Overview
In this assignment you are carrying out a preliminary search for five scientific papers posted online by a reputable source that addresses any number of topic areas in Environmental Science. They will be from a selection you make using a Search Engine, discussed below. Examples of environmental topics are in the ES1 textbook. These topics include (but not limited to)
- Climate change
- Loss of biodiversity
- Non-renewable Energy systems
- Renewable energy systems
- Sustainable manufacturing systems
- Toxicology studies with industrial pollutants
- Public health studies
- Environmental justice
- Waste and plastics
- Conservation measures
Depending on your personal interests, you will find overlap with the environmental topic and your personal interest. Ideally the articles should have some overlap with your major or interest. eg: Real Estate might overlap with Brownfields contamination; Child Development with Toxicology: lead poisoning and children; Veterinary medicine with species protection, etc.
Within each one of these there are further topic areas. For example, Toxicology can include radiation from a nuclear accident, pesticide exposure, potable water contamination from lead, etc. Almost all of these are covered in Environmental Science 1. Select the broad topic and subtopic that interested you the most in that class.
Eg: Climate: carbon capture technologies
Conservation measures: improved soil husbandry with organic farming methods, regenerative agriculture
Environmental Justice: “Brownfields” siting and local demographics
Biodiversity Loss: Amphibian species extinctions in the last 50 years
Renewable Energy Systems: Widespread adoption of rooftop PV solar in Socal and its impacts on expanding the renewables portfolio
Waste reduction: 3D printing and reduced waste in the specialized parts industries.
Using this subject and key word selection, use Online searches to locate a list of articles that fit the following criteria:
- The article should be a science paper and conform to the structures in our readings. That is, it should have an abstract, literature review, hypothesis, methods for empirical research, findings, discussion, and conclusions as well as references. It can also be a Review Article that discusses one or more science papers, but make sure you find the article(s) being reviewed. Avoid Review articles. Research papers are easier to take apart. Review papers require more research into all the titles in the review article.
- The article should not be so specialized that even an expert in the field would not find it easy to read. Do not select an article that is too complex and assumes too much knowledge.
- The article should be accessible to a science audience without demanding too much. Some journals are better than others in this regard. Scientific American tries to reach a lay audience, whereas the Journal of Amino Acid Sequencing in Oncogenecity might not. Consult the AAAS free articles curated and listed for this class.
- The article should require only adequate further searching for definitions of terms and concepts (Wikipaedia for eg) as would be used by a journalist
- The article should have some useful contribution to understanding the causes of and solutions to environmental problems.
Next, Open a search in good search engine for this kind of research. See for eg: Google Advanced Search, Google Scholar, Academia.edu, FreeFullPDF, JSTOR (via LAVC Library) (https://lib.lavc.edu/az.php). (You will need to sign in.)
Free AI: products and purpose
Use the following ways to narrow your search.
All sites should end in .edu or .gov. or .com or .org or even .mil
All documents should be PDF files (end in suffix .pdf). This is because we will mark them up.
All articles should be published in a scientific journal or government publication or a report by an international agency such as the FAO or UN, WHO, etc
After you locate some papers, have a look at each one you find interesting. You will only need five titles to complete the assignment. Check abstracts to see if... it satisfies your interest, our need to find a science paper, understandable to a College freshman class a reputable source, PDF format, has graphics and charts, or images has a bibliography
From the search provide a list of as many as five that satisfy the above.
Your page should have your name and the assignment.
List the various terms you used in your search
List the search engines you used
List your selection of five PDF articles. Use URLs to identify them on the Internet
Write a brief discussion (one paragraph) on what you are interested in knowing more about.
How does this help you select the finalist?