• One of the Quotes from Scientists about Doing Science (on pp  ___ of Class Notes)
• The essay On Scientific Method by Robert Pirsig
• One of the two Symphony of Science videos shown in class:
  • "The Poetry of Reality"  (see Class Follow-Up)
  • "We Are All Connected"  (see Class Follow-Up)
• The artwork that is on the cover of the Science of Global Change E-Text (view it HERE)
• One of the topics in the Dire Predictions textbook that intrigues you after paging through it

Examples for the main message (or thesis) of your essay:  what you liked or disliked about a particular quote or video and why, what surprised you about one of the quotes (as coming from a scientist), what you liked or disliked about Pirsig's motorcycle repair diagnosis as a methaphor for scientific method, what you think about the e-text cover artwork and how it relates to our class, what personally intrigues you about a particular topic in the Dire Predicitions text, etc.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN WRITING

• Go to Avoiding Plagiarism from the UA Library:  http://www.library.arizona.edu/help/tutorials/plagiarism/
• Read the Overview
• Read the section on Paraphrasing
• Go to the Citing section and review the APA style (that's the one we'll use in this class)
• Complete the Tutorial:  Accidental Plagiarism - Don't Let it Happen to You 

FORMAT

• Typed, double or 1.5 spaced, and in a legible font size (typically 10 - 12 pt)
  
•  Length of about 300 - 500 words, 1-3 paragraphs, about 1 or 1.5 pages (depending on your font type and size)
  
• At the top insert a title:  Thinking More Deeply: [insert your topic]  Beneath the title put your NAME
  
• Your essay should be free of typographical and spelling mistakes and should be grammatically correct.
  
• Your essay should express your original thoughts and ideas using your own words.  If you include a  direct quote or include information or insights from another source, these must be referenced, as spelled out in FAQ #17 and on the UA Library's Avoiding Plagiarism site noted above.
  
  • NOTE:  This semester, whenever you reference anything from the CLASS NOTES PACKET (such as the science quotes), you may use this simplified citation:  GC-170A Class Notes, Fall 2012, p. ___.
    
    
• Your essay should be spell-checked and  carefully proofread (Spell checking doesn't catch poor grammar or incorrectly selected words.)
  
• SAVE your document in PDF format using the following document name (but inserting your own name, obviously!) and separating the words with hyphens:   Lastname-Firstname.pdf   (the .pdf will be added automatically when you save your file in pdf format)
  
  
• Your submitted file MUST be a PDF or a MS Doc file.  It will not be accepted in any other file format.  Directions for converting a Word document to PDF format can be found HERE.
  
  For some examples of what your essay might look like, see these sample esssays created by your fictional fellow students, Stella Student & Stanley Student.  Their essays are saved as pdf files in the proper format:     Student-Stella.pdf      Student-Stanley.pdf

D2L DROPBOX SUBMISSION PROCESS -- (The Term Project Part B Dropbox will be open soon!)

 NOTE:  By submitting your paper online, you are agreeing to allow your work to be reviewed by the plagiarism-prevention program called TurnItIn.com.
Please see this Important Notice about this program.

 Submitting a file to the Assignment Dropbox is a 4-Step Process: 

(1)  Add a file from your computer to the upload bin
(2)  Upload the file to D2L by clicking UPLOAD  (note, uploading is NOT the same as submitting!)
(3)  Check the file you have uploaded to be sure it is readable and is the one you want to submit
(4)  Submit the file to the Dropbox by clicking SUBMIT

Each of these steps is described in more detail below:

STEP 1:   After Dr. H has announced  that the dropbox for Assignment I-1 is open, in D2l, click on the D2L Dropbox icon  and select Assignment I-1. 
     The following SUBMIT FILES window will open up.   [NOTE:  window is BELOW the Rubric, so SCROLL DOWN to see it!]
     Click on Add a File:

 When the next window opens up (see below), click on Choose File to browse for your lastname-firstname.pdf file on your computer. After you find it and select it, click "open" to copy it into the upload bin.

STEP 2:  Then click the UPLOAD button to upload your  pdf or coc file from your computer to the Upload holding bin.

                                       

STEP 3:   Next -- before submitting -- click on the file you just uploaded  to open it and check it to be sure it is the correct pdf file and is readable.

STEP 4:   TO SUBMIT:  After your I-1 pdf file has been uploaded and checked, you may add a comment in the comment box to the instructor if you wish – but please keep your comment short!   Then click on the SUBMIT button at the very bottom of the screen to SUBMIT the file at once for grading. (You may need to scroll down to find the SUBMIT button!) 

