Understudy,
Do you have a scientific background? While I will admit that this "Thesis" is heavily laden with literature cited it does contain a Materials and Methods section which indicates some experimentation was done.
Most thesis papers are exceptionally long considering you come up with a process and do your experiments and then show examples that back up your results from other people's work. While a lot of the info provided may have been literature cited, there may not have been much the author could have added to the subject. I just started working on just part of someone's research on population genetics with regards to a certain plant species and I can tell you that a bunch of work can be put together for very limited data and very limited advancement of knowledge.
Let me state that again... A lot of tedious work can be put together to provide very little return.
If you think that is bad you should try reading someone's doctoral work. I saw one the other day I considered stealing to use as added weight in my truck bed for winter!
My response from Dr. Malcolm Sanford University of Florida Entomology dept and Exec. Secratary for the Florida State Beekeepers association.
Brendhan,
This is a nice find; thanks for pointing it out. As you mention, reports of this nature have their use and are valuable. The fact that the author did no specific research herself is not necessarily problematic. As you state, others can use the information and design their experiments based on looking at original references. Now we can wait for Ms. Burley's Ph.D. dissertation, which probably will report on specific research she designs.
Malcolm T. Sanford Now I didn't find it DennisB did. I thought I would pass it along.
The paper is a Thesis as mentioned. And yes there can be a lot of tedious research put into one. And Doctorals are torture to read. I tend to look with a very sceptical eye at entomology papers lately because there have been some lousy ones. I have started checking references also. I get flustered when magazine articles and powerpoint presentations are used as references. There is some very good research science in her report. And she comes up with some very good information bringing those reports together. However when a report consist of a lot of references and very little to no original material I tend to be sceptical.
I have seen 300 page thesis's with 5 pages of references and a 40 page one with 20 pages of references. I tend to be a bit harsh if you have to many references it seems to me a bit like a cut and paste report.
If a report is going to one that extrapolates on other research to drawn a new conclusion or idea I think a bit more should be done that say report A says this and report B says this so we can say C. I want to see that C was tested and works. I am a harsh taskmaster on this but lately I have been dealing with some rotten science from people with PhD or Dr in the title and I am thinking half a million in tution later and this is what I get. Someone needs to ask for a refund.
Please don't think I hate all reports. There is some incredible science going on out there. Some great ideas being explored. But I have been feeling burned lately by the establishment that is suppose to represent us. So I tend to look with a critical eye.
Sincerely,
Brendhan
On my way to Salt lake.