Research Paper/Case Study:

Each student will do an independent research project related to sustainability and/or pollution prevention, write a research paper, and prepare a presentation. The topic for the paper can be a case study discussing how a government, private business, educational institution, or private individual carried out a project involving sustainability and/or pollution prevention.  Or you can choose another topic related to pollution prevention and/or sustainability.

Avoid topics related to pollution like contamination of an area, a spill, a cleanup, etc. Topics should clearly relate to sustainability.

A standard research paper format should be used.  This includes sections with descriptive headings, proper referencing of material, a literature cited section, and a discussion and/or conclusions section giving your analysis of what was learned from the project.  The research projects will be graded on Topic, Research, Analysis, and Style.  The Topic is how well your case study represents pollution prevention/sustainability. Research involves how much information was obtained on the topic and how it was used.  Research materials can include web pages but should also include books, journal articles, magazine articles, and so forth as appropriate.  Material consulted should include the company being examined but also industry groups, competitors, technology providers, etc.  Analysis involves how well you were able to synthesize the information you obtained and communicate it to your target audience, the current EnvS 428 class.  Style involves how well the case study is written and includes organization, grammar, spelling, punctuation, and so forth.

Papers should be double spaced, use 12 point font, have one inch margins, have a title, include page numbers, and include your name on the first page. Using large margins and/or large blank areas to pad the length of the paper just irritates the Instructor.

Papers that receive a grade of A are generally in the 15-25 page range with a page or two of references. They are well organized and use section headings and sometimes subsection headings. They have references that includes books, journal articles, magazine articles and can include some websites. They lay out the background, provide enough detail to tell the story, and finish with solid conclusions. They are minimal to no errors in grammar, spelling and punctuation. Papers with less than 10 pages of content and a half page of references usually earn a grade of C. Papers with only websites as references will earn a C on the Research portion of the grade.

Presentations should be prepared using Powerpoint, Prezi or other presentation software so that they can be easily posted to the course website. You should plan on a presentation that would take about 15-20 minutes in a live setting. The oral portion of the presentation can be included using Powerpoint's Notes feature, audio can be embedded in the Powerpoint talk, or can be recorded for playback over the Internet (similar to the course lectures).

Be careful to adhere to the UI academic honesty guidelines. Increasingly, as electronic resources are used, the temptation to cut-and-paste material arises. Even if that material is referenced, if it is not shown in quotations or indented and single spaced, that is plagiarism. Directly quoted material should be used sparingly and always shown in quotations or indented and single spaced. Otherwise, you must paraphrase all of your written work in your own words. Do not cut-and-paste material into your paper. Violations of academic honesty will result in a grade of F for the assignment. If you are confused about the policies, type Academic Honesty into the search engine on the UI website or on the Internet. Adhering to the academic honesty guidelines is your responsibility.