If you submitted correctly, the File Upload Results screen will appear saying "File submission successful" near the top (see red outlined area in screen shot below).  Near the bottom you will see Confirmation Email Sent Successfully and a link to click on that says "View submission history for this folder"   (see yellow highlighting in screen shot below).

                                                                                     

  EXTREMELY IMPORTANT:  If you do NOT see the message "File Submission Successful" you have NOT YET submitted your file-- so go back and carefully follow all the directions above and try again. You should ALWAYS click on the View submission history for this folder link to confirm that your submission has gone through successfully.  You will also receive an email confirmation in D2L.  (Save this confirmation to document the time you submitted your file.)

GRADING RUBRIC 

How to Write a Great Paper:

• Read the directions carefully!   Then read them again!  Student often lose points needlessly because of not following the directions.
• Allow yourself enough time to think about the activity before you begin writing.
• Structure your write-up according to the sections and format requested.
• To get a good grade, be sure you put in the effort to produce the quality of work
  described in the GRADING RUBRIC below under the EXCELLENT column.
• Go "the extra mile" and demonstrate evidence of this!
• Have someone else proofread your paper.
• Evaluate your paper yourself, using the Grading Rubric below.  Have you written the kind of paper that will get you the grade you want?
• Do NOT plagiarize !!  <== click on this link to be SURE you are not doing it!
  

GRADING RUBRIC FOR ASSIGNMENT I-1 Printer friendly version  of the rubric in pdf form
Criteria	Excellent	Satisfactory	Needs Improvement	Unacceptable
Content & Development	3 points ·       Essay shows evidence of “thinking more deeply” through your choice of topic and your reasons for selecting it ·       Your ideas and views are well articulated and insightful, thoughtfully developed, and illustrated with concrete examples ·       Your essay holds together well and leaves your audience thinking.	2 points ·      Essay shows evidence of “thinking more deeply” through your choice of topic and your reasons for selecting it ·      Your ideas and views are presented but would be more convincing with better or more concrete examples ·      Essay holds together sufficiently	1 point ·      Essay follows the basic directions but your choice of topic and your reasons for selecting it are not adequately stated ·      Your own views and ideas on your topic are difficult to sort out ·      Essay does not hold together well leading to readability issues that detract from it	0 points ·        Essay shows little coherence and/or does not address the intent of the assignment
Organization, Structure, Style & Clarity	2 points ·       Essay is organized in a way that makes sense and clearly states your views, then elaborates and supports your position ·       Ending has a clear closing which follows logically from the preceding text ·       Essay has effective sentence and paragraph structure ·       Writing is concise and to the point	1 point ·      Essay is mostly organized in a way that makes sense and clearly states your views with some support for your position ·      Ending has a clear closing ·      Most sentences and paragraphs are structured effectively ·      Writing is fairly concise and addresses the point adequately	0.5 points ·      Essay is confusing in parts. You state your views but do not elaborate or effectively support them. ·      Ending has a closing which only partially flows from the preceding text ·      Some sentences and paragraphs poorly structured ·      Writing is wordy, unclear, and/or somewhat unfocused	0 points ·     Essay is very confusing. Your main point is obscure and poorly supported ·     Ending has no clear closing. ·     Sentences and paragraphs are poorly structured ·     Writing is excessively wordy, unclear and unfocused
Originality (based on TurnItIn)	1 point ·       Content is original with minimal detection of unoriginality in TurnItin	0.5 points ·      Some problems with originality detected	0 points ·      Unacceptably high % of unoriginal content	0 points ·     Unacceptably high % of unoriginal content
Mechanics: Punctuation, Spelling & Grammar	2 points ·       No errors in punctuation, spelling, or grammar	1 point ·      A few punctuation, spelling and/or grammar errors, but none that detract from the meaning	0.5 points ·      A few errors in punctuation, grammar and spelling that distract, but the meaning and intent of the essay can still be discerned.	0 points ·      Major distracting errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling that muddle the meaning of the essay
Adherence to Submission Directions	2 points ·    Document in specified format ·    Lemgth is acceptable ·    File is named correctly as specified ·    File is readable PDF format ·    Submission is on time	1 point ·       Document in specified format ·       Length is acceptable length ·       Problems with at least one of the following: --file not named correctly -- PDF is unreadable -- Submission is on time	0.5 points ·    Problems with document format OR ·    Length is unacceptable OR ·    File not named correctly ·    Late submission	0 points ·     Incorrect document format ·     Length is unacceptable ·     File not submitted as a PDF file or is unreadable and/or ·     File not named correctly ·     Late submission
Overall Score	Exceptional 9 or more	Good-to-Average 6 or more	Below Average 3 or more	Unacceptable 0 or more