Clear and informative writing is an important part of any discipline. Writing also helps develop your critical and analytical thinking skills and helps you to understand new and confusing concepts.  The written work required in this class falls into two categories:

1. Experiment Report
          Observation and measurement are an essential part of scientific study and discovery. Four simple "take home" experiments have been developed for this course. An additional experiment may be developed during the semester.
         At some point during the semester you should check out one of the sets of materials, perform the associated experiment, and write an experiment report. Experiment instructions and a more detailed description of the report format will be distributed with the experiment kits.

 The four experiments and due dates are listed below:

Experiment	Title or Topic	Report Due Date
#1	Measuring the Percentage Oxygen Concentration in Air	Mon., Feb. 10
#2	Measuring the Latent Heat of Fusion of Ice (the energy needed to melt ice)	Mon., Mar. 3
#3	Measuring the Solar Irradiance (the energy in sunlight)	Mon., Mar. 31
#4 (perhaps)	Using Archimedes Law to determine the number of ball bearings hidden inside an object	Mon., Apr. 7

There may be a few people that absolutely refuse to do an experiment, so here are a couple of alternatives:

Report on a Scientific Paper

            Not just any scientific paper, but one I have chosen for you.  The report is about climate change and expands on material covered in class. If you select this option you will need to read and then prepare a summary report on the paper.  You can learn more about this option here.  Scientific Paper reports will be due Mon., Apr. 7 (reports can be turned in early)

Report on a Book
            A limited number of books that touch on weather-related topics are available for checkout. The expectation here will be that you read an entire book or a significant portion of a book and report on what you have learned. A list of titles is available on the class website. More information on the report format can be found here.  Books reports are due Mon., Apr. 7 (reports can be turned in early).  If you decide on this option, you should identify and check out a book 3 to 4 weeks before the due date.

 

NOTE 

            You only need to select one of the three options above (just one, not all three).  If you select the experiment option, you only need to do one of the experiments.  In each case you will be allowed to revise and resubmit your original report.    Because of limited amounts of experiment materials and in order to avoid a flood of reports at the end of the semester, students should try to select a particular experiment (or one of the other options) during the first week or so of class.

 

2. One Side of One Page Writing Assignments

            The object of the one side of one page (1S1P) assignments is to have you read and learn more about a variety of topics covered in the course.

 

            At different times during the semester, topics and reference material will be posted on the 1S1P Report Assignments and Topics page.  You will then be able to report on one or two of the topics in each assignment. 

           
            After selecting a topic, but before you begin reading, ask yourself what you already know about the subject and try to imagine what you will find in the reading.  As you read, create a brief outline with the main points, the key concepts and principles in the selection. Use this outline to construct a draft report. Once you have a relatively clear idea of what you want to say in your report, you may refer back to the source material for help filling in any missing details and clearing up any misunderstanding. Your report should be written in your own words; it should be your understanding and explanation of the material. You shouldn't just "copy and paste" portions of the source text into your report.

 

            Reports should be prepared on 8.5 x 11 inch paper. Typed reports must be double spaced and use 11 pt font or larger. A one side of one page limit will be strictly enforced. Reports may be handwritten, but your writing must be legible and the one page limit will still apply (handwritten reports may be single spaced).

            The one page limit will require that you condense, abridge, and even leave out material covered in the textbook.  Try to identify and explain the main points, you don't need to include every detail.  In many cases a drawing or figure might be appropriate and might save considerable written explanation). Your report will be graded on quality and clarity of writing, organization, and information content.

 

Overall Writing Percentage Grade

You may earn up to 40 points on Part 1 (Experiment or Book Report) and up to a maximum of 45 points on Part 2 (1S1P reports). A writing percentage grade will be computed as follows:

 

                                    % grade = 100% x (report grade + 1S1P points)

                                                                                   80

 

            The writing percentage grade computed above will have the same weight as one quiz grade (the writing grade, however, will not be dropped even if it is lower than all your quiz grades).  Note that it is possible for the writing percentage grade to be over 100%.