Environmental Portfolio

Description

(Required) As you will learn throughout the semester, controversy surrounds many environmental issues. By studying the controversy from different sources and viewpoints, you are better able to understand the issue. Also, critical analysis is particularly important when reading about environmental issues because there are such strong viewpoints on both sides of the issue. Therefore, it is important to question what you read because there may be a hidden agenda behind it, it may be purely emotional, or it may just be entirely false. Being able to evaluate critically what you read is a necessary skill that will help you succeed in life.

Since the purpose of this assignment is to help you learn how to evaluate the reliability of information that you read, you will be responsible for compiling an environmental portfolio containing a total of three current articles according to the following information:

1. You may choose any topic related to the natural environment, but make sure the connection to this class is clear.
2. All three articles MUST be on the same general topic; however, they can take different stands/viewpoints on the issue.
3. One article must be from a scholarly academic journal, one must be a legitimate website such as .gov, .edu, or .org, and one must be from a leading newspaper or magazine.
4. All articles must have been published after January 2019.
5. You cannot evaluate a book review, a letter to the editor, press release, abstract, Q & A, or an editorial.
6. You must include a copy of or a link to the entire article in your portfolio clearly identifying the author, date, and name of source.

For each article, you will write a two-page typed critical review focusing most of your attention on the evaluation of the article (20 points each). Each review MUST contain the following:

1. Your article meets the above criteria (1 point)
2. Label section scholarly journal, legitimate website, or leading newspaper/magazine. (1 point)
3. List the title of article, the author, the source it was in, URL (if applicable), and the date it was published. Do not put as a citation! (2 points)
4. Qualifications of the author – What are the qualifications of the author in terms of the subject matter? (Consider their degrees, research, jobs, etc.) Is this author considered an expert on this topic? Why or why not? If no author is given or no information is available, as a reader what can you assume about the qualifications of the author? Why? (2 points)
5. A brief summary the article – What is the question/topic the author is addressing? What are the key points of the article? What are the conclusions of the article? (3 points)
6. Evaluation of the article – How strong is the author’s argument? Give specific examples of sources of information such as references used, experts quoted, or agencies or professional organizations included. What data is used to support these points? Did the author take for granted any information? Are the arguments well supported? If solutions were proposed, are they feasible? Why or why not? Was anything important left out of the article? What is the tone of the article? How does this tone affect, or intend to affect, the readers of the article? Does the author use broad generalizations? Does the author provide a well-reasoned analysis? Does the author show bias in the article? If so, how? What is your overall analysis of the article? (10 points)
7. Author’s motivation – Why is the author writing this article (to provide information or clarification, publicize new research data, to cause action, etc.)? (1 point)

After you have compiled and critically analyzed your articles, you must write a two-page summary or conclusion section (20 points). In this section, you should include the following information:

1. What did you learn about the topic from the 3 articles? (6 points)
2. How did the information vary from source to source in terms of bias, objectivity, and depth of information presented? (6 points)
3. Compare the information from the three sources to your textbook and/or lecture. (2 points)
4. Your opinion or stand on the issue. Why? Support (6 points).