MY TOPIC
- Benefits
- Conservation
- Education
- Research
- Misrepresentation
- Against release
- Acts and laws in place
- Negatives
- Dentition
- Dorsal fin collapse
- Disease
- Life away from the pod
- Breeding in captivity
- Psychological/performance
THE PRODUCT
- Depends on the circumstances of the captivity
- Allowed for the purposes of research
- Research animals also used for conservation
- All profits should go to charity
- The laws and acts minimise negative impacts
- A 5000 word report that outlines some of the main arguments for and against cetacean captivity
- Using sources found through research online:
- Websites
- Reports
- Books
- Articles
- I noted any source I looked and critically assessed whether it was suitable
- The essay consists of an introduction, arguments for, arguments against and then my conclusion
PLANNING
- GanttChart outlining deadlines
- Notebook where I recorded what I had done
- Word document where I collated all my research, with website links
- Initial plan with distinct sections for cetacean captivity as a global issue and acts and laws in place
- Amended plan with combined sections
- Decided to separate arguments for and against
KEY TERMS
- Initially opted for Early Entry so it would be complete by exams
- This was going well - logbook was up to date and research and report writing was meeting deadlines
- However did not feel it could be completed to a high standard by this time
- Changed to Summer Entry and therefore altered own-deadlines on GanttChart
CETACEAN - referring to a group of marine mammals consisting of whales, dolphins and porpoises
CAPTIVITY - the keeping of an animal out of its natural habitat, for any reason (science or entertainment)
CHOOSING MY TITLE
- Initially I was keen to do my presentation on cosmology
- Instead decided to do something related to Veterinary Science
- I have a specific love of marine mammals, in particular orcas
- Have always found the debate of captivity very interesting
Do the benefits of keeping cetaceans in captivity outweigh the negatives?
WHAT I DECIDED TO INVESTIGATE
- How to research for a topic using resources such as JSTOR and Britannica
- Harvard Method for refer
- Time management - little and often
- Report writing technique - using subheadings, multiple plans, integrating sources
- How to effectively analyse sources using RAVEN
- Essentially the pros and cons of cetacean captivity
- Chose to write project on cetaceans rather than either just orcas or all marine mammals in captivity
- Ensuring that research was not only focused on captivity in SeaWorld
- Also investigating the laws and acts already in place regarding cetaceans captivity
Emma Dixon
WHAT I WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY
- Made my table assessing credibility of sources as I went along instead of having to look at all the sources again to analyse them
- Been more decisive regarding my conclusion and writing it earlier
- Decided on an exact title earlier so I could ensure my initial report writing was significant
- Kept a record of my progress on a word document or on ProjectQ as I did not always have my notebook with me
- Finding reliable sources on such an emotive and controversial topic
- Finding time to complete the research and the report itself given how busy I am
- Reaching deadlines - although I initially opted for Early Entry as it meant I was more organised when it came to Summer Entry
- Writing the conclusion for my report
- When at Robinson library found the 'Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals' and took photos of chapter on captivity
- Dedicated time to researching so that I could gather all relevant information before beginning writing the report
- Set a deadline for research
- Noted all sources considered and tried to find a variety of formats
- Once writing had began found more research was required in certain areas
KEY SOURCES
- 'The Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals'
- 'A Report for the Scientific Justifications for Keeping Cetaceans in Captivity' by Sue Mayers
- cetaceanawareness.com
- humanesociety.org
- 'SeaWorld Says It Has to Keep Orcas in Captivity to Save Them' by Tasmeen Raja
- Emotive topic
- Majority of sources biased
- Looking for sources from credible sites or books or sources that offer arguments on each side
- Compiled a table assessing reliability of sources using RAVEN
- Whenever possible have used neutral sources throughout the report
- Sometimes difficult so quoted facts from biased sources but not opinions