Journal Critique Assignment
While this is being assigned in module 6 – it is not due until the end of the land use change unit! You do not need to have this submitted by the end of unit 2.
The presentation of a scientific result can mean nearly everything in terms of how it is responded to in terms of public acceptance and policy. Often, the ability to communicate science in secondary sources and relay key findings in primary sources can either enhance or limit the way non-scientists act on scientific findings.
In this assignment, you will: 1) Find a secondary source (magazine, newspaper, etc.) which cites a primary source for its evidence and 2) review both the primary and secondary source for how well they relate the information to their prospective audiences. The primary goal of this assignment is to assess the quality of the presentation of the scientific findings to different populations.
1) Choose a broad area of global change from one of our three units (Climate, land use, and biodiversity) and search the secondary literature for a topic you find particularly interesting.
2) Find a secondary article that either focuses on OR cites a primary literature source.
3) Review both of these sources in terms of:
– Citations for both articles in APA format
– A summary of the topic, research presented, and key findings of the two articles. Include the key findings from the primary article and what the focus of the findings of the secondary article was
– The quality of the presentation of each article separately – summarize their effectiveness in term of how well they present their key message in your opinion
– How well the articles relate to one another (e.g. does the secondary source sensationalize the issue?) and is there any problem in presentation for either?
