Exploring a Career in GeologyThere are many ways to explore your interests in science, including classroom, laboratory, and field experiences. You should, however, go beyond passively waiting for your life’s interests to be presented to you, and look beyond your own (small) world that is UW-Oshkosh. You can check out researchers on the ResearchGate web page, which is a good way to see what people are doing, see how much their research impacts the field, and download their papers. Another convenient way explore research topics and researchers, that was not available to previous generations, is to search online for topics and scientists that are doing the type of work that interests you. GeoRef is a very useful tool to explore topics, research that has been done in the past and the scientists who have done (and are likely doing research today). To get started, explore work of scientists you know and perhaps have some knowledge of; this will allow you to see how this works under “controlled conditions”. Follow the steps outlined below to get started. |
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* Science is a way of approaching problems in the natural world that involves asking questions that are testable (hypotheses). This requires observations and gathering of data (qualitative and quantitative), and then analyzing this information. To qualify as science, these observations and data must be published and publications must include information regarding methods used. This is a means to allow others to retest and draw their own conclusions – these maybe consistent with the original ones, but this is not always the result. This is where things get interesting! |
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