Research Paper

I. GOAL

Find new information on your topic of choice. Write a clear, focused, well-organized essay that indicates you thoroughly understand your source material, and topic.

II. ESSAY TOPICS

There are several possible topics:

1. Energy
2. Coal
3. Oil or natural gas
4. Air pollution
5. Climate Change
6. Renewable energy
7. Nuclear energy

Note that these are very broad topics. You need to pick one of these four options, and then narrow your research down to some specific element within that topic. Remember: you can only write once about a given topic in a semester.

III. WRITING INSTRUCTIONS

Your essay must be written on a computer and turned in via the Turn-it-in link under "Research Papers" in Blackboard Learn.

You must submit your final paper on Turnitin, and hand in a hard copy. The hard copy can be left in my box in the GEOS department (PHSC 217), SCED department (Hot 101) or my office (Holt 104, or you can turn it in to me in class.

Aim for the essay to be no more 1250-1500 words long. Slightly shorter essays are OK (please no more than 1500 words!), but you will lose points if you are off by more than ±25%. Your list of references does not count against the 1250-1500 words. Write your essay in a technical, formal style. Do not use colloquial terms. Use a passive form of 3rd-person voice (i.e. do not use the words "I", "we", "you"). Write for another GEOS 330 student. Make sure that you introduce/define all the terms/concepts before you actually discuss their effects. For example, you need to describe what greenhouse gasses, albedo, and the global carbon cycle are before you can clearly discuss how the different factors affect global climate change.

Remember, this is a scientific writing assignment. Your opinion has no place in this essay. The paper should be "dripping" with facts, data, and cited information to support your thesis statements. Refer to the guidelines for Essay #1 for an explanation of scientific writing.

IV. REFERENCES

You must read and cite at least 3 scientific references in your essay. At least one of the references used must be a peer reviewed paper from a scientific journal. The other two references must be from scientific sources. These include scientific journals, or websites from a university science department, government agency (i.e., NASA, USGS, NOAA, USDA), or other research organization. Do not reference blogs, popular periodicals, Wikipedia, etc. You may use textbooks for your scientific references, but NOT the textbook for this class.

Examples of scientific journals are:

Nature

Science

Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences

Eos

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Journal of Climate

Climatic Change

Geophysical Research Letters

Scientific American

Include an alphabetical list of references at the end of your essay, structured as recommended by the American Meteorological Society (see also http://ametsoc.org/PUBS/Authorsguide/pdf_vs/briefauthguide.pdf).

• Books: Reference must consist of last name and initials of author(s), year of publication of book, title of book (italicized or underlined), publisher's name, and total pages. NOTE: Do not use the textbook for this class. For example:
Wallace, J. M., and P. V. Hobbs, 1977: Atmospheric Science: An Introductory Survey. Academic Press, 350 pp

• Journal articles: Reference must consist of last name and initials of author(s), year of publication of journal, title of paper, title of journal (italicized or underlined), volume of journal, number of issue (only if required for identification), and first and last page numbers of the paper. For example:

Archer, C. L., and M. Z. Jacobson, 2007: Supplying baseload power and reducing transmissions requirements by interconnecting wind farms. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 46, 1701-1717.

• Online sources: Reference must include author(s)/authoring organization, year, document name, organization/publisher (if different from author), date accessed, DOI/URL.

NOAA, 2015: Elusive El Niño arrives. Accessed 12 March 2015. [Available online at http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2015/20150305-noaa-advisory-elnino-arrives.html.]

How to cite references in your paper:

You must acknowledge and identify the work done by others in your written text by citing the appropriate paper/book. Example: As mentioned in Wallace and Hobbs (1977), the weather data in the US ...

Quoted material should always be quoted word for word and enclosed in quotation marks, followed by the citation. Example: "Wind is the world's fastest growing electric energy source" (Archer and Jacobson 2007).