Human Ecology News Journal Assignment

Ecology and environmental science are reported about in the popular media frequently. To become more familiar with these topics and with the library resources available at WilmingtonCollege, your assignment is to compile a notebook of 10 current (2007-20011) newspaper or magazine articles pertaining to any ecological topic. Examples of ecological topics include pollution, ozone depletion, overpopulation, global warming, endangered species, or any topic that deals with humans harming or helping the environment in some way.

Each article must be full length (greater than 1,500 words). Each article must be accompanied by a commentary (at least 250 words, single-spaced, Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins) on what you thought about the article and how you think the article impacts our world today. Feel free to connect issues in the article to subjects you have learned in class. They are NOT to be only a summary of the article.

The journal may contain original copies or reproduced copies of each paper. You may use the internet to find up to 5 news articles as long as full articles from published sources are used. Do not use information from a particular web page unless it is from a published news source. If you have any questions about if a particular article can be used, ask the professor. For the other 5 news articles, you must locate hard copies of articles to use and copy them (or cut them out if you own them). Your news journal must use at least 5 different magazines or newspaper sources.

The journal will be worth 75 points and will be graded on the following criteria:

Accuracy and completeness15

Neatness and Organization10

Commentaries50

You may glue, tape, or staple your articles to the paper as long as it is done neatly. If the article is too big to fit on the paper, you may neatly cut it to fit on more than one sheet of paper. The commentaries must be typed. Commentaries should be written either below the article or on a separate sheet of paper just after the article in the notebook. Three ring binders are the best way to organize your notebook. Please do not place your commentaries inside of plastic sleeves, so that written comments may be added during grading.

Your notebook should include:

  • A title page with "Human Ecology News Journal, BIO105, Spring 2011, Your Name" at the top
  • Below your name, a Table of Contents listing for each article the title, date of publication and name of newspaper/magazine
  • 10 current newspaper/magazine articles, each followed by a commentary

Journals aredue at the beginning of the lecture period on Thursday, March 3. Late projects will NOT be accepted.