Environmental
Geology (Geology 3004/7004)
Spring Semester
2002
Welcome to Environmental Geology. Two required papers will be written this semester. In addition, there are in-class summaries for various projects, labs, movies, or field trips. This note is written to provide common knowledge and expectations to keep in mind when writing your assignments and required papers. Most of the information applies to the required papers. Barbara Brocks compiled most of the information in this guide.
The primary goal of the writing assignments is enhanced learning through library work and writing. In a course with broad objectives and breadth of topics, it is impossible to pursue one topic in depth and your paper assignments permit more detailed investigation into a topic of interest to you. The topics of papers however are restricted to the topics covered in this course. Paper 1 will be written in the area of. Paper 1 will be written in surface or groundwater resources or natural disasters (volcanoes or earthquakes). Paper 2 will be written in the area of alternative energy sources.
With respect to the assigned papers, you are required to meet with your writing consultant to discuss your topic and review the content of your paper. This meeting should be at least one week before the due date of that assigned paper. Have a rough draft/outline with you at the time. The meeting with the writing consultant is a peer-review of your paper to addresses content and presentation. Peer-review is common in both academic and industrial sectors (Get used to it!). A primary consideration of this review is to see that your ideas are presented clearly and concisely. If the peer-reviewer cannot follow your paper then the instructor will not be able to comprehend your paper. In terms of organization, each paper should contain an introductory paragraph with a clear and concise thesis, a body of supporting evidence, and a conclusion. Plan your time carefully in this course.
Each student will present one paper before the class. Graduates working in the environmental sector tell me that this is a very useful exercise and an exercise which we do not do enough here at GSU. The primary goal here is to acquire experience in speaking to a learned audience and in answering questions and presenting ideas derived from your library work. You may use overheads or slides in your presentations. I prefer to see students spending time composing a good talk instead of composing a good power-point presentation. Slide or overhead transparencies are perfectly ok. See your instructor for assistance in making overhead transparencies.
Summarize the ideas and concepts you read in your own words. Under no circumstances should quotation marks be used in your papers. Restated: DO NOT USE QUOTES. Avoid plagiarism. Any paper submitted that has obviously been plagiarized will automatically receive a failing grade. You may consult your instructor at any time to discuss proper attribution of source material.
Sentence Structure
noun – a person, place or thing
proper noun – name for a unique individual, event, or place
verb – action words
adjective – modifies nouns
adverb – modifies verbs, adjectives, and adverbs
Watch your noun and verb agreement (they should agree). Avoid passive voice and use present tense (your wring consultant will go over this with you in detail on your first meeting). A good grammatical reference manual is The Chicago Manual Style.
Monitor punctuation
periods end sentences and separate one sentence from another
commas add pauses to a sentence or thoughts
semicolons indicate a strong pause, a collection of clauses in a sentence, or denotes a
series of similar items
colons indicate an end of a thought and a start of a new thought along the same vein
Make all sentences complete sentences. Avoid using run-ons, partial sentences, and clauses in the place of complete sentences.
Paper Format
Every paper turned in should include, and adhere to the following requirements.
Length: 3-5 pages (maximum of 5 pages).
Font: Times Roman, 12 point.
Margins: 1 inch left, right, top and bottom. Pagination: Upper right corner on all pages including figures and tables. First page is not numbered.
Spacing: Double-spaced.
Title page: Must include: title, name, course, course number, semester, and date.
References page: at least 3 primary sources.
Tables: Tables written by you must follow format in Geology.
Tables and figures from published works may be copied from a provided that they are properly cited. All figures and tables should have titles and captions (if needed). The placement of your tables and figures is your choice. You may choose to place them within the paper where they are first referenced, or you may place them at the end of your paper. Tables precede figures.
Submission
Two copies of your paper must be submitted at the due date. Penalty of 15 % is assessed for submission of late work.
In citing your references within the text, we will be using the same format observed in Geology. In the text, papers with two authors are cited as: Rose and Elliott (2000) or (Rose and Elliott, 2001) as appropriate. Papers with more than three authors are cited as: Chadwick et al., (2002) or (Chadwick et al., 2002) as appropriate. A paper with a single author is: Elliott (1993) or (Elliott, 1993) as appropriate.
For the reference page, follow the style in Geology. For review, each major type of reference is shown below in bold font and a description and example are presented for clarification. Please remember to indent 6 spaces on every line except the first in any entry.
Book:
Author(s), Last Name, Initials of First Name and Middle Initial (if has one), year, Title: were
Published, Publisher, pages.
Example:
Leeder, M.R., 1982, Sedimentology: London, George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 344 p.
Series of Books:
Author(s) Last Name, Initials of First Name and Middle Initial (if has one), year, Title of
Article, in Last Name, Initials of First Name and Middle Initial (if has one), ed(s)., volume (if
needed), Title of Source: where published, Name of Journal article came from, volume, page.
Example:
Barron, E.J., and Washington, W.M., 1985, Warm Cretaceous climates: High atmospheric PCO2
as a plausible mechanism, in Sundquist, E.T., and, Broecker, W.S., eds., The carbon cycle
and atmospheric CO2: Natural variations to the present: Washington, D.C., American
Geophysical Union, Geophysical Monograph 32, p.546-553.
Journal:
Author(s) Last Name, Initials of First Name and Middle Initial (if has one), year, Title of Article:
Title of Journal, volume, pages.
Example:
Anderson, D.L., 1994, Superplumes or supercontinents?: Geology, v. 22, p.39-42
USGS Professional Paper:
Author(s) Last Name, Initials of First Name and Middle Initial (if has one), year, Title of Article:
Name of Paper, pages.
Example:
Swartz, J.H., 1958, Geothermal measurements on Eniwetok, Bikini and nearby atolls: U.S.
Geological Survey Professional Paper 260-U, p.711-739.
Maps:
Author(s) Last Name, Initials of First Name and Middle Initial (if has one), year, Title of Map:
Title of Journal found in, scale.
Example:
Swadley, W.C., and Parrish, L.D., 1988, Surficial geologic map of the Bare Mountain
Quadrangle,
I-1826, scale
Internet Sources:
Author(s) Last Name, Initials of First Name and Middle Initial (if has one), date, Title: <URL>,
(date accessed).
Example:
December, J.,
<http://www.december.com/net/tools/index.html>,
(
Many word processing programs automatically underline any URL site. This is okay, do not spend all your time trying to correct this feature.
Compiled: