What Is The Ozone Hype Anyway Essay

What Is The Ozone Hype Anyway. Essay, Research Paper

What Is the Ozone Hype Anyway.

“The ozone is a pale bluish form of oxygen gas with an odor like chlorine, formed by an electrical discharge in the air” (Webster 185).

The first time that I thought about this research narrative was the first time that I read the syllabus for class. My immediate reaction was that I could not believe that we were actually going to write a ten-page narrative. I was never expected to write a paper of this length before and I was unsure if I were going to be able to do so. However, it turned out that it was not that bad, although I did go through many frustrations along the way.

First, I had to come up with a topic. I think that this was the hardest part. In our class, we used one of our textbooks to help with this part of the process for our papers. In exercise 1.1, Ballenger suggests that you make a list under a number of different topics (23). Therefore, I made a list of at least twenty things under each topic that I thought might be a possible topic for my paper. My list ranged from pets all the way to relationships and back to health problems. However, after talking to my professor and my friends, and taking Ballenger’s advice on how to eliminate topics, I decided to go with the ozone layer (25). I had a few different reasons for making this choice. One of them was that this was something that I did not know very much about. In addition, the topic was something that I did want to know more about. Consequently, due to the fact that I did not know much, I would not do my research with a bias and more importantly, I would do the research well because I wanted to know more.

Next, I had to come up with a question that I wanted to know the answer to. Again, Ballenger came with help. In exercise 2.1, Ballenger suggests that you make a list of questions and then have peers add questions also. During this process, I went through so many questions. Why was the ozone layer depleting. What could we do to help. How long has this been going on. What was the start to the depletion. I could have mad a list forever but I had to come up with that one main question that was the most important. I thought that asking why it was happening and what caused it was the most important. By answering this question, I would also be able to answer what we can do to help. I could answer this by knowing what causes the depletion and then in turn, know what not to do. Now, I could start to do my research.

First, I had to go to the library and use these “big red books” that are behind the reference desk. At first, I thought that this was stupid. I wanted to know why I had to find other topics to research that had to do with my research topic. Little to my knowledge at that time, the other topics came in handy during my research. At the time, I did not know that we would have to use a topic that was only related to our topic. I am now thankful that I had done this step of the process; this is where I found the topic that I would use later in the research process.

I went to the library to do the first annotated bibliography and I felt so overwhelmed at what I had to do. I started to look up the ozone layer on the computer using many different databases to find articles that met the requirements listed in our packet. In addition, I looked up the ozone layer and its depletion in the online card catalog for books that are available here at IUP. For both the databases and the card catalog, I went through hundreds of key words. I looked up the ozone layer, depletion of the ozone layer, environment and ozone, CFC’s, and many more. I felt as if this step felt as if it was never going to end. I had to look through an endless amount of articles and books to see if they offered me any good information. Luckily, there is an immense amount of information on the ozone layer and I found good facts and statistics that would lead me in the right direction for answering my question. I did all of this work at the library with two of my classmates who were also doing the same thing. It made the entire process easier doing this first annotated bibliography with two friends. It was at this time that I found out how important that the ozone layer is. Miller and Miller say that the ozone that is in our atmosphere is critical to the maintenance of life on earth (55). This made me want to know even more about the ozone layer. If the ozone layer is critical to life, my life, then I wanted to know exactly what was going on. It was also during this time that I found an answer to one on my questions. I wanted to know how the ozone depletion starts and I found that it start by CFC’s leaking into the ozone layer (EPA ). Some of the CFC’s that contribute to ozone depletion come from the exhaust gas of vehicles (Lemonick 63). It was here that I wanted to start to research a different topic. I can not say that I was amazed that car exhaust depleted the ozone, but I can say that I am amazed that with the technology that we have, we still have automobiles that emit these chemicals. I thought that I could research new automobiles that do not give off these bad chemicals, but I changed my mind and decided to stay with my original topic.

After doing the first annotated bibliography, things with the paper began to flow much more easily. I had more and more questions rush into my mind as I read the articles