Assignment
Thus far you have analyzed how a Christian and non-Christian worldview would approach your chosen environmental topic as well as how an anthropocentric and nonanthropocentric ethical framework would view the morality of the effects of the issue behind your topic. In both of these papers, the focus was not on the science related to your topic but on the worldview and ethics. In this paper you will describe and evaluate the various scientific findings regarding your chosen environmental topic.
The end result will be a paper that provides a concise but complete snapshot of the major scientific findings related to your topic. You will choose to focus on either findings dealing with the environmental effects of your problem or findings dealing with possible solutions. You do not have enough space to do both in the level of detail I am asking for. Provide some sort of evaluation of the findings you discuss (e.g. are some findings better established than others, do the findings suggest something to be cautious about, etc.). Note you will not be evaluating whether or not the possible solutions are justified, nor whether the environmental effects are morally problematic. You will only be discussing the science.
Here are examples of thesis statements which do the job:
- While proposed solutions to anthropogenic global warming run the gamut from mitigation to adaptation strategies, nearly all solutions will require large and difficult changes to the structure of the global economy.
- Studies suggest anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have led to increased global mean surface temperature, changes in the cryosphere, and increased sea-level. Because these effects have very different sensitivities, timescales, and levels of understanding, our confidence in their conclusions range from probable to likely.
In past classes at North Park, your professor may have required you to state your thesis in a single sentence. This has the merit of helping keep your paper focused. For this paper, however, you may use more than one sentence, as long as the sentences that form your thesis cohere together.
Regarding Sources
This course is not a science course, so I am not expecting that you conduct original scientific research on your environmental topic. At the same time, if your science paper is based upon newspapers, newsmagazines, encyclopedias, and websites, this class is no different from a junior high class.
For your paper, you must use and cite at least 10 separate sources. Of these 10, not more than two may be from newspapers, newsmagazines, encyclopedias, or websites. The rest must be from some sort of peer-reviewed book or journal article. Of course, feel free to use newspapers, etc. for your own background reading, but these are not to be the references that form the foundation of your paper.
Description and Due Dates of Milestones
- Annotated bibliography of all sources consulted so far on your topic (including those from your previous papers), plus at least 15 additional non-web page sources. In all, there should be no less than 25 sources outside of class readings on this annotated bibliography. Remember, you do not have to use every source in this annotated bibliography in your paper. Rather, this bibliography is a natural result of the research process. Due Wed. Apr 11.
- Outline of paper. This should be a sentence outline, detailed and specific. If you're not sure what a sentence outline is, please see me. Due Fri. Apr 13.
- Writing Advisor draft (must be complete, not just an outline plus a few paragraphs). Due Mon. Apr 16.
- Peer review draft (must be complete, not just an outline plus a few paragraphs). Due Wed. Apr 25.
- Final draft: Five-pages long, double-spaced, one-inch margins on all sides, 12 point Times New Roman. Five pages is the minimum and preferred length. Your list of references does not count towards the page requirement. Due Fri. Apr 27.
Grading
- 10%: Annotated bibliography (graded on effort). Note that for this paper I've made this bibliography worth much more than in the past.
- 5%: Outline (graded on effort).
- 5%: Peer review feedback session, with feedback incorporated, as appropriate (graded on effort).
- 10%: Writing Advisor feedback session, with feedback incorporated, as appropriate (graded on effort).
- 70%: Final draft (graded on structure, argument, content, prose). Note that this paper has a larger focus on content (e.g. quantity and quality of sources used, appropriate facts and examples given, and citations of studies) than the previous two papers.
Please see the paper's grading sheet for specifics of what I'm looking for in your writing.
