GEOL1401 Research Paper Instructions

The purpose of this paper is to analyze four (4) instructor provided articles that represent the argument of both sides of the dispute over whether the process of hydraulic fracturing is responsible for the increased number of earthquakes occurring in the United States, including Texas.
Below are the steps required to complete the research project/paper, as well as detailed instructors of what to write about within your individual paper.
Steps to complete the hydraulic fracturing research project:

STEP 1: Read these instructions thoroughly and watch the following WFAA-TV video about hydraulic fracturing (fracking):

 ‘Let’s #VerifyThis! Does fracking cause earthquakes?

STEP 2: Discussion Board (15 points)

Every student in class has been assigned to one (1) of 2 discussion boards.  Either the ‘hydraulic fracturing IS NOT responsible for causing earthquakes’, or ‘hydraulic fracturing IS responsible for causing earthquakes’ board.  It is the responsibility of each student to scroll through all the forums in their assigned board and choose ONE of the articles posted to write a synopsis of their chosen article and explain how the article might be a good source for their paper.
The purpose of the discussion board is for each student to share with the class a synopsis (short summary) of their chosen article.  Later on in this project, students will be selecting 2 articles from each discussion board and the synopses should help students decide which articles to use for the research paper.
It is very important that every student does their part on the discussion board.
To complete this part of the project: You can get to the 2 Discussion Board links by either clicking on the “Discussion Board” link (under “Course Work” on left-hand side of eCampus course page and then scrolling down to the two fracking discussion boards) OR within the “Research Paper” link (under “Course Work” on left-hand side of eCampus course page and then scrolling down to the two fracking discussion boards).

• Scroll down and read the titles of each article in the threads
• Choose one to read and summarize (first come, first served), click on the article title to open the “thread” or article and click on the link, then click “Reply” and write the following in the “Message” area:

• • Summarize the article in two paragraphs- 4-5 sentences per paragraph.
    • Paragraph 1: A synopsis of the article
    • Paragraph 2: Explain how the article might be a good source for the essay portion of the project.

 
STEP 3: Discussion Board Comments to other students (5 points)

• Read through the summaries written by the other students in your assigned discussion board and make comments on a least 5 other summaries-
  • Remarks might include specific questions asking for clarification, a request for more details, or perhaps an observation.  All comments should be positive, constructive, and polite.

 
IMPORTANT: PLEASE KEEP THE FOLLOWING IN MIND WHILE COMPLETING THIS ASSIGNMENT- part of the research paper consists of an assessment of how well you and your team members worked together in the forum according to the five (5) categories below:

• Contributes to the discussion: Did the students in your assigned discussion board all contribute a synopsis? Did everyone contribute to the discussion comments?
• Group Encouragement: Did you notice any students encouraging others to contribute to the discussions?
• Deadlines: Did everyone seem to post their synopsis and add to the comments by the assigned deadlines? Did you notice any posts encouraging and motivating everyone to get the work done on time?
• Communication: How did your group seem to do as far as treating each other respectfully by being polite and constructive in communication.
• Conflict: If conflict arose within the discussion, did anyone respond to the conflict? Did they help to manage/resolve it in a way so that the work of the group could be completed peaceably and well?

 

STEP 4: Read Through the Sources and Write Your Paper (80 points)

Read through all the threads for both ‘hydraulic fracturing IS NOT responsible for causing earthquakes’, and ‘hydraulic fracturing IS responsible for causing earthquakes’ discussion board forums.
 
Select 2 articles from each forum for a total of 4 articles (2 articles from the IS NOT, 2 from the IS).
 
You will use the information in these articles to help write the research paper. Click on the Word doc (or URL link of the article if there is one associated with it, as not all have URL links) link and read the full article. It is OK if one of the articles you choose is your own.  It is also OK to choose more than 2 articles from each forum.  Please do not choose sources not listed in the discussion boards or you will have points deducted. There are plenty of good articles to choose from!
 

To begin writing your paper:

• Scroll down to the last assignment link in the “Research Paper” link (under “Course Work” in our eCampus course). Click on the attached file: “APA Template for GEOL 1401 Research Paper” and download the file.

 

• Besides downloading the APA template, when writing your paper, download this document again, as it will be necessary to have it open as it has detailed directions that accompany the template so you will know what to write about in each section. The directions below explain paragraph by paragraph what to write about. Please understand that if you do not utilize BOTH of these documents (this one you are reading now and the APA template), you will fail this assignment.

 

• Write the paper 😊 see detailed directions below (pages 3-6) of what to include.

 

• Optional: Upload your paper to” Plagiarism Checker/Research Paper Rough Draft” link. This link is provided for you to submit your paper to check for plagiarism. I will NOT be checking nor grading these. It is only there for your benefit to check that the plagiarism (matching) rate is not too high (20% or higher).

 

• To submit your finished paper, click on the link “Research Paper Template Download and Location to Upload Your Completed Paper”. (This is the same location from where you downloaded the template). Then within the “Assignment Submission” area, click on the “Browser My Computer” link in the “Attach Files” area. Choose the file that is your completed paper. Click the small box in the “Plagiarism Tools” area. Lastly, click on the “Submit” button on the bottom-right hand side of the webpage.

 
Detailed instructors of what to write about within your individual paper.

• The correct margins and fonts (Times New Roman) are already set up in the template.

 

• Header titles: Type in an abbreviated name of your paper in ALL CAPS on page 1 (leave the words “Running head” as shown on page 1 only) and again on page 2.

 

• Page 1 title page: Type in a title for your paper, your name, and section and semester information (ie. Spring 2020).

 

• Type in your title again at the top of page 2 in upper and lower case letters.

 

• Include the bold words of all the SUBTITLES (ie. “Introduction to the Controversy”).

