ENGL 1B

Prof. A. Eastwood

Essay 4: Humans and Nature

Dr. Eastwood

For your final essay, you will be expected to choose your own topic.  You may select anything that interests you, as long as it falls under the broad category of “Humans and Nature,” which is the theme of our course.   Choose a topic that interests you because you will be working on this essay for the rest of the semester. 

The final draft of your essay should be 1,500-2,000 words (approximately 7-8 pages, double spaced), and it should include at least ten sources, not counting web-sites.  These include, but are not limited to the following:

Books

Scientific Journals

Magazine articles

Government documents

Interviews

Television or radio shows

Important Dates:

April 11 – Preliminary Topics Due

April 13 – Library Day

April 18 – Annotated Bibliography Due

April 20 – DRAFT DUE – Bring 3 Copies 

April 25-27 – Workshops and Conferences

May 16^th – FINAL DRAFT DUE

Your final draft of Essay 4 must be turned in with all of the material listed above (topics, graded annotated bibliographies, marked-up drafts from workshops).              

Possible Topics

(Note: Each of these will need to be narrowed down significantly.  To do this, ask questions and consider possible answers.)

Food production

Fishing/overfishing

Nutrition

Farming

Animal cruelty

Animal rights

Animal testing

Global climate change/global warming

Pollution

Pests

Pesticides

Health

Germs

Stem cells

Antibiotics

Vaccines

Natural resources

Oil/gas

Water

Natural and/or man-made disasters

Power/nuclear?

Alternative fuels

Sustainability

Recycling

Trash

Encroachment on the wilderness

Development of land

Encroachment into wilderness

Human/animal encounters (bears, mountain lions, coyotes)