Research Question and Bibliography

Research Question and Bibliography
Air pollution is the excessive discharge of unwanted foreign materials into the air, thereby adversely altering the quality of air and producing damage to humans, plants, and animal lives. Some of the air pollutants include particulates, Carbon Dioxide, Hydrocarbons, asbestos among others (Rabl and De Nazelle 124; Stern 5). Sources of air pollution are either natural including natural contaminants, dust storms, and volcanic eruptions or human-made, for instance, from rapid industrialization, deforestation and automobile revolution (Hitchcock et al. 145). Air pollution can lead to increased asthma attacks and cardiac arrest, and even among healthy people can lead to cardiovascular and respiratory illness (over the long term can lead to decreased lung capacities), which over time could be fatal. Due to increasing awareness of the diverse effects of air pollution, numerous countries have promulgated air quality standards among the Clean Air Act 1970 of the United States (Smith 2; Stanley et al. 1027). It was directed by the Environmental Protection Agency to establish air quality standards for particulates, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, and hydrocarbons.
There has been growing awareness that significant benefits for our environment can be achieved by reducing the use of personal cars and instead shifting to public transport (CDC; FTA; Dart First State). Research has it that about 30% of the air pollution comes from transportation needs, especially cars and trucks.

Studies by APTA- American Public Transportation Authority show that mass transportation produces 95% less carbon dioxide and nearly 50% less carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide per passenger mile compared to a private vehicle (South University; Grabow et al. 71). With reduced trips in the personal cars, it dramatically improves the air quality. This paper discusses mass transportation and its effect on the air quality. It delves into finding out if use of mass transportation reduces air pollution
Reflective Essay
In this article, I am addressing about my personal reflection on what I have learned in research study skills. It will include assessment of my learning styles, hardest and easiest part, an estimated work plan for my completion of my degree and the strategy I intend to adopt for future research. Research skills lectures were aimed at teaching us how to carry out research using library and web resources.
Personal learning style
I enjoy conceptualizing academic ideas. I love being intellectually challenged because it stimulates my thought patterns and enables me to discover theoretical concepts quickly. It also helps me retain as much educational content as possible. I like discussing issues from different perspectives. I also learn through visual aid and research. I crave for knowledge, and that gets me into a lot of reading, especially on topics of interest. During the course, I have discovered how to do internet research. I had never done any extensive research before and whatever I had previously done when researching was not up to standard. Initially, I would go to the library and looked everything up in the catalog, which was very inefficient and took so long. The internet provides search engines, which are as fast as a click. The search engines let the researcher find articles containing keywords that are related to the subject being researched. It is very remarkable acknowledging that some time back; one would scan through a book or an article to see if it contains any related content to their topic.
Hardest Part
The internet contains so much information both relevant and irrelevant. I realize that not all search engines are equal and others do not have authentic information. The real challenge in research is discerning which content to trust. Should it only be trusted in a peer-reviewed journal? Or any content is good content as long as it was published online. I am very passionate about research, and proper research should be well thought of and worked on and with the internet unclear monitoring structures, anyone can publish any content. It makes it harder for the researcher to filter through the content.
Simplest Part
Since I am into research, it was quite refreshing to learn about the endless capabilities that the internet provides for researchers. There is so much good content and material that one can use that the world without the web is unfathomable. The course helped in allowing me to discover new concepts. I learned about the various ways of collecting reliable data, which was very exciting.
Research strategy
Process
First, it was paramount for me to craft a thesis or research question from the general topic, ‘how to reduce climate change.’ I majorly used Google, Google Scholar, and Yahoo to get an overview of the subject, as well as getting insights into other research types done regarding the same. It was quite an overall theme, and so many other different studies had been done on it. I was focused on looking for a particular topic that was not well-explored and created the gap for my thesis. I settled for ‘how is the use of public transportation useful in reducing air pollution?’ because I felt not enough had been covered on the best way to execute the plan.
Sources
I used many different sources ranging from peer-reviewed articles, primary sources, web-resources, eBooks, books, periodicals, government documents and much more. The method of searching was challenging since I could not get the exact content that I wanted. Thus, I employed phrase searching, keyword searching, subject searching the Boolean logic, truncation among others to get the material that I needed. While searching, I had an assumption that I would get the content relating to my thesis statement immediately but I got so much irrelevant information. I had to leave some material for my research because it did not have sufficient information supporting my argument and some were not even related. It was necessary for me to move out of my topic at some point to get a better perspective of my topic for a better research approach.
Thesis
I pulled all the relevant sources from the lot, which was supporting my argument The evidence was so wide, and I had to filter the content out basing on quality before settling on the sources that added value on my topic and had a strong argument in support of my research question.
Lessons learned
Throughout the course and this activity, I have significantly grown as a researcher. I have learned about the importance of quoting reliable and authentic information. It has also taught me about the organization, strategizing and a better comprehension of the topic before keying in the search terms. With better search terms, you are guided to a wealth of information that informs the direction and quality of your research. In future, I am targeting at expanding my search for sources, efficiently using the internet, the library and other educational places to enhance my understanding of the topics that I will be handling.
Application of the skills
Steps to refining a research question
Pick an overall theme: In this case, the general theme is Alternative Energy.
Perform some preparatory study on the overall theme: It will require rapid searches in recent journals and periodicals on the subject to see the research milestones on the topic to help one limit his or her scope. Find out the question that the initial search informs.
Consider the audience: The audience plays a huge role regarding the development of the research argument thus should be put into consideration. Would the audience be drawn to the issue?
Start asking questions: For instance, in this case, the research question might be, ‘What are the valuable characteristics of alternative energy and how can they be used to replace fossil fuels?
Evaluate the Question: The research question should be very precise and well-centered. The research question should be very particular. Is the research question complex? It should be sophisticated enough to allow for research and analysis from the writer.
Keywords
Identify the most important 2 to 4 words from the research question. In this case, it will be alternative energy and fossil fuels.
Make a list of alternative words for the critical world. For instance, it can be renewable energy and non-renewable energy.
Search strings
Some of the search strings that can be used to find books in the library catalog and articles in databases include the Boolean Logic, Keyword searching, phrase searching, subjects seeking among others. For instance, the Boolean commands include AND, OR and NOT. One can feed in ‘Alternative energy AND Fossil fuel. Usually, the search strings are differently and depend on how much exact information you are looking for in the databases. Deeper into the research, one should focus on getting more accurate sources; thus, the Boolean logic is more viable. For instance searching for alternative energy AND fossil fuel, some of the most recent results include ‘A Handbook of Alternative Fuel Technologies’ and “Do alternative energy sources displace fossil fuels?” (Sunggyu et al. 1; York, 441).
For results to be viable and replicable in research, then one should carry out a comprehensive and productive research. The whole course of research study skills was to prepare me for the future projects as I delve further into research and I feel more comfortable to come up with research questions and execute my research work plan to the latter.