 

• Indent each paragraph and use double spacing for all text in the paper.

 

• Do not add any extra spacing between paragraphs or between sections.

 

• Cite your sources throughout your paper by using in-text citations as needed (APA format is the author’s last name, year). Here is an example of a sentence with an in-text citation (Fields, 2015). In-text citations should be used in Sections 1, 2, and 3. (Introduction to the Controversy, Why Some Agree That Hydraulic Fracturing IS NOT causing earthquakes, and Why Some Agree That Hydraulic Fracturing IS causing earthquakes.)

 

• If you use a direct quote, add the page number where the quote is located (Fields, 2015, p125). No more than 2 quotes total for this paper should be used.

 

• What to include in the “Introduction to the Controversy” section:

 

• This should be at least two 5-sentence paragraphs.
• Write in 3^rd (Please do not use any 1^st or 2^nd person statements such as “you”, “I”, “we”, “us”)
• Explain the purpose of writing this paper.
• It should include both a detailed description of what hydraulic fracturing is, and a description of the current debate over whether hydraulic fracturing is causing earthquakes. Important: stay away from the actual argument pros and cons as these belong in the next two sections.
• Include an in-text citation(s).

 

• What to include in the “Why Some Agree That Hydraulic Fracturing IS NOT causing earthquakes” section:

 

• This should be at least two 6-sentence paragraphs.
• Write in 3^rd (Please do not use any 1^st or 2^nd person statements such as “you”, “I”, “we”, “us”)
• Read every synopsis thread in the ‘Hydraulic Fracturing IS NOT causing earthquakes’ discussion board. Choose at least two (2) articles as sources to write this section of the paper. Read the full Word doc article for any sources you choose.  Using the information from the articles put together an argument for why Hydraulic Fracturing IS NOT causing earthquakes.
• Please remember you are not citing any of your classmates, as they are not experts, but you need to download each article (source) you choose to use in your paper, read the article yourself to choose how you are going to summarize each article and what you want to include as evidence for this section.
• It is important that you WRITE CRITICALLY ABOUT THIS VIEWPOINT, be precise regarding why the articles are directly and indirectly making a case for fracking being the cause of earthquakes. To obtain full credit for this section, look for specific viewpoints in the sources that might be inaccurate. In the articles you read, did you spot any assumptions made by the author or ‘experts’ quoted in the article?
• Include in-text citations.

 

• What to include in the “Why Some Agree That Hydraulic Fracturing IS causing earthquakes” section:

 

• Like the directions above: This should be at least two 6-sentence paragraphs.
• Write in 3^rd (Please do not use any 1^st or 2^nd person statements such as “you”, “I”, “we”, “us”)
• Read every synopsis thread in the ‘Hydraulic Fracturing IS causing earthquakes’ discussion board. Choose at least two (2) articles as sources to write this section of the paper. Read the full Word doc article for any sources you choose.  Using the information from the articles put together an argument for why Hydraulic Fracturing IS causing earthquakes.
• Please remember you are not citing any of your classmates, as they are not experts, but you need to download each article (source) you choose to use in your paper, read the article yourself to choose how you are going to summarize each article and what you want to include as evidence for this section.
• It is important that you WRITE CRITICALLY ABOUT THIS VIEWPOINT, be precise regarding why the articles are directly and indirectly making a case for fracking being the cause of earthquakes. To obtain full credit for this section, look for specific viewpoints in the sources that might be inaccurate. In the articles you read, did you spot any assumptions made by the author or ‘experts’ quoted in the article?
• Include an in-text citations.

 

• What to include in the “Discussion Board Forum Teamwork Reflection” section:
  • You need to discuss how well you and the other students assigned to your discussion board forum worked together.
  • Please write in 1^st
  • This paragraph should be at least 10 sentences long that carefully describes how well the group worked together based on the following five (5) categories:
    • Contributes to the discussion: Did the students in your assigned discussion board all contribute a synopsis? Did everyone contribute to the discussion comments?
    • Group Encouragement: Did you notice any students encouraging others to contribute to the discussions?
    • Deadlines: Did everyone seem to post their synopsis and add to the comments by the assigned deadlines? Did you notice any posts encouraging and motivating everyone to get the work done on time?
    • Communication: How did your group seem to do as far as treating each other respectfully by being polite and constructive in communication.
    • Conflict: If conflict arose within the discussion, did anyone respond to the conflict? Did they help to manage/resolve it in a way so that the work of the group could be completed peaceably and well?

 

• What to include in the “Summary” section:
  • This should be at least two 5-sentence paragraphs.
  • Please write in 1^st
  • This is a “critical thinking paragraph”. Answer the following questions inside of this paragraph, but DO NOT include the questions:
    • What preconceived ideas about hydraulic fracturing-earthquake debate did you have BEFORE reading the articles that you cited in this paper?
    • How have your ideas changed after reading the cited articles? For example, what is YOUR opinion/position on whether or not hydraulic fracturing is causing earthquakes? Explain what specifically influenced your position and any items that limit your understanding and ability to form an opinion on this topic.

• • • Why do you believe that continued research by experts on this subject is important? (Explain the relevance and complexity of the research findings.)
    • What question(s) has this research paper raised for you?  What are you still wondering about? (NOTE:  nothing is not an acceptable answer.)

 

• As you type, the “References” page will always make itself your last page. You don’t have to do anything for this to happen. Double-check that you do not have any blank pages at the end, and that your reference page is its very own last page.

 

• Do not delete the word “References” at the top last page (your reference page).

 

• The “References” page (last page of paper) is a list of all the sources you used and got your information from to write your paper. The sources must be properly cited using APA style format.

 

• Please use the following website for help completing this step: citefast.com

 

• Save your paper as a Word doc or PDF and submit in our course in eCampus (see directions above on page 3 on how to submit your paper).