A principal assignment for this class will be the completion of a term paper/project. This will culminate in a written document, with references and footnotes, to be turned in the last class meeting.
The paper/project may take the form of a literature review and synthesis. Alternatively, an in depth case study may be conducted.
A literature review and synthesis is to include an in depth survey of the refereed journal literature on a particular topic. Some example:
Perusal of recent issues of major professional journals will suggest other topics.
An in depth case study may be performed around a single compound or action (e.g., risk analysis of a particular incineration facility; analysis of de minimus levels from recent federal or local actions; analysis of a particular compound for which no standard exists, or for which action on a revised standard may be a ripe topic for discussion).
In either case, the paper/project should be appropriately footnoted and documented in a form resembling a scientific journal paper.
A one page precis of the proposed topic is to be submitted by week 3. Earlier submission (via e-mail) is strongly encouraged to provide rapid feedback on developing ideas. In the case of papers or projects which necessitate extensive computation, the instructor should be consulted for advice on available software and computational tools. The precis should be a title, and an outline of your proposed topic.
By week 6, a tentative bibliography should be submitted. The bibliography should be based on appropriate searches of bibliographic data bases, either manually or by computer (e.g., Engineering Index, Biological Abstracts, Chemical Abstracts, Environment Index, etc.). Simply looking over recent journals to get a bibliography is not enough. It is certainly not unreasonable for you to spend more time developing the bibliography and acquiring the references than writing the paper itself. References should be predominantly from refereed scientific/technical/engineering journals, and not from "trade" journals (if there is any doubt, see Professor Haas), or otherwise unpublished documents, reports, etc.
Also, note that the world did not begin at 1985 (or 1975, etc.) -- whenever a particular computer data base commenced coverage. Any comprehensive bibliography is likely to involve some manual searching (be glad that you can search the more recent literature via computer).
In writing your paper, all substantive statements should be cited as to the source, and a complete bibliography of all references should be provided. Follow the convention of one of the scientific journals (for example, Risk Analysis, Environmental Science & Technology, Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry, Water Research).
Special Note About the World Wide Web
While web references may be useful for suggesting a topic, they are not (except for certain situations) authoritative references. For the purposes of the term paper/project, I will not allow more than 20% of the references you use to be web references. Furthermore, the web references you do use must be government (e.g., EPA, CDC, ATSDR) sites, since the reliability of other sites cannot be assured.
SOME FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT A TERM PAPER/PROJECT
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How long should the paper be? |
There is no strict absolute. It should be long enough so that you comprehensively review, analyze and synthesize your body of references, but not any longer. Generally, it would be quite difficult to do a good job of this is less than 15 pages (excluding figures, tables, graphics, and references) of double spaced text. Generally, if you have written more than 40 pages (everything included), you have not done a good enough job of distilling your thoughts. |
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Drexel does not have the references I need. |
a) take advantage of other libraries (e.g., U. Penn., Jefferson, etc.) b) request interlibrary loan (but this frequently requires several weeks, so it pays to start really early) |
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I can’t find papers on my topic. |
Use bibliographic tools (Chemical Abstracts, Engineering Index, Science Citation Index, etc.) to find additional references. |
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I don’t know how to use the computer search capabilities/ |
Go over to Hagerty Library and talk to the library staff. They have good "cheat sheets" for a number of the data bases, and there are also some short courses offered at the beginning of each term to discuss search methods. |
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Does spelling, grammar, etc. count? |
Of course (you wouldn’t ask an amployer/prospective employer this question, would you?). |
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I have a lot of good references (>50); what should I do? |
Assuming that they are really good (and useful -- in other words you have physically obtained and read/skimmed them), then you probably need to limit your topic. At this point, contact Professor Haas and discuss possible ways to do this limitation. |