Natural Science Forum / Biology / Paleontology / May 2004

1) The material - bones and the rock they come from
2) Other palaeontologists
3) Papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals
4) Reference books: e.g. Romers 'The Osteology of Reptiles'
5) Popular articles and news reports (which I always check very
carefully)

Going down the list
1) Material:
Benefits:
a) It doesn't misrepresent, interpret or distort the facts
Drawbacks
a) It can be difficult to interpret
b) It is timeconsuming and expensive to visit museums all over the
world to look at material
2) Other palaeontologists
Benefits:
a) I know most of them well enough to judge the value of their
comments
b) They offer interesting insights into my research
c) It's a chance to drink beer together.
Drawbacks
a) Some of them have their own viewpoint which can be hard to separate
from what they say
b) Communication can be fraught with language problems

3) Papers etc.
Benefits:
a) I know that what I'm reading is generally reliable
b) It gives me the opportunity to evaluate material I have no chance
of getting hold of myself.
Drawbacks
a) Not all papers are as well-refereed as they should be.

4) Reference books
Benefits
a) They bring together material from a large variety of sources
together and present it in a choherent form.
Drawbacks:
a) They don't cover specfic areas of research in much depth
b) The information can be out of date

5) Popular accounts
Benefits
a) They may draw my attention to something I hadn't heard of
Drawbacks
a) They are very unreliable on detail

Lots! There are always more bones to find.
Old journals can be a problem.

Richard Forrest
www.plesiosaur.com

A couple of factors that will make a difference.  I'm not a
paleontology professional, so I don't have access to current journals
as part of my work and don't have regular access to expert opinions
from coworkers.  Also, I don't have easy access to a University.
There is a major University within driving distance, but traffic and
parking are a killer.

On-line.  Science summaries from Scientific American, Nature, Science.
My own library.  Material in the local library.  Newspapers.

My personal library is limited to a small amount of vital material
e.g. Schimer and Shrock, Index Fossils of North America.  But I do
have most of the published geologic reports on the area where I live.
The local library is very large and helpful for a small town in a
rural region, but it has limited material and using it is time
consuming.  On line sources are spotty and not always all that
reliable.  They are improving rapidly however.

Of course.

I am not a paleontologist and I only check this group occasionally.
I read a few published research papers in paleontology and read the
DML daily.  http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/

The DML is excellent.  I get news of things of interest (and get news
form other sources as well), and get directed to research papers as
soon as they appear, and get discussions of new papers whether I read
them or not.  Note that much of what is posted here is not allowed in
the DML.  It is science only.  

I rarely need paleontological information.  I read it just because I
am interested.

Dunk