Works Cited
CDC. “CDC Transportation Recommendations.” CDC, 4 Nov. 2011, https://www.cdc.gov/transportation/recommendation.htm. Accessed 6 Dec 2016.
Dart First State “The Environmental Benefits of Riding Public Transit.” Division of Waste and Hazardous Substances. Delaware. http://www.dnrec.delaware.gov/dwhs/info/Pages/OzonePublicTrans.aspx. Accessed 6 Dec 2016.
Federal Transit Administration. “Transit’s Role in Environmental Sustainability.” Federal Transit Administration, 9 May 2016. https://www.transit.dot.gov/regulations-and-guidance/environmental-programs/transit-environmental-sustainability/transit-role. Accessed 6 Dec 2016.
Grabow, Maggie L., et al. “Air quality and Exercise-related Health Benefits from Reduced Car Travel in the Midwestern United States.” Environmental Health Perspectives 120.1 (2012): 68.
Hitchcock, Guy, et al. “Air Quality and Road Transport.” Impacts and Solutions. RAC Foundation. London, United Kingdom (2014).
Lee, Sunggyu, James G. Speight, and Sudarshan K. Loyalka, eds. Handbook of Alternative Fuel Technologies. crc Press, 2014.
Rabl, Ari, and Audrey De Nazelle. “Benefits of Shift from Car to Active Transport.” Transport Policy 19.1 (2012): 121-131.
Smith, William H. Air Pollution, and Forests: Interactions between Air Contaminants and Forest Ecosystems. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
South University, “Environmental Benefits of Public Transportation.” South University, 7 Jan. 2011. https://www.southuniversity.edu/whoweare/newsroom/blog/environmental-benefits-of-public-transportation-31178. Accessed 6 Dec 2016.
Stanley, John K., David A. Hensher, and Chris Loader. “Road Transport and Climate Change: Stepping off the Greenhouse Gas.” Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 45.10 (2011): 1020-1030.
Stern, Arthur C., ed. Fundamentals of Air Pollution. Elsevier, 2014.
York, Richard. “Do Alternative Energy Sources Displace Fossil Fuels?.” Nature Climate Change 2.6 (2012): 441-443.