Meeting with the Subject Librarian

The most important thing I gained from my meeting with the subject librarian was how to narrow my search and find sources that dealt directly with my topic. It was very useful to go because by learning all the tips and tricks of how the websites run it makes research a breeze. The thing I still struggle with in my research most is supporting my topic and letting the reader know what my purpose is. A lot of the time I can present the research and scientific studies and write a paper about it but often I lack the ‘why this is important’ factor. Through meeting with the subject librarian I think I have found a good way to channel my ideas based upon the research I have found.

For the literature review I am researching the spread of a disease called white pine blister rust that affects pine tree species. A lot of the sources that I have found are scientific studies that have been conducted to better understand how this disease is affecting trees and what the best solutions are for controlling and preventing it. One thing that has surprised me is that there has been a lot of research done on this subject. I personally didn’t know that blister rust was such a big deal, it was something I had only heard very little about, so it was quite surprising to find that it’s a problem and people are trying to stop it before it destroys all our forests.