with interesting

material to work with. I will take the topics I have brainstormed and further develop them into

viable story ideas for my article, using the resources and advice provided by my mentor.

Citation
- K. Tromly. "Renewable Energy: An Overview." National Renewable Energy Laboratory,
2006. https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy01osti/27955.pdf. Accessed 3 Feb. 2020.
- Global Stewards. "Current Environmental Issues and News."
www.globalstewards.org/environmental-issues.htm. Accessed 3 Feb. 2020.
- "The Astronomy Center." Educational Resources for Astronomy, NSF,
www.compadre.org/astronomy. Accessed 3 Feb. 2020.