Skip to content
Home » Objective: to write an essay discussing and analyzing the material for one week,

Objective: to write an essay discussing and analyzing the material for one week,

    Objective: to write an essay discussing and analyzing the material for one week, including academic readings, journalism and podcast.
    Length: 1,500 words (approx. 4-5 double-spaced pages).
    Due: at 11:59pm, the evening after your presentation.
    In this assignment, you will write a short essay that reviews and critically engages with the academic readings, journalism and podcast for a particular week. In addition to the assigned material from the syllabus, the essay must also utilize at least one additional academic reading, and one additional media that are relevant to the weekly lecture theme. I have included the 4 resources below in addition to one podcast provided by the teacher in the bibliography below and attachment. Please include all 5 of these sources within the paper in addition to the one required additional academic reading and media source reading. Please find the additional academic reading as well as media source that is relevant to the topic. Description of the additional source requirement can be found below.
    Objectives and focus:
    The review essay has two objectives.
    The first is to identify and discuss what you have found to be the most interesting and important ideas, arguments and evidence from the readings/podcast as relevant to the theme for the week. This will include points of convergence and overlap between these sources, but it may also involve discussing points of tension or contradiction. It will not be possible to describe all of the ideas, arguments and evidence from the readings within this short essay. Instead, you will need to be selective, and focus upon those elements of the material that you have identified as particularly compelling or useful in addressing the weekly theme (e.g. science and risk communication, behavioural change, etc.). Review essays may be supportive of the arguments developed in a reading, or they may critique claims or ideas with which you disagree. It is perfectly acceptable (and encouraged) to raise questions and concerns about particular readings if they are well-grounded in a careful consideration of the article’s context and key objectives.
    The second is for you to develop your own argument or perspective about one of the core issues from the weekly theme. Beyond selecting the issue of emotion, you would also need to construct an argument that you can support with evidence from the readings, as well as additional research that you undertake (e.g. sadness and grief are difficult and challenging but also essential emotions that climate advocates, including scientists, need to address directly in communicating effectively about climate science).
    Additional research:
    The essay must include the use of at least one additional academic/conceptual reading (that is not from the course syllabus). Academic/conceptual readings include: academic journal articles, academic or trade press books, book chapters or research reports from non-government organizations. In terms of length, an academic/conceptual reading should generally be at least 10-12 pages in length.
    The essay must also include the use of at least one additional media reading (that is not from the course syllabus). Media readings are harder to define precisely, but it should broadly resemble the long-form journalism pieces that have been included in the syllabus. Newspaper pieces and short magazine articles (i.e. less than 1,000 words in length) should not be relied upon to satisfy this requirement. Good examples of the type of longer-form journalism pieces you should use are the items from Bill McKibben (Rolling Stone), Kate Aaronoff (The Nation) and David Roberts (Vox) in the syllabus.
    Additional guidelines:
    In preparing, writing and editing your review essay, please take the following advice into consideration:
    Anchoring point/thesis statement: All essays should have an ‘anchoring point’: a core theme, idea, argument or set of questions that the essay will develop and explore. You need to develop your own argument, rather than simply summarize or reflect upon the arguments of others.
    Introduction: All essays should have an introduction which serves two functions: first, describe your topic by clearly laying out your anchoring point/thesis statement; second, provide a brief ‘roadmap’ of the major components of your essay as a guide for your reader. Given the limits of space, ensure that introduction is concise and focused.
    Development: All essays should have a developmental logic: in other words, there should be a continuity or logical relationship between paragraphs and major sections.
    Paragraphs: Each paragraph should be coherently organized around a single theme or idea, rather than an arbitrary collection of disconnected sentences. Paragraph length may vary widely ranging from 4-5 sentences to over a page.
    Editing: A thorough proofreading of your essay in which you check not only for spelling and grammatical mistakes but also coherence and clarity of expression is essential. Preparing a good essay requires multiple drafts in which you polish your writing and ideas with a series of careful edits.
    Bibliography: All sources used in the essay should be properly cited in the text and included in a properly formatted bibliography. Please use APA 7th edition.
    Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzuy3aYOEQ8
    Bibliography:
    Matthew T. Ballew et al. “Climate change in the American mind: Data, tools and trends,” Environment:
    Science and Policy for Sustainable Development 61.3 (May/June 2019): 4-18.
    Chris Hatch and Maria Granados, What do Canadians really think about climate change? A summary of
    public opinion research for communicators. Climate Access and Climate Narratives Initiative. (March
    2021).
    Shannon Osaka, “Can ‘the people’ solve climate change? France decided to find out,” Grist (Nov 15,
    2021). https://grist.org/international/citizens-assembly-convention-climate-france-macron/
    Seth Klein, “When it comes to climate action, the public is ahead of our politics: Analysis of national
    climate poll,” Policynote.ca (Aug 12, 2019). https://www.policynote.ca/climate-poll-2019/
    Podcast: infocus with
    David Coletto. “Mobilizing action on climate change like during wartime, with
    Seth Klein.” May 2, 2021. https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/infocus-about-mobilizing-action-onclimate-change-like/

    How to create Testimonial Carousel using Bootstrap5

    Clients' Reviews about Our Services