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Assignment Task: Blue Ice Antarctica (from B. Longworth (WHOI))
This research project will be completed in four (4) parts throughout the term and will require students to identify, research, and build an argument (pro or con) regarding a specific issue related to the oceans. At the end of the semester, each student will have produced at least three (3) concisely written "letters of appeal," which could be sent to individual targets associated with local, regional, national, international political organizations, corporations, or research institutions.
Task: Identify the Issue:
Take the time now to consider a research topic carefully, determine that your thesis is not too narrow or too broad, and find four or five good primary scientific references.
Some ideas include:
Mining Ocean Resources (choose a specific resource or geographic region: oil, manganese, diamonds, or deep ocean mining, in a specific geographic location.) Tidal and Wave Energy (choose a specific method and/or geographic region.) International Fishing Practices and Legislation: Overfishing, illegal fishing, methods, or fishing regulations (choose a single species and/or geographic region.)
The Human Impact on Coastal Zones (choose a specific coastal zone issue and/or geographic region.)
Waste Disposal in Oceans (choose one type of waste. For example: plastics, nuclear, sewage, illegal dumping, and coastal dumping. It would be best to also narrow this geographically, for example, The Bay Area, Northern Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, North Atlantic, Indian Ocean or the Galapagos Islands.)
Climate change and the oceans are too broad an issue to be adequately covered in a research paper. Students interested in this topic should focus on a narrow thesis related to this issue. For example, the impact of ocean acidification on a specific marine ecosystem, the melting of polar ice impact in the Arctic or Antarctic, the impact of global sea level change on a specific city or region. Again, global climate change alone is much too complicated an issue to address adequately.
Ocean Dead Zones (choose a specific dead zone/region)