ENGL101—Spring, 2009 Research Assignment Glenn Marsala, Instructor
Topic: Humans and the Natural Environment
The Environment combines aspects of every conceivable employment, activity, interest, future, including every branch of science, medicine, business, agriculture; and because this issue ought to concern everyone, and each of us must make choices about how to approach these issues; and because the information that comes to us every day is hard to understand, is controversial, involves global politics, local decisions (from the most mundane habits to strenuous landscaping, from choosing what car to drive to having the right to know the pollutants in our drinking water).
The implications of various actions, choices, and the lessons learned from the past. What are the side effects of certain industrial or technological activities in: health (of humans and other animals), water, air.
What kind of action can be taken now? Is it all up to us? Do we decide? Is it too late? Can something still be done? You may choose a particular animal, either extinct or endangered; you may choose to focus on a specific introduced species that has a deep effect on local flora and fauna. You could research the effects of the by-products of production and extraction (mining). You may think about the many effects of human conflict on the environment in a specific historical instance--nuclear power plant accidents, oil spills, depleted uranium in Iraq or Bosnia, the effects of a war on wildlife.
Whatever you choose, be sure to be extremely specific. Speak in great depth about a tiny aspect of this huge issue. Some of your interests may come into play: you may have a relative with cancer, you may be interested in sustainable agriculture and controversial strategies for addressing a hungry worldwide human population.
As you can see, there are innumerable issues proliferating in our local, national, and global environments. You may take any side you can support; just be sure to find enough sources to cover various sides of any argument. The answers may not be easy or obvious—after all, if it were as simple as listening to science and then implementing solutions to every danger; if the world were neat and orderly and every action were predictable; if we had no special interests, political expedience, contentious elections, conflicting governments and finite resources, then we would live in a very different world.
In 5-7 pages Address a particular situation on the planet. Research should include print sources, internet, interviews, radio, television, film, government documents.
1. Research Question.
A. Brainstorming session.
B. Ask questions.
C. Write question—what issue will your research address, seek to answer? How did you come up with question? Describe the problem and its importance. Your question should focus on something specific and complex enough to enable you to take a strong stand on a contentious issue. See A Pocket Style Manual, pages 101-2. One page—due Tuesday, April 14.
2. Sources—library session.
A. Find at least 10 sources, at least three or four of which should be print media (or print sources available on the Morrisville College database (see A Pocket Style Manual, pages 103-8).
B. Do tests to determine how suitable the sources are to the topic (see A Pocket Style Manual, pages 108-11).
C. Quote, paraphrase, take notes, write thoughts that occur as you read.
D. Research Journal—One page—describe what steps you've taken so far. Use it to explain some of the interesting things your reading has shown you so far. This should be a more detailed account of your research process. Due Thursday, April 16.
E. Assemble bibliography—Using MLA style, write a working bibliography (see A Pocket Style Manual, pages 135-48). Find at least ten sources! Due Tuesday, April 21.
3. Thesis & Outline.
A. Should come from what you learned when pursuing answer to question (See A Pocket Style Manual, pages 113-14).
B. Organize sources, ideas, points, proof into outline.
Due Thursday, April 23.
4. First Draft.
A. At least 5 pages (not 4.5, but 5 or more—in the neighborhood of 1250 words), with MLA style parenthetical documentation (see A Pocket Style Manual, pages 115-27).
B. In-class peer review/feedback—Due Tuesday, April 28.
5. Presentations—In class, 5 minutes with topic, Q&A—Beginning Thursday, April 30.
6. Final Draft due—Tuesday, May 11 (Final Exam Week).
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*You must quote several texts in your essay! A rule of thumb is to use two quotes per page. DO NOT assemble your paper completely out of other writers' words! Use quotes and ideas as support for your own thoughts and conclusions about an issue.
**You must include a Works Cited list, arranged in alphabetical order, with your final draft. List only sources you've used in your paper (not necessarily everything you read). Do not number your entries.
Some Suggestions:
1. A local issue: Invasive Species, Development & Habitat Loss, Agriculture & Industry, Recycling, Landfills, Wind Turbines, River and Aquifer Pollution, or even the proposed Power Lines (NYRI). Interview people locally or research an organization.
2. National: Drilling in the Arctic. Mining. Toxic Waste (Chemical, Nuclear, Industrial, Medical). Can also involve interviews. Dams, Fish, Wildlife, Wolves, Bears.
3. Global: Global Warming. Petroleum. Energy Issues. Water Use. Development & Habitat Loss. Preservation/Extinction/Conservation.
Research a particular organization, a piece of legislation (Endangered Species Act, anti-pollution laws, chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers).
Look into the various environmental movements. Think about the history of human mores regarding Nature, philosophies of the human role on the planet.
The implications of various actions, choices, and the lessons learned from the past. What are the side effects of certain industrial or technological activities in: health (of humans and other animals), water, air.
What kind of action can be taken now? Is it all up to us? Do we decide? Is it too late? Can something still be done?
Here are some websites:
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=can_government_go_green
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/
http://www.motherjones.com/science/index.html
http://www.nature.org/
http://www.sierraclub.org/
You may find a background overview on a site like wikipedia.org, but this should be used with skepticism, since it is a user edited site—anyone can add or delete information. While this site can give you some good leads in finding information elsewhere, you should not use this as one of your sources.
INTERNET SOURCES:
Must be handled with care. Be sure the website you use as a “reliable” source actually comes from a reputable organization. Many special interest groups, businesses, and other BIASED organizations produce many, many websites shading the arguments in their favor. For this reason, at least half of your sources must come from published books or journals (easily located through the Morrisville College Library site).
