Task-1During this course, many environmental issues will be examined in detail. The Course Final Report is a project where you will have an opportunity to focus on an area of interest to you. You will select an environmental issue to research and write a research essay on it. The research essay will be built in stages with different assignments/tasks throughout this course.
Suggestions for Environmental Topics
• Oil drilling in the Arctic National Wife Refuge (ANWR)
• The deforestation issue: Rainforests and ecological sustainability
• Sustainable eating for health and humankind
• The truth about global warming
• Renewable energy vs. nonrenewable energy
• The ethics of using pesticides or insecticides
• Decline of the honeybee population
• Deforestation: North America vs. South America
• Antarctica and global warming
• Genetically modified food
• Organic food
• Commercial whaling
• Overpopulation
• Flood plains: Should we continue to build on them?
• Overfishing effects on the environment
• Wild fish versus farmed fish
• Effect of water treatment on human health
• Controlled forest fires and how healthy they are for the environment
• Eutrophication in our lakes
• Bottled water vs. tap water
• Hunting and the environment
Identify one environmental issue that has impacted you or someone you know. The issue that you pick will be the topic for your course final report. For help in selecting topics, refer to “Suggestions for Environmental Topics.”
To successfully complete task 1, do the following:
1. Briefly describe the selected environmental issue.
2. State your initial position on the issue in one to two paragraphs.
3. Find three articles that support your position.
4. List all the references at the end of the report
The following are brief descriptions of the project :
a) Identify one environmental issue and find three articles which support your position.
b) Using the same environmental issue you chose in Task ‘a’, now find three articles which are against your position.
Using the same environmental issue you chose in Task 1, now find one or more articles which oppose the position you took in Task 1.
To successfully complete Task 2, do the following:
1. Briefly describe the selected environmental issue. Task 2 is similar to Task 1; however, when working on Task 2, revisions should be made based upon feedback comments and/or proof reading.
2. State the opposing position on the issue in one to two paragraphs.
3. State your rebuttals to the opposing position on the issue in one to two paragraphs.
4. Find one or more articles that oppose your position.
c) Create an outline for your research essay.Task 3,create an outline that will aid you in the organizing your information, which you will use to create the Course
When completing Task 3,include the following components in the outline:
1. Introductory paragraph
2. Thesis statement
3. Major points
4. Introduce your position
5. State the opposing position
6. State your rebuttal to the opposing position
7. Citations that support your information and data within the text
d) Submit your course final report.
Task 4:Final Report:Using the work you completed in Tasks 1-3, write your final research report, which should be a minimum of 1,000-1,250 words.
Remember to support your data and information with appropriate citations. A minimum of six references must be included.
