Objective:  The purpose of the Written Assignment or PowerPoint Project is to give students an opportunity to further explore and discuss a key concept, to provide reinforcement and elaboration of textual material related to the concept, to show a basic understanding of academic research and reporting skills, and to provide experience with critical thinking and communication skills. Students will please choose  one  of the following topics for your Writing Assignment or PowerPoint Presentation. How does acid deposition form? What are its sources?  How does it impact the environment and humans? What efforts have been made to reduce the amount of pollutants that cause it?  Name  and discuss two locations where acid deposition a concern.   What is biodiversity and why is it used to measure the health of a natural environment? Provide an example of a location with high biodiversity and an example of a location with low biodiversity. What are the climates of the two locations? Explain how the climate of the location connects with the amount of biodiversity in that place.  Give an example of flora or fauna in each location.  What might cause the biodiversity of a location to decline? Discuss what is causing the present climate change on Earth? What are some of the scientifically observed climate changes for Earth? What are some predicted climate changes for Earth?  Provide an example of a location where climate change is occurring and describe in detail how the location will be affected by climate change in the future.  In broad terms, how can a government or an individual tackle climate change?  Discuss the role of activism today with the issue of climate change. Explain desertification. Why is it a major issue of concern?  How have humans influenced desertification? Give three examples of where desertification is taking place and what processes led to desertification in these locations.  For one of the location examples, provide information on how the government, NGOs or communities are combatting desertification. What is the role of ozone in the ozonosphere? Discuss and explain the chemical reactions that lead to its destruction. How does the hole in the ozone affect humans and the environment? What international efforts have been undertaken to ameliorate the destruction?  Where is the ozone hole and is it recovering or becoming worse? Students will then choose either to write a Written Assignment essay or create a PowerPoint Presentation.  Guidelines and Grading Rubrics for both are detailed below.  Both the Writing Assignment and PowerPoint Presentation will be submitted via the Writing Assignment or PowerPoint Project link.  I will not accept a Written Assignment or PowerPoint Project that is emailed or messaged to me.   Submission Instructions : Select the Writing Assignment or Power Point Project link above to submit your essay. Complete your assignment using word-processing software such as MS Word 365 (download free software at.

1. Objective:
The purpose of the Written Assignment
or PowerPoint Project is to give students an opportunity to
further explore and discuss a key concept, to provide
reinforcement and elaboration of textual material related to the
concept, to show a basic understanding of academic research
and reporting skills, and to provide experience with critical
thinking and communication skills.
Students will please choose
one
of the following topics for your Writing Assignment
or PowerPoint Presentation.
How does acid deposition form? What are its sources? How
does it impact the environment and humans? What efforts have
been made to reduce the amount of pollutants that cause it?
Name and discuss two locations where acid deposition a
concern.
What is biodiversity and why is it used to measure the health of
a natural environment? Provide an example of a location with
high biodiversity and an example of a location with low
biodiversity. What are the climates of the two locations?
Explain how the climate of the location connects with the
amount of biodiversity in that place. Give an example of flora
or fauna in each location. What might cause the biodiversity of
a location to decline?
Discuss what is causing the present climate change on Earth?
What are some of the scientifically observed climate changes
for Earth? What are some predicted climate changes for Earth?

2. Provide an example of a location where climate change is
occurring and describe in detail how the location will be
affected by climate change in the future. In broad terms, how
can a government or an individual tackle climate change?
Discuss the role of activism today with the issue of climate
change.
Explain desertification. Why is it a major issue of concern?
How have humans influenced desertification? Give three
examples of where desertification is taking place and what
processes led to desertification in these locations. For one of
the location examples, provide information on how the
government, NGOs or communities are combatting
desertification.
What is the role of ozone in the ozonosphere? Discuss and
explain the chemical reactions that lead to its destruction. How
does the hole in the ozone affect humans and the environment?
What international efforts have been undertaken to ameliorate
the destruction? Where is the ozone hole and is it recovering or
becoming worse?
Students will then choose either to write a Written Assignment
essay or create a PowerPoint Presentation. Guidelines and
Grading Rubrics for both are detailed below. Both the Writing
Assignment and PowerPoint Presentation will be submitted via
the Writing Assignment or PowerPoint Project link. I will not
accept a Written Assignment or PowerPoint Project that is
emailed or messaged to me.
Submission Instructions
:
Select the Writing Assignment or Power Point Project link
above to submit your essay. Complete your assignment using

3. word-processing software such as MS Word 365 (download free
software at https://products.office.com/en-
us/student?ms.officeurl=getoffice365), LibreOffice (download
free software at https://www.libreoffice.org/download), or other
per course requirements. Save your file as an .rtf file or .doc to
ensure that it can be opened at any computer. Submit your
assignment by selecting the title link, browsing to, and
attaching your saved file. Make sure to select SUBMIT. You
may view your posting both on this page and under My Grade
(available under Tools).
Late submittal: Ten points will be deducted for every day the
essay or PowerPoint Project is late. This is the only hard
deadline in class. The Writing Assignment essay or PowerPoint
Project will not be accepted after the last day of class.
-------
Guidelines for the Written Assignment
: Students will write an essay, 500-750 words in length, on a
topic selected from the list above. The purpose of the writing
assignment is to give students an opportunity to discuss a key
concept, and to show a basic understanding of academic
research and reporting skills. The maximum total points
available for this paper is 100 points.
The Writing Assignment essays will be graded based on five
criteria, Quality of Analysis, Quality of Narrative, References,
Formatting, and Length. The Grading Rubric below explains
each criterion in further detail and outlines the point
distribution for each criterion.
Criteria:

