ENVS 161A
Writing Assignment: Topic of your own choice
Please write an essay (double spaced, 12 point font, 1.0 inch margins) on a topic of your own choice within the general field of soil science. You are expected to go to the library, do a literature search, and analyze at least 4 journal articles relevant to the topic of your choice. Please pay attention to the following:
The title of your essay should let readers know the focus of your essay. Your essay should include at least four main sections: introduction, results and findings, summary, and literature cited.
In the introduction section, you need (1) to introduce main relevant concepts, (2) to define the issue under discussion, (3) to describe the main question(s) or concern(s), and (4) to illustrate the significance (or potential impacts) of the issue.
In the section of results and findings, you should state concisely, in your own words, the main results or findings from at least 4 research journal articles that are directly related to the questions or concerns given in your introduction. The gist of the methods or approaches associated with each research article should be briefly described. You should discuss the implications and limitations of the research results.
In the summary section, you should briefly state what is known and what is not known about the issue(s) or concern(s) based on your literature review.
In the literature cited section, you should list all cited references in a scientific format. Please see the example:
Haynes, R. J. 2000. Interactions between soil organic matter status, cropping history, method of quantification and sample pretreatment and their effects on measured aggregate stability. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 30:270-275.
Essay should be typed in double space lines with 12-point font and at least one inch margins. The length of the essay should be approximately 6 letter-size pages of text excluding literature cited. Any essay done using handwriting will not be accepted and will result in a zero score.
This assignment is due on Thursday, February 23.
Maximum point total for each item is indicated in parentheses. Total Points = 100. Within each section, the essay does not need to follow the order in which the questions are listed below, but to receive full credit, all of the questions listed below must be addressed if they are relevant to the assignment topic.
Title: ____ (4) Is the title meaningful and descriptive? Does the title let the reader know the focus of the essay?
Introduction (16 points)
____ (4) Are main, relevant concepts introduced? Is a broad background given?
____ (4) Is there a clear tie between the background information and the focal issue/concern of the paper?
____ (4) Is the issue under discussion defined and are the main questions/concerns described?
____ (4) Is the significance/potential impacts of the issue illustrated?
Results (32 points)
____ (4) Is there a concise summary statement of the main results and findings?
____ (4) Are the cited sources relevant to the issue/concern?
____ (12) For each article, is the gist of the methods/approaches briefly described? (3 points each)
____ (12) For each article, are the implications/limitations of the results discussed? (3 points each)
Summary (16 points)
____ (6) Is their a brief summary of what is known about the issue (synthesis of 3 articles)?
____ (6) Is there a brief summary of what is not known about the issue and directions of future research?
____ (4) Are silly, grandiose, and unwarranted generalizations avoided?
Literature Cited (12 points)
____ (4) Are citations listed in the proper format
____ (4) Are only used (cited) citations listed?
____ (4) Are there at least three sources listed?
Overall Style and Presentation (20 points)
____ (4) Are sentences clear and complete?
____ (4) Are paragraphs properly structured to precisely present information?
____ (4) Is the report free from grammatical and spelling errors?
____ (4) Overall, is the writing clear and concise?
____ (4) Is the formatting correct? (12 pt. font, 1 inch margins, double spaced, page limits not including literature cited).