A Request for Research…….

In picking my topic for the first assignment (Biosecurity system being adequate to protect our boarders) , I knew it would be topical and a point for hot debate after all the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) had been in the news a lot earlier in the year over the Queensland fruit fly invasion among other lapses of security. I actual had inside information in relation to how our Biosecurity system where meant to work, but as this was pillow talk and hearsay I couldn’t actually use it. It was also one person’s tinted view on the failing with the system. I need to remind myself to keep objective and open to both sides of the argument so to speak.     

The ideal place to start would be MPI’s (Ministry for Primary Industries) own web site which has a number of links to articles, projects, information and data.  At this stage I started to panic, as although this is a great source for back ground information would it give me the hook I was looking for to hang my argument on? But they were all about the future and the information that was being presented is what is being proposed for changes and update to board controls ( there may be more there as I only scratched the surface so to speak).  It was just one form of information to digest and help support my understanding of Biosecurity within NZ, and one that will need to revisited as my research progresses (it is still ongoing…)  

My next source was the Universities own library to see if my rust research skill could find other articles and hopefully some published scientific information.  After navigating my way through the updated entry system, I was soon typing in what I hoped would be great search line…. Like I said I am rusty.  It took several goes to come up with search results that gave me a number of published newspaper articles, but little scientific or peer review publications. At this point was I was feeling frustrated and very behind the clock, as I only had limited during the week and weekend to start this, and work was threatening to take up more time with other projects and calamities that need to be sorted urgently.  When planning to do this I should have allowed more time during the evenings and being less involved with the politics of my work place, which have been a major distraction. 

So I guess that well I have found some interesting articles and ideas, the research will carry on so I can produce what I hope will be a well-rounded and supported argument for my assignment. As from small beings often come big ideas (Anon), and that research is often just the quest for greater knowledge.  With that I must return to my website's and libraries to continue my quest for information.