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Block
6 Class Project: State of the Environment at CC
By the end of this
block, you and your classmates will have created the first official
web-based 2002 State of the Environment at Colorado College.
The goal of this project is to identify the facts and figures
(who, what, when, where, and why) of environmental and resource
issues at CC. We will model our document after the Worldwatch
publication, State
of the World (scroll down the Worldwatch page to get chapter
reviews). Our table of contents will look like this:
Chapter 1. Introduction
to the 2002 State of the Environment at CC: Sharon J. Hall
Chapter 2: Energy consumption: Maggie
Davis, Jev Forsberg, Jordan VanRy, Katie Navratil
Chapter 3. Resource use and waste: Madaleine
Sorkin, Koby Lochhead, Tim Campbell, Lia Martinez
Chapter 4. Transportation: Jen Opton,
Christian Uehlein
Chapter 5. Water use: Audrey Sawaya,
Jon Jacquet
Chapter 6. Food production and consumption: Tom
Collins, Cassidy Smith
Chapter 7. Landscape management and biodiversity:
Atlee Phillips and Tess Wilkes
Chapter 8. Environmental literacy and values:
Emily Auerbach and Katie Engelman
After choosing your
topic and group, you will be able to get started quickly by using
the ecological footprint analyses completed by the EV
112 Energy course taught Block 5 of this year. Use these reports
only to get you started. I expect that your project will thoroughly
research the topic, gather data, and follow up where their reports
left off.
Your web pages must
be completed and ready to share with the class by the end of Week
3 (consult the EV 121 Daily Schedule)
Conducting
Interviews:
Many of these
topics will require you to interview and speak to people at CC,
including adminstration, staff, faculty, and students in all departments
and divisions. Conducting an interview is a dfficult skill that
must be mastered to gather effective data. When citing information
gathered from interviews, use MLA style. For instructions on how
to do this, consult the Citing
Interviews page from the University of Illinois.
Following are several
sites that will help you learn how to conduct a good interview.
http://www.unc.edu/depts/nnsp/viewtech.htm
http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Depts/IGSD/IQPHbook/ch11.html
References,
Citations, and Image Credits:
All information gathered for your chapter must be cited properly
in CBE Format, Name-Year Style.
At least 5 references must be from NON-WEB SOURCES. In
addition, all credit must be given for all images borrowed from
other web sites or sources. All borrowed material on your web
page must be cited within the page.
How-to
Guides:
• CBE format:
CBE Citation Style Handbook (University of Wisconsin Writing
Center)
CBE Guide for Print Resources (Colorado State University).
For Online sources, Online
Citation Guide under the heading, CBE Style.
• Citing Interviews:
Citing
Interviews (University of Illinois)
• Successful (and legal) Quoting
and Paraphrasing:
"Quoting
and Paraphrasing" (University of Wisconsin's Writing
Center)
Acts
and instances of plaigerism will be taken very seriously and brought
to the attention of the CC Honor Council.
Pictures
and Images:
Digital cameras
are available for you to use in this course. Check with Samy
in Environmental Science (128 Barnes Hall; 1 camera available)
and the Audio Visual Department in the basement of Armstrong Hall.
If you wish to add print images or text to your web page, scanners
and staff to help you are available in the Keck lab in Armstrong
Hall.
Web
Design Technical Help:
Manuel Rendon
is the Natural Science Information Technology Specialist. He will
be conducting a web design workshop during week 1 and will hold
office hours during weeks 2 and 3. Consult the EV
121 Daily Schedule for details.
Grading
Guidelines
Late
projects will be deducted one grade letter for each day your project
is late. No exceptions.
Your web sites will
be graded according each of the following points:
Accuracy
& Authority: Are
the facts in your web site correct, correctly cited, and from
reliable sources? (Do you know what a reliable source is? If not,
click here). Do you use correct spelling,
style, and grammar? Is the information in the page verified using
only one or several sources?
Objectivity:
Are facts presented objectively, without bias? Is the information
presented in such a way as to influence the reader in one direction
or another?
Content: Are all aspects of the topic
covered? (introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions/Recommendations).
Is your topics well researched? Does your web site cover significant
depth in this field? How sophisticated are the analyses of your
data? Do you give recommendations on solutions?
Functional Design: Is it clearly
stated on your pages the date last revised? Do all links work
properly? Is text clearly written and are images clearly represented?
Can the reader find her/his way around your site easily?
Aesthetics and Creativity: Do you
make your sites visually and intellectually interesting? Are graphics
distracting and overwhelming? Do graphics/image add to or take
away from the page contents? Do your pages show significant creativity
and personality? Does your site have more enttertainment and advertising
than content (i.e. not a good thing)?
How
to evaluate the reilability of web sources?
Anyone
can post anything to the Internet. Thus, you must be very discriminating
when choosing data to collect from web sources. Here are some
pointers to help you evaluate the reliability of web information.
•
Is the site author from a credible institution?
Find the home page and the source. Read the mission statement
of the organization. What are the goals of the organization? Use
your judgement. Rely mostly on academinc sites. Evaluate the source
of information and bias from non-profit organizations (remember
that both Worldwatch Institute and Focus on the Family are non-profits).
Is there any conflct of interest in presenting information?
• Can you verify the information in
the page using other sources?
•
Does the site do a good job citing its sources?
• Does the site present information in an unbiased way?
• Is the source web page likely to be stable?
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