Science - Indianapolis

This page was last updated 8/29/2022.

Current Event Assignment - Guidelines

The TOTAL Current Event Essay Assignment is worth 100 points:

• • • 10 points for a Current Event Quiz  (due in module 2 materials)
    • 25 points for a Current Event Discussion  (due in module 4 materials)
    • 65 points for the Current Event Essay  (due in module 5 materials)

Minimum Word Length for the Current Event Essay: 1000 words 

Late Essays are NOT accepted.

Directions:

• Read through several recent scientific magazines/journals (paper or online versions of these sources are appropriate).  The following are suggested sources:
  • • Science (Links to an external site.)
    • Discover (Links to an external site.)
    • Nature (Links to an external site.)
    • New Scientist (Links to an external site.)
    • Geology (Links to an external site.)
    • Scientific American (Links to an external site.)
    • Another starting point for student research is Science News for Students (Links to an external site.)
• Pick out articles that relate directly to topics covered within this Earth Science class (published within the last three years). 

Topics for the Current Event Essay might include:

renewable/nonrenewable resources, energy resources, minerals, rocks, plate tectonics, earthquakes, earthquake prediction/forecasting/mitigation, Earth's interior, volcanoes, volcanic eruption prediction/forecasting/mitigation, intraplate volcanism, deformation, faulting, mountain building, Isostacy, weathering & erosion, soil, soil conservation, landslides, surface water, groundwater, aquifers, flooding, deserts/desertification, glaciers, ice ages, geologic time, age of the Earth, relative age dating, radiometric age dating, extinction events, origin of Earth's atmosphere, origin of Earth's oceans, oceanic ridges, seafloor sediments, continental margins, deep ocean trenches, ocean waves/tides/currents, Earth's seasons, greenhouse effect, ozone hole, albedo, humidity, clouds, precipitation, cloud seeding, fog, air pressure, wind, El Nino/La Nina, monsoons, air masses, weather fronts, thunderstorms, tornadoes, tornado prediction/forecasting/mitigation, hurricanes, hurricane prediction/forecasting/mitigation, sea level rise, ocean acidification, climate, or climate change.

• Once you find a primary source article that you are interested in, search for at least one additional RELATED source article to add further support & details to your primary source.

Requirements:

1. 2 Primary Source Articles 
   • 2 source articles are required; however, most students utilize more sources plus their textbook
   • Guide to Evaluating Sources (Links to an external site.)
2. Primary Source Article Authors and Discussion of Authors Qualifications 
   • In other words, describe the author's background in detail. 
   • minimum length = 1 detailed paragraph
   • Note - if the chosen article is a summary of a scientific journal article, include qualifications of both the article author and the research scientist
3. Summary of Primary Source Articles - IN YOUR OWN WORDS
   • minimum length = 2 detailed paragraphs
4. Critique of Primary Source Articles - IN YOUR OWN WORDS  
   • this section should be the bulk of your essay; minimum length = 4 detailed paragraphs
5. Specifically, address the following questions:
   • How does the topic of the article affect the Earth as a whole?
   • How does this article relate to my life?
6. References (APA format preferred) - Purdue's OWL (Links to an external site.) website can assist with APA citation formatting

Please use the above 6 numbers/headings to organize your essay.

Additional Information:

What is a Critique? 

A book report only summarizes the article.  A critical essay is you explaining what you think of their data.  For a 1000-word essay, the summary should only be about two paragraphs long.  The rest of the report should be your thoughts about the topic.  Analyze the pros and cons of the article.  Is the author presenting good science or just opinion?  Is the author a recognized expert?  How could the article be improved?

What is Good Science? 

The instructions above ask you to evaluate whether the article is ‘good science’.  DO NOT just tell me it is ‘good science’.  Explain why.  Start by asking yourself these questions: Did they try and use the scientific method (Ch. 1)? Did they support the conclusions with facts?  Did they provide the facts or a reference to them?  If the answer is no to any of those basic questions, then it’s probably not good quality science, and you probably need to find at least 1 more supplemental article to add additional support to your essay.

Avoiding Plagiarism

Essays will be submitted online and checked for plagiarism via TurnItIn.  Here is a link to common Plagiarism FAQs (Links to an external site.).  Any essay found to have significant plagiarism detected (above 25%) will receive a 0 for this assignment.  

If you would like to pre-check your essay for plagiarism before turning it in, try Free online plagiarism checker (Links to an external site.)

Tutor.com (direct link on the left) offers free tutoring and proof-reading services to students.  This online service is free and generally you will have feedback on your essay within 24 hours of request. 

Grading Rubric for Current Event Assignment - Essay:

• Discussion of Author Qualifications = 5 pts
• Summary = 15 pts
• Critique = 20 pts
• Discussion of 2 required supplemental questions = 10 pts
• Reference Page with correct citations = 6 pts
• Length / Word Count = 4 pts
• Appropriate Grammar & Organization = 5 pts

The following list is of science magazines and journals available through your Ivy Tech library.  

Not all magazines may be fully available online.

If you find an article you need, but you cannot access it, please Ask-A-Librarian and we can help you!