March 2 (Monday)- Begin Writing Project with instructions.

For your writing project, you have two (2) deadlines and many possibilities for topics.

 

Investigate and Research your topic with library and internet resources. Write, revise, revise, revise... 

Here is some advice from the UA Libraries and others on how to:

·                     Evaluate information you may find on the Internet.

·                     Avoid plagiarism in your note-taking and writing.

·                     Use journal articles and the popular press in your research.

·                     Use one of the more powerful scientific search engines, Web of Science (also Google Scholar).

You should properly cite and reference all sources of information you use to write your paper, including facts, figures, tables and images.  See this link for required style for in-text citations and end-of-text references.

 

Your deadlines are:

March 25 (Wednesday)- Topic, Title, Outline (example1, example2) and References due

Turn in (due by class time) a typewritten/printed

(1)    One-sentence statement of topic

(2)    An imaginative and compelling title of your paper

(3)    outline containing a sufficient number of points to reveal your approach and emphasis

(4)    Properly Formatted list of at least 8 RELEVANT* references from web, books, journals, magazines that you have found that relate to your scientific topic (for web sources, give full web address that would allow others to find it exactly). [*RELEVANT web references are needed, not superfluous references with little or no relevant content]

April is willing to read full (or partial) draft of you paper and comment on it if you can turn it in at this time.

 

April 15 (Wednesday)- Final Paper is due                                 

Turn in (due by class time):

Typewritten final paper (including Bibliography):

(1)    At least Two but not more than Three typewritten pages of text introduced with your title and followed by bibliography.  Any tables, pictures, figures are not included in the 2-3 page text requirement; they need to be labeled as “Table 1” (with caption), “Figure 1” (with caption), etc, and in the text you should refer to them at the appropriate point in your narrative.

(2)    Double-spaced (not 2½ - or triple spacing); 12-point font type; 1-inch margins all around. Printing on one-side of page only

 

Topics:

You are free to come up with your own topic related to our course as related to global environmental change.  Some possibilities follow:

 

1. Standard term paper topics (perhaps related to something in which you are interested and want to find out more beyond the treatment in lecture/Mann-Kump/Mackenzie).  Examples of topics that could be investigated in the context of global environmental change:

Little Ice Age compared to modern climate                                                   Kyoto Protocol

Medieval Warm Period compared to modern climate                                    Carbon sequestration

Alternative energy (e.g., wind, direct solar, geothermal, tidal, etc)               Carbon credits & trading

Melting of mountain glaciers                                                              Energy efficiency

History of the “Northwest Passage”                                                               “Peak Oil”

Global Change and disease                                                                             Modern extinctions

Variability through time of solar output (sun & climate change)                   Sea Ice and climate

Destruction of coral reefs                                                                               Changes in permafrost

Current state and trends of polar bear populations                                         Clathrates (methane hydrates)

Volcano effects on climate                                                                             Nuclear energy alternative

How is global temperature measured? Is it accurate?                         Younger Dryas

Renewable bioenergy (e.g., ethanol, biodiesel, etc)                                        Collapse of fisheries

Recycling: energy and resources                                                                     “Green Revolution”

The state and future of the Greenland ice sheet                                             Waste water reclamation

The state and future of the Antarctic ice sheet                                               Pollution and albedo

Agriculture 5000-8000 years ago and its effect on climate                            Population projections 2100

Isotopes in ice cores as climate indicators                                                      Solar cells

Biological indicators of climate change (e.g., wine, flowering, etc)   Auto mpg standards (CAFE)

Worldwide biomass burning for heating and cooking                                    Younger Dryas and THC

CFC’s and global change                                                                                borehole temperatures

Hydrogen economy                                                                                        Wildfire

Trend in intensity and frequency of Pacific hurricanes (typhoons)                Oil shales and tar sands

What is a Nobel Peace Prize and did A. Gore really meet its criteria?           Megadroughts

Proxies of past climate change (e.g., tree rings, ice cores, pollen, sediment cores, etc)          “Ozone hole”

 

2. Non-standard term paper topics, for those who might prefer an option that allows you to take greater advantage of your creativity:

A. Devise a birthday card with 5 global change-related environmental milestones (time line) for the lifetime of someone at least 30 years old (but less than 100).  You would show mock-up card and your term paper would explain and support your choice of the milestones.

B. Develop a time capsule that will contain materials/items representing the 5 most important things you would want someone 100 years from now to know about global change in 2009.  Your term paper would explain and support your choice of materials/items.

C. Describe the 5 most important things you would like all people in the world to know about global (environmental) change today.  Your term paper would explain and support your choices.

D. Put on your salesperson hat and make a persuasive and seemingly supportable argument to advocate one of the following:

Rising atmospheric CO2 is good

Melting of ice caps is good

Eutrophication (cultural) is good

Tropical rain forest deforestation is good

Rising sea levels are good

Your ultimate goal for D would be to write a narrative that reads like a Chamber of Commerce brochure and makes your ASSIGNED specific advocacy seem attractive, i.e., you will write a well-crafted, interesting, rosy, and plausible-as-possible description/advertisement that will “sell” your advocacy, using whatever real facts or selective usage of facts (your strong command of global change topics can really help you in this, BUT YOU CANNOT “MAKE UP” FACTS).