FirstScience.com

FirstScience.com caters to science and nature buffs of all ages and all levels of understanding.  Their articles in various categories such as "space" and "physics" are designed to make science fun and accessible.  Visitors can take quizzes, catch up the latest breaking science news, check out live science webcams, or read nature poetry.  

Click on some links under both "Brain Strain" and "Fun Stuff" to get a sense of the site's dual mission of educating and entertaining.  Browse through the "Fact File" to see daily updated lists of pop-science trivia like "One in every ten people live on an island" and "The human eye can distinguish 300 shades of gray."  Follow the webcam links to scan the shores of Loch Ness for its infamous monster, Nessie, or to watch live footage of otters at play.

As you skim through the site, notice how the material uses Definition, Illustration, and Classification as dominant patterns of development.  The scientific method dictates that experimenters define, explain, and categorize their subjects.  As a site devoted to scientific education, FirstScience.com utilizes these rhetorical strategies over and over again.  The site's organization depends on categorization, the articles define scientific terms by distinguishing them from similar terms, and the writers explain general principles by providing specific details.  Notice how the site is devoted to using definition, illustration, and classification to present often complicated theoretical information to the layperson.



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Q & A

1. On the home page, find the pull-down menus on topics such as "Volcanoes" and "Aircraft."  What kind of information do you find in the menu for each category? What are the relationships between the general categories and the specific articles?  Choose one category and read one of the articles listed in the menu.  Explain the relationship between the category and the topic.  Analyze how the article provides an illustration of a general topic.  Summarize the category and the article for your instructor, and provide examples in your analysis.



2.  Click on "Fact File" on the left side of the home page.  Read through some of the intriguing facts that appear on the new page.   These facts are random and uncategorized.   Create categories for 10-20 of the facts.  In the text box below, list your categories. Copy and place each fact within a category. Finally, write a paragraph explaining your classification method.



3. Read any of the featured articles on the home page.  Analyze how the writer uses definition, illustration, and classification.  Summarize the article for your instructor, and provide examples within your analysis.



Submit your answers.

Either print your answers out for submission or email them to your instructor.