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This assignment is designed to run throughout the course and parallel to it

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This assignment is designed to run throughout the course and parallel to it.  Its objectives are:

• to develop an awareness of the day-to-day, ongoing nature of environmental situations;
• to develop familiarity with the use of reliable media as a source of up-to-date information on environmental situations, and
• to evaluate a contemporary environmental issue

During the course of this semester there will be many ongoing and some ‘new’ environmental situations and problems that develop. These issues may be local, provincial, national, international and/or global. As well as differences in the time frame and scale, environmental issues rarely operate in isolation; in fact it is often the case that the emergence of a particular environmental issue will exacerbate an existing issue or initiate an entirely new situation. Information on and relevant to the situation will be covered by several types of media, including newspapers, magazines, radio and TV, and the Internet. Coverage will include reports of specific happenings, background and commentary. 

Your task will be to track a specific environmental issue, as it is covered by the media, over the duration of the course. This should be done by keeping a journal in which you record both the chronology (timeline) of the media coverage of the situation and your thoughts/comments on it.

This assignment involves two steps:

Part 1: Write and submit an Introduction

Part 2: Write a weekly journal in which you monitor the issue for 10 weeks, and write a conclusion. Submit as one file including your introduction from Part 1, your 10 weekly journal entries, and your conclusion.

 

Part 1:

Format: Please double-space and use a 12-pt font or larger. Please attach as a “.docx” or a PDF.  

Select a topic.  As you will be monitoring the ongoing nature of your topic it is important that YOU are interested!  Take some time to search a range of media sources (see Resources above for some suggestions) for the period leading up the course (e.g. over the past month), and select a specific environmental situation covered by the media during that period (and which you anticipate will be ongoing). 

Deliverables:

Write an introduction to your topic. Using at least three reputable sources, provide a detailed introduction to your topic. You may want to answer questions such as:

• When and why did this issue begin?
• Where is this issue occurring?
• Who is affected?

Your introduction should be approximately 200-300 words long. should use at least 3 reputable sources, and must include in-text citations along with a complete reference list in APA format. Failure to do so will result in a grade of 0, as lack of references is a form of plagiarism.

 

Part 2:

Format: Please double-space and use a 12-pt font or larger. Please combine the 3 Deliverables and attach as one “.docx” or PDF.  

Based on weekly monitoring of the issue (for 10 weeks) you will make a record of the situation as it develops. This will require you to:

• Select one relevant news story per week that discusses the ongoing nature of your topic. The story must have been originally published during that week. Be sure to use a range of reputable sources to decrease bias. For example, don’t only read or view stories from CBC News, or only from Al Jazeera.
• Create a summary of the article – in your own words.
• Provide thoughtful commentary regarding the articles’ subject matter. This is a chance for you to convey your thoughts, ideas and opinions. Be critical, thoughtful, and wherever possible relate your commentary to relevant course readings, learning materials, and/or discussions.

You will need to create ten entries (based on ten different articles) – again, that document the ongoing nature of your selected environmental issue.

Once you have completed the ten entries you need to create a final summary/conclusion.  While there is no word minimum or maximum you may want to aim for approximately 250 words. 

Deliverables:

• Your revised/corrected Introduction from Part 1. Make any corrections that were suggested by your professor when they marked Part 1.
• Your 10 weekly journal entries
• Your summary/conclusion