Current Events Guidelines

Each month, APES students are required to post one environmental science related article and to comment on someone else’s article on class blog

ARTICLE REQUIREMENTS

1. Your article should be related to environmental science and be from a reputable source.
2. The article be sufficient in length to provide you with enough information for a discussion section (see more specific requirements below.)
3. Your article may not be more than 2 months old and may not have been written up by any other students. The first person to submit an article will be given credit. It pays to submit early!
4. Choose from one of these sources. No more than two people may sign up to get their article from the same source.
1. Newspapers: Virginian Pilot, Washington Post, New York Times, etc.
2. News Magazines: Newsweek, Time, US News and World Report periodically have science or technology features.
3. Science Magazines: Discover, Popular Science, Science News, E: The Environmental Magazine, Natural History, Virginia Wildlife and others can all be found in our school library.
4. Internet: You can find science articles at the inks posted on the sidebar of the blog
   

Be sure to include a link to the article with your summary and cite the source for your article. The title of the article should be hyperlinked to the source article.


SUMMARY REQUIREMENTS AND RESPONSES TO OTHER ARTICLES 

Summary and Reflection

• short summary, a discussion of the issue and a proposed solution to the problem.   Do NOT plagiarize the article! If you choose to use quotes, do so sparingly and appropriately.
• Reflection: This is the biggest part of your report. I am interested in your response to the article. Please address the following questions in your reflection:
  a) What did you think about the article? Did you like it or not? Why?
  b) What interested you or surprised you about the article?
  c) What questions do you have about what you read? What would you like to know more about what you’ve read?   

• Response to a Classmate’s Article
• Due one week after articles are first submitted
• Comment on the article. Don’t regurgitate what others have said – make it original! Personal reflection addresses all of these questions well: What do you think about the information? Do you think this information is important? What might this mean for society?
• This is your chance to have a "conversation" with a classmate about the article. 

SCORING CRITERIA: 20 POINTS

1. Provided copy or link of news story (which is also the heading for the posting) 2 points 
2. Completeness and quality of discussion of event 10 points 
3. Grammar and writing of discussion 3 points 
4. Response: Thorough, thoughtful, presents new insights into the issue 5 points