Geology 100W: Technical Writing Workshop

Spring, 1999

Paper #3

Assignment: Turn in a double-spaced paper (approximately 9 - 11 pages) that researches a topic of particular interest to you. The paper could include 1 - 2 pages of illustrations (properly referenced and captioned); the use of illustrations will be discussed in class on April 7, 1999. A list of references is a required element of this paper.

Goals and Intended audience: Treat this paper as a pre-proposal for a senior thesis or Master's thesis. Summarize and synthesize published work on the topic, and then discuss pros and cons of this material (flaws in data collection or interpretation? other interpretations possible? etc.). Any topic in Earth science, environmental studies, geography, anthropology, archaeology, or any other discipline is acceptable. Assume that your audience consists of a technically literate reader who is not familiar with the details of the controversy. Avoid remedial background information. Remember: I will not assess content.

Your grade will be based on:

Grammar (spelling, punctuation, usage, etc): roughly 25%

Syntax (how sentences are constructed): roughly 25%

Organization (paragraph construction and order): roughly 25%

Proper citations, use of illustrations, complete reference list, etc.: roughly 25%

A partial list of sources follows:

• interviews by phone or in person
• personal field trips
• periodicals or newspaper articles (use ERIC at Clark library, or newspaper websites)
• journal articles, books
• WWW sites (be sure to cite URL, author, and date consulted)

You will be asked to compose or to refine an outline for this paper in class on April 5, 1999

This paper's first draft is due April 14, 1999

The revision is due April 26, 1999