One of the major tools in scientific research is the literature review: Sifting through previously published science to determine the current state of the science about a topic. This activity will give you an understanding of what an environmental scientist must do as part of their work, as you will be given direct access to a vast database of research articles published by working scientists. What we see in mainstream news reports on television, in newspapers, and on the internet are usually simplified summaries of a much more complex scientific study, and as such, they may not provide you the whole picture of what the researchers did. Here, you will choose an actual science article to read yourself, without the filter of the news media to interpret it for you. Instead, you will write your own summary about the article, and interpret the study and results yourself.

After reading the article, write a 1 to 2 page short paper essay (text only, double-spaced) that summarizes the contents of the article. Your summary must (A) be in your own words, (B) not include any pictures, and (C) be written to APA standards with a cover page and a works cited page