11:373:101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Environmental Ethics
7 May 2018
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Department
Course
Professor
Introduction to Human Ecology Book Paper
11:374:101:01-08
Spring, 2018
The book paper will be approximately 4-5 pages in length; due dates will be set in each recitation
class. In some sections, book papers will be due around the time book presentations are done; in others,
book papers will be due by or at the end of the semester. Recitation instructors also sometimes modify or
specify the general assignment. In either case, your assignment is to take a specific theme or aspect of
your book and to develop and analyze it in relation to other course materials – the readings, films, other
books, lectures and recitation discussions. The purpose is sufficiently general so that you can derive
maximum satisfaction and creativity from your essay. The assignment is NOT intended to be a book
report, a book review, a book summary, or a rehash of your group book presentation. If you have any
problems in deriving a focus for the paper, talk to us.
In general, it is better to explore a specific topic in some depth than it is to write a broad - and
necessarily superficial – treatment of a general issue. This is not a game of relating your topic to
everything else we cover, but you should be able to bring some of the other course materials in to your
discussion as supporting evidence. Some things will be more obviously relevant than others, but
whichever materials you use should be effectively integrated into your essay.
Some examples of theme areas are:
-cultural perceptions of the environment and interaction with it; consequences of different perceptions and
interactions; lessons cultures might derive from the experiences of others, perhaps of most interest what
we could learn from others;
-interactions between cultures and the environmental consequences of those interactions; how one
society’s exposure to another alters it generally, and more specifically, its relationship with the
environment; the pros and cons of such interactions;
-land, animals and other resources –how we interact with them, their roles, meanings and assigned values
in disparate cultures; environmental ethics; the environment of tomorrow and how choices made today
will affect it;
-roles of the media, the public, the economic and political systems in the areas examined this semester;
how social institutions and changes in them affect our relationship with the environment; actual and/or
potential harm and benefit from such influence;
-aspects of our relationship with the environment that might be changed, in what ways they might be
changed, and how such change could be effected;
-other topic areas – this is far from an exhaustive list.
Develop your theme in terms of what your book had to say about it and how you evaluate what it
says. Your analysis should include supporting or contrasting evidence from other course materials
relevant to your theme – you are not obliged to agree with your book. You can address such questions as
what you learned from your book, how you felt about it, what other materials added to your
understanding, and an overall conclusion. Your paper should reflect your opinions, but
informed/analytical ones, not subjective ones without evidence, support and a rationale behind them.
If you have any doubt about what you’re doing, talk to us. You will not be graded on what you
think, but rather on the strength of the case you make for your beliefs. If done well, the paper should pull
together some of your thoughts about a critical issue, your book, and at least a segment of the materials
covered. Have fun!
Document Summary
The book paper will be approximately 4-5 pages in length; due dates will be set in each recitation class. In some sections, book papers will be due around the time book presentations are done; in others, book papers will be due by or at the end of the semester. Recitation instructors also sometimes modify or specify the general assignment. In either case, your assignment is to take a specific theme or aspect of your book and to develop and analyze it in relation to other course materials the readings, films, other books, lectures and recitation discussions. The purpose is sufficiently general so that you can derive maximum satisfaction and creativity from your essay. The assignment is not intended to be a book report, a book review, a book summary, or a rehash of your group book presentation. If you have any problems in deriving a focus for the paper, talk to us.
