Paper

Description

The Paper is worth 10% of your final grade:
5-6-page paper, in APA format, in which you analyze an environmental topic or project of your choice through one or more of the theoretic lenses covered in the class readings (e.g., slow violence, sustainability, futurity, etc.). Upload the final draft to Canvas as .pdf file on or before the due date

Prompt

Please respond to the following for full credit:
How does the language experts use to transmit environmental devastation to various audiences constrain and enable both efficacious communication and the implementation of environmentally beneficial projects? To respond to this question, choose and define a term or terms key to one or more of the readings for the first unit, and develop your claim through the analysis of a project or communications campaign. Be sure to include citations from both the in-class reading at least 2 more academic sources.

Assessment

The Essay is worth 10% of your total grade and will be assessed according to the final criteria adapted from the Common Feedback Chart:
  • 1. Rhetorical Awareness: Does the Essay address writing the situation (and assignment) completely and/or with unexpected insight? I.e., does the paper signal an awareness of audience, context, and overall purpose? (20%)
  • 2. Stance: does the author make about the language experts use to communicate environmental devastation can either constrain or enable? Does the author develop the claim through a key term to show how the language we use can constrain/enable communication? (20%)  
  • 3. Development of Ideas: Does the author develop the claim by accurately explicating the key concept and development/comms issue through the analysis of at least 2 valid sources? Does the author develop the claim through an analysis of an environmental project (i.e. Superfund clean-up site, renewable energy production, conservation efforts, etc.) OR a communications campaign (“save the planet/animals”; companies such as Patagonia or Subaru, Breathelife Campaign, etc.)? (20%)
  • 4. Organization: Does the author establish a clear pattern for reading? Do the different part of the paper express an internal coherence? (20%)
  • 5. Conventions: Is the essay in APA format? Does the paper meet grammar, mechanics style, and syntax conventions with few or no errors? (10%)
  • 6. Process: Does the final draft demonstrate planning and revision? Did you complete at least 2 peer worksheets on or before the due date? (10%)