2012 Drought Report Writing Guidelines
You can earn up to 8 pts for report content and up to 4 pts for
writing quality.
Content
Here are some of the main points to think about while you read about
radon and to discusss when you write your report:
Your report should probably
include a definition or explanation of the term drought.? What
are the different levels of drought severity? What is a megadrought?
What has caused the 2012 drought? How much of the US is
experiencing drought conditions?
What have been some of the consequences of the drought? Did you
find any estimate of the economic cost of this drought?
What is the near term outlook; are drought conditions expected to
persist, worsen, or diminish?
You shouldn't need to go beyond the reference sources given and
don't need to cite them. You should cite any other sources that
you use. You might want to follow up on some of the
links in the Wikipedia article (such as the Summer
2012 Heat Wave or the 1930s drought (Dust Bowl)),
for example.
Writing Quality
Here are some things you can do to maximize your chances of earning a
high writing quality grade:
Explain the material in your own
words - your report should be your understanding and explanation of the
material. Avoid generalites, try to include specific
details and examples from the reading section. The separate
sections or paragraphs of your paper should blend together into one
seamless coherent report. Try to organize your report
into a few short paragraphs rather than one long paragraph. Your
report should be
nearly free of misspelled words and grammatical errors.