the Science of Global Warming Research
Over the next 7 weeks, you will be working toward completing a final paper. This course breaks down the steps toward that paper into manageable pieces (called “milestones”) each week. Along the way, you will hone the crucial skills of effective searching in the Excelsior College Library, source evaluation, analysis, and attribution, outlining, paraphrasing, and evidence-based argumentative writing.
Next, choose one of the topics from this list (I copied and pasted at the bottom of this page). Each of these topics relates to our course theme of the future of our society as well as to one of Excelsior’s General Education Career Competencies. You will learn more about these competencies in the coming weeks and learn how to articulate your newly acquired skills in these areas to employers through your e-portfolio, where you will submit your completed final project at the end of the term.
This week, your job is to select a topic and do some preliminary thinking about it. Click on the link for your topic choice and read the linked “research starter” article.
While you may have some initial gut reactions or preformed opinions about this topic, consider other ways of thinking about it, even ideas you may think you disagree with at first. When you begin a scholarly research project like this it is crucial to start with an open mind. Trying to remain objective and skeptical allows you to let the sources guide your argument instead of the other way around. If you start with a pre-set opinion, your biases may influence your source selection so that you only choose sources that confirm your point of view.