4. Points Available
Quality of Analysis
Concept or issue identified and described thoroughly. Clear
explanations of topic based on information from the text book
and/or other sources, detailed complete and logical presentation
of answers.
50
Quality of Narrative
Grammar/Spelling/Readability (well organized, clearly written,
easy to follow, no awkward phrases or informal writing)
20
References
3 references used (text and 2 outside sources minimal). In-text
citations must be used and sources must be listed on a
Reference page. Wikipedia and Wikimedia are not acceptable
sources.
10
Formatting
Use Arial or Times New Roman 12 point font, double space the
text, and create one inch margins on all four sides of the page.
In addition, the assignment should be formatted according to
Modern Language Association (MLA) style for papers with no
title page.
10

5. Length
500-750 words (you may go over but do not exceed 1000
words), as well as a Reference page for sources containing
information used in the essay
10
Total Points Available
100
Grammar & Spelling:
To ensure your writing is at an academic level, please proof
read your assignments before submitting them. The following
links may also be helpful in avoiding the most common
grammatical errors,
https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/CommonErrors.html
&
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/5/
. In addition, the Central Texas College
Writing Lab
is a resource available for your use.
References:
You are required to use a minimum of three sources to write
this essay. As stated in the Grading Rubric above, you will
need to provide a list of your sources on a separate Words Cited
page and use in-text citations. This link is a helpful resource for
correctly citing resources in the MLA format,
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/
. Please use the links on the left of the page for specific
examples and if you have any further questions, please feel free
to contact me.

6. Plagiarism
, whether intentional or unintentional, results in a zero for this
assignment. Do not copy material or paraphrase too closely
from any source, including websites, the textbook, another
student’s work or any other source. Make sure to use citations
and quotations marks correctly and sufficiently throughout your
work. If you have any questions regarding plagiarism, please
feel free to ask. In addition,
http://www.plagiarism.org/
and
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/619/1/
are great resources to help you avoid plagiarism in your work.
Late submittal: Ten points will be deducted for every day the
essay is late. This is the only hard deadline in class. The
Writing Assignment essay will not be accepted after the last day
of class.
Guidelines for the PowerPoint Presentation
: Students are to create a PowerPoint presentation on a topic
selected from the list above. PowerPoint presentations should
be a minimum of 15 slides in length (1 title slide, 13
informational/content slides, and 1 Reference slide). Make sure
to use quotation marks and in-text citations when quoting a
source and cite appropriately when paraphrasing. Two
references (minimal) in addition to your text are to be used. A
rubric is provided below and will serve as a guide for designing
the presentation and for grading purposes. The maximum total
points available for this project is 100 points.
The PowerPoint Project will be graded based on five criteria,
Quality of Analysis, Quality of Narrative, References,
Formatting, and Length. The Grading Rubric below explains

7. each criterion in further detail and outlines the point
distribution for each criterion.
Criteria:
Points Available
Quality of Analysis
Concept or issue identified and described thoroughly. Clear
explanations of topic based on information from the text book
and/or other sources, detailed complete and logical presentation
of answers.
50
Quality of Narrative
Grammar/Spelling/Readability (well organized, clearly written,
easy to follow, no awkward phrases or informal writing)
20
References
3 references used (text and 2 outside sources minimal). In-text
citations and quotation marks must be used for a direct quote
and sources must be listed on a Reference
slide. Wikipedia and Wikimedia are not acceptable sources.
10
Formatting
Use Modern Language Association (MLA) style. In-text
citations, quotation marks and the source must be listed on the

8. Reference slide. Refer to the links listed in the "Plagiarism"
paragraph below for additional guidance.
10
Length
Minimum: 1 title slide, 13 informational slides, 1 Reference
slide, total of 15 slides
10
Total Points Available
100
Grammar & Spelling:
To ensure your writing is at an academic level, please proof
read your assignments before submitting them. The following
links may also be helpful in avoiding the most common
grammatical errors,
https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/CommonErrors.html
&
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/5/
. In addition, the Central Texas College
Writing Lab
is a resource available for your use.
References:
You are required to use a minimum of three sources to
complete this project. As stated in the Grading Rubric above,
you will need to provide a list of your sources on a separate
Reference slide and use in-text citations. This link is a helpful
resource for correctly citing resources in the MLA format,
https://www.library.cornell.edu/research/citation/mla

9. . Please read the webpage for guidance and if you have any
further questions, please feel free to contact me.
Please
cite pictures and/or tables in your PowerPoint presentation
. When citing the source for a picture in
the PowerPoint presentation, the format should be the same as
how you would list the source in a Works Cited page. So, if the
source is a website, follow the guidelines for how you would
normally cite the website according to MLA standards on a
Works Cited page. (Here is a website demonstrating how to cite
a website using MLA
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/
) However, you would just include this source information
below the picture rather than on a Works Cited page. Here is a
website that does a good job in describing how to cite within
a PowerPoint presentation.
https://library.peirce.edu/html/citations/powerpoint
I have screenshots below demonstrating the key components to
citing pictures and tables within the PowerPoint Project.
Plagiarism
, whether intentional or unintentional, results in a zero for this
assignment. Do not copy material or paraphrase too closely
from any source, including websites, the textbook, another
student’s work or any other source. Make sure to use citations
and quotations marks correctly and sufficiently throughout your
work. If you have any questions regarding plagiarism, please
feel free to ask. In addition,
http://www.plagiarism.org/
,
http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k70847&pageid=ic
b.page342054#a_icb_pagecontent732741_quotation
and

10. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/619/1/
are great resources to help you avoid plagiarism in your work