Homework #4 Severe Weather Paper
Due in class on Thursday, November 6th
Write a two page paper about the severe weather in a
particular local region of the world (see content below) with a
bibliography. To be fair, everyone must
use the following format: 12 point font, 1" margins, double-spaced
text, place your name and section number on a single line in the upper right
hand corner of the first page (do not write the course name or the instructor's
name or the date), title of the paper centered on the next double-spaced line,
followed by the text of the paper. Do not use a title page (a waste of
paper). Aim for two pages. You can
go slightly over two pages, BUT NO MORE THAN 2.5 PAGES. The bibliography should be placed after the
main text of the paper. The bibliography does not count against the page
limit. Failure to observe these format guidelines may result in loss of
points.
Guidelines for Paper Content
The largest part of this paper is to focus on the societal
impacts to a local community caused by a single severe weather event (part 2
below). Therefore, you may wish to
select a severe weather event first, then select a city or small region
affected by the severe weather event to write your paper around. Alternatively, you can first select a city or
a region of interest to you, and then find a particular severe weather event
that impacted the region to write about.
This can be a problem, though, if you choose a place like
It is best to choose a small region like a city or county. Something the size of a state or a country is too big. Even if you decide to write about a large-scale event like a drought, it is still best to focus your paper on the effects felt within a small community. The severe weather event can be anywhere in the world, but you must be able to dig up the required information to write the paper. The paper must address the following points:
You should be somewhat general in your discussion for point
1 above, and specific in your discussion pertaining to point 2. As a
guideline, point 1 can probably be addressed in a single paragraph, so most of
the paper should be devoted to point 2.
Try to make your paper interesting for readers. In this regard personal stories of struggle
or loss are appropriate. These stories
can sometimes be found in local newspaper accounts. The information you gather should be incorporated
into a single, cohesive paper (composed of an introduction, body, and
conclusion). The purpose of this
paper is to describe the impact of a severe weather event on society, NOT to
explain in detail the physics of how the severe weather event developed. THIS IS NOT A TECHNICAL PAPER.
Your paper will be graded according to content, organization, readability, and proper use of the English language. It will not be judged by the size and/or intensity of the weather event. Your paper must contain a list of sources in a bibliography. Citations should be explicit enough to allow us to check them, i.e., each should contain a date, author, and complete web address (if from a web page). There are no strict formatting guidelines on citations. One suggestion is that you number the entries in your bibliography. Then wherever citations are required, use superscripted numbers corresponding to the numbered entry in the bibliography. Be sure to reference material where required. For example, if writing about the effects of Hurricane Iniki on the island of Kauai, there is no need to reference the date the hurricane struck (this is common knowledge), but if you provide statistics like the number of deaths and injuries, a citation is required.
Note of caution: In grading your assignments, we will
specifically be checking for cheating and copying -- this includes both word
for word copying without quotation marks and proper reference and copying among
classmates. There will be no tolerance for plagiarism (representing the words
or ideas of others as one’s own).
Links to a few sources of information are posted below to help get you started. You should find and utilize other reference sources as well.
n http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ol/climate/severeweather/extremes.html -- NCDC Extreme Weather and Climate Events.
n http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/reports/billionz.html -- Billion dollar weather disasters 1980-2007.
n http://dailyearth/.com – Newspaper directory
If the above topic does not interest you, you may select
another topic about severe weather. You must still follow the format guidelines
above. Possible topics include (but are not limited to): (a) a more
scientific paper describing the atmospheric conditions and the physical
processes that take place in the formation of a specific type of severe weather
(e.g., thunderstorms, lightning, hurricanes, blizzards, etc.); (b) a paper
about a single notable severe weather event (e.g., a hurricane, tornado
outbreak, etc.) describing the atmospheric conditions relevant to the
development of the storm(s), the areas affected, damages, and loss of life, and
whether or not local officials could have done anything to reduce the damage
done; (c) a paper discussing the possibility that the frequency and intensity
of severe weather events are now changing or may change due to global warming.
If you choose to select your own topic, you MUST get my approval either
by discussing it with me in person or by email. Failure to do so may result in
no credit given for your paper. In
addition, if you choose this option, I will expect your paper to demonstrate
that you have a good understanding of your topic.