When using a search engine (like Google) to find information, much of what you find will not be useful. Try changing your search terms, or do an “Advanced Search,” where you look only for .gov, .edu, or .org sites, for example. The “com” in “.com” stands for company. In other words, they generally have something to sell. Sometimes it’s merchandise, sometimes it’s biased or bogus information.
You may not be aware of some of the best key words to use in your search when you first begin looking. Try other words. Ask your teacher or a librarian for suggestions. Write an email to the Morrisville library—they are there to help you! That is literally their job! When you give them a bit of information, they can help you find lots more, and point you in directions you may not have thought of at all.
Perhaps most importantly, keep track of the websites you want to use in your paper. You must keep track of the following information:
–URL (http://www.nature.org/, for example)
–Date you visited the site, such as: 13 November, 2008.
–Title of the article and site (even if this is only a general title).
Those are necessary for any website you use. If the article has author, publisher, copyright, or other information, be sure to keep track of that. Many websites have a “last updated” date. All of this information can easily be copied and pasted into a document. I recommend doing this as soon as you see that you are finding good information. That way, you will not forget it! Then, when you look back at your notes, right at the top is the source. This is true of other sources, as well. Keep track of your bibliographic information!
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Following is an overview of some information services here at MSC-Norwich (most available online, via the library’s website: http://library.morrisville.edu/). If you have further questions, problems, or any other concerns, please email or pick up a phone and call your instructor or a librarian. The Morrisville librarian can be reached at: John Schuster. E-mail: schustjh@morrisville.edu or phone: 315-684-6055
The librarian can help you with, among other things—
* Library resources – Overview of our collections and electronic resources.
* Basic research and searching skills – From basic to advanced searching skills, MLA and APA citation guides and assistance, overview of reference resources.
* Internet resources – Using varied search engines, evaluating information sources, tips and tricks in using the internet to support research.
* Overview of specialty search engines. For example, a premier search engine for scientific information: SCIRUS http://www.scirus.com/srsapp/
Scirus is the most comprehensive science-specific search engine on the Internet. Driven by the latest search engine technology, Scirus searches over 200 million science-specific Web pages, enabling you to quickly: Pinpoint scientific, scholarly, technical and medical data on the Web. Pinpoint scientific, scholarly, technical and medical data on the Web. Pinpoint scientific, scholarly, technical and medical data on the Web.
Databases.
Library Books.
Internet.
Opposing Viewpoints.
Science Databases.
* Library resources – Overview of our collections and electronic resources.
* Basic research and searching skills – From basic to advanced searching skills, MLA and APA citation guides and assistance, overview of reference resources.
* Internet resources – Using varied search engines, evaluating information sources, tips and tricks in using the internet to support research.
* A sampling of some of our library subscribed databases:
Science Direct - ScienceDirect contains over 25% of the world's science, technology and medicine full text and bibliographic information. Apart from online reference works, handbooks and book series ScienceDirect offers a rich journals collection of over 2,000 titles. In addition, the program offers the ability to search a historical archive of over 6.75 million articles directly from your desktop, back to Volume 1, Issue 1. The collections contain 4 million articles prior to 1995, and 2.75 million articles from after 1994.
Business and Company Resource Center - Fully integrated resource bringing together company profiles, brand information, rankings, investment reports, company histories, chronologies and periodicals. Search this database to find detailed company and industry news and information.
Fish and Fisheries Worldwide - Provides thorough coverage of thousands of journal articles, books, monographs, pamphlets, conference proceedings, symposia, government reports, theses, dissertations, and scientific periodicals, as well as other sources often missed by other commercial databases.
Literature and Resource Center - Access to biographies, bibliographies and critical analysis of authors from every age and literacy discipline.
CQ Researcher - The choice of researchers seeking original, comprehensive reporting and analysis on issues in the news. Published in print and online 44 times a year, the single-themed CQ Researcher report offers in-depth, non-biased coverage of political and social issues, with regular reports on topics in health, international affairs, education, the environment, technology and the U.S. economy. Each 13,000-word CQ Researcher report is a unique work, investigated and written by a seasoned journalist.
ALLDATA Online - The world's most comprehensive resource for automotive diagnostic and repair information.
CINHAL - Authoritative resource for nursing and allied health professionals, students, educators and researchers. This database provides indexing and abstracting for over 1,700 current nursing and allied health journals and publications dating back to 1982, totaling over 880,000 records.
The library has added a new database to our electronic database suite of products. Lexis/Nexis is considered a premier database for academic settings. LexisNexis Academic provides access to full-text news, business, and legal publications, using a variety of flexible search options.
Access over 6,000 news, business, and legal sources. The news coverage includes deep backfiles and up-to-the-minute stories in national and regional newspapers, wire services, broadcast transcripts, international news, and non-English language sources. Use the included Company Dossier module to retrieve detailed company information and financial performance measures or identify and compare companies matching specific criteria. This product also provides access to the renowned Shepard's Citations® service for all federal and states court cases back to 1789.
Database products can be found by clicking the menu item "Find Articles in Journals, Magazines and Newspapers" Lexis/Nexis is listed under topics of Business, Law, and Liberal Arts; Lexis/Nexis can also be found under the alphabetical listing of databases.
1. To access Lexis/Nexis you will need to go through the library web site
http://library.morrisville.edu/
2. Database products can be found by clicking the menu item "Find Articles in Journals, Magazines and Newspapers" Lexis/Nexis is listed under topics of Business, Law, and Liberal Arts; Lexis/Nexis can also be found under the alphabetical listing of databases.
3. When you locate Lexis/Nexis or any database product from home you will need to enter in your username and password. The user name is your email address and your password is the same as your email password.
LexisNexis Academic contains information from a wide variety of sources:
* News
* Business
* Legal Research
* Other Sources
* Company Dossier
Off Campus access to electronic databases includes: Academic Search Premier, MasterFile Select, ERIC, Business Source Premier, etc.
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