STUDENT ESSAY and SHORT CLASS PRESENTATION:

An important component of your grade in this course is the writing of a short essay reviewing material on a physics or astronomy related topic that interests you. Although you must submit your own essay for grading, you may work with a partner and share material. Your partner may submit an essay on a closely related (but different) topic.  Your essays will be re-distributed for others in the class to review and critique.  When completed, you will make a short 5-minute presentation of your respective topics to your classmates.

• List of Topics

Your topic should be selected from the list above. If a topic you are interested in is not on the list, feel free to be creative and come up with your own topic (but be sure to let the instructor know).  Essays should be about two to three pages text in length (about 1,000 words or so), typed, referenced, organized, and should include an abstract, citations, and list of sources. You are not limited to length, but quality and content are stressed. At least three sources must be used, one of which must be a magazine article (preferably from a scientific journal or popular science magazine), the second must be an internet source, and the third can be anything you want.  You may use books, but only if you already have found current journal and/or internet sources.

Internet sources must be critiqued carefully before drawing information from them for your paper.  The following two sites give valuable guidance in critiquing and determining if the internet source is a valid, viable, and reputable source.

• Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources
• Ten C's For Evaluating Internet Sources

To help you with your research, the SBCC library subscribes to Proquest and other helpful data bases.  Click here for instructions on how to access these SBCC library resources.  Also, be sure to look at the web sites listed to help you with filtered searches and web site evaluation.

• SBCC Library Data Base Research and other helpful websites

A rough draft must be submitted for review by your fellow students.  You should also turn in photocopies of the first page of each source for review by your instructor.  Turn in only the first page, and have it attached to your rough draft.

Full credit will only be awarded to those who adhere to the timeline discussed in class.  Class participation is an important component of this assignment.