The State of Earth in 2070: An Argumentative Writing Assignment
Summary
The Earth Paper writing assignment is centered around the April 2020 National Geographic issue which was on the fiftieth anniversary of Earth Day. The issue has two sides, one in which the authors argue that we will save the planet by the one hundredth anniversary of Earth Day in 2070, and one side that argues we will have lost the planet by 2070. Students will read this issue and take a position on what they believe the status of the planet will be in 2070 and then write an argumentative paper on their position.
Key words: position paper, argumentative paper, Earth Day, National Geographic
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Context
Audience
The Earth Paper writing assignment is intended to be used in lower level undergraduate, introductory environmental or Earth science classes.
Skills and concepts that students must have mastered
Students must have a basic understanding of the major challenges facing the planet, particularly climate change, biodiversity loss, water shortages and food security issues. Students also must have fundamental writing and argumentative skills.
How the activity is situated in the course
The Earth Paper is the final assignment in my introductory environmental science class. It is worth 20% of the final grade.
Goals
Content/concepts goals for this activity
Students will gain an understanding of the major challenges facing the planet and learn about the perspectives on how humans will respond to these challenges over the next half century.
Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity
Students will use argumentative writing skills to backup their position on what they think the planet will look like in 2070. Students will also use critical reading skills.
Other skills goals for this activity
Students will gain practice with making an outline as part of this writing assignment.
Description and Teaching Materials
The attachment includes the prompt for the argumentative paper and specific requirements for how the paper should be laid out. A rubric for grading the papers is also included.
Nat Geo Earth Paper Description and Rubric (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 85kB Feb24 23)
Teaching Notes and Tips
The word count and number of supporting arguments that are required may need to be adjusted according to how extensive you would like to make the paper. It is important to setup a separate, earlier deadline for the outline to give students feedback on their papers well in advance of the final paper deadline. Doing so improves the quality of the final papers. These papers take a while to grade so the assignment may not be appropriate for very large classes that do not have a grader.
Assessment
Please refer to the rubric on the assignment document.
References and Resources
The National Geographic website to purchase the April 2020 issue: https://ngsingleissues.nationalgeographic.com/ngm-april-2020
University of Tennessee articles on examples of plagiarism.
https://www.utc.edu/library/help/tutorials/plagiarism/examples-of-plagiarism
APA Reference examples
https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples
Citation Machine
https://www.citationmachine.net/