GEOSC 203 Physical Processes in Geology Fall Term, 2008




Short Summaries of Research Articles


We will read and discuss a series of brief research summaries throughout the course. The articles will be posted online in the form of pdfs.

These articles will give you a sense of the current research being done in Geosciences. Note that these are RECENT. Nearly all of them are from the past couple of years. For each article, you will write a short synopsis, at least one page in length (not more than 2 pages!).

The articles will be assigned on a Thursday and you will turn in a first draft the following Tuesday.  Your first draft will be handed to a classmate who will review and comment on your paper, making suggestions for improvement.  These comments will be returned to the authors the next class period (Thursday); at this point, you will revise your first draft and turn in a second draft to us the next Tuesday, along with the comments/review by your classmate.  We will then grade your papers, returning them the next week and then you have until the next class period to complete a third and final draft.  The third draft is optional -- if you get a 9 or 10 on your second draft, there is no reason to do the thrid draft.

The plan here is to learn to improve your writing through a series of revisions, while learning something interesting about a current scientific problem at the same time.

On the Thursday following the assignment of the paper, we will spend the first 15-20 minutes of class discussing the article. You should come to class prepared to participate in the discussion.

You are welcome to structure your written summary in any way you see fit, including raising questions, drawing connections to material covered in lecture, or making comments about the content or writing.

The grading sheet attached here shows how your grades will be determined.