Reference no: EM133193890 , Length: Word count: 5 Pages

Assignment Task: What is a policy paper?

They state explicitly the policy problem or aspect of a policy problem the paper addresses.

• They are explicit about methodologies, limitations and weaknesses.
