Warming threatens sea turtles

The New York Times has a story about sea turtles threatened by global warming.

Your assignment

1. Finish your third paper & hand it in on Tuesday.

2. Come up with idea for fourth paper. This will need to be approved in class.

3. Read Chapter 4 in Field Notes from a Catastrophe, as always with a critical eye, weighing both the facts Kolbert marshals and her presentation of those facts. E-mail me a topic for discussion in class.

4. Blog on your reading. How effective was this chapter in depicting the consequences of global warming? Why do you think Kolbert chose these examples to include in her book? What did you find most striking or memorable? What did you like/dislike about her writing?

Quotes for coyote study

Quotes from Roland Kays.

"It's got enough coyote in it to live around humans, but enough wolf to take down ungulates."

"It's interesting to show that evolution is still happening. It's not something you observe just in fossils."

Although scientists have long suspected a wolf connection, Kays said the study proves it. "One of the big results was to show this in a systematic way."

Improving your grade

If you want to improve your grade on the second paper, you can revise it and resubmit it next week.

Note: I updated the previous blog to reflect the change in due date for the third paper. It is now due Nov. 17, not Nov. 10.

I have emailed everyone who handed in a draft paper. Use those comments as your guide and get in touch if you have questions. I won't be marking up the papers with edits as many of the papers will be rewritten anyway. Be sure to edit your own copy before handing in the final version. Keep that crib sheet handy or, better, a stylebook.

I would like to see your revised ledes, if any, before you hand in the final paper.

See you all next week.

Next assignment

1. Continue work on your 3rd article. Final version now due Nov. 17. Start thinking of topics for your fourth paper.

2. Read chapters 2-3 in Field Notes.

3. Blog on your reading, answering the following: What are the strongest pieces of evidence adduced in support of the theory of global warming? What doubts, if any, do you still have about the evidence so far set forth? Also assess Kolbert's writing style, objectivity, and explanatory powers.

4. Also based on the reading, e-mail me one question or topic for class discussion.

Draft article also due

I forgot to reiterate in my earlier post that your draft articles will be due on Tuesday.

Assignment

For next week, read pages 1-34 in Field Notes from a Catastrophe. For your blog, post three questions or observations about the reading that we can discuss in class. The questions/observations should pertain to the quality of the writing and/or the quality of the journalism. Think about why the author begins the book as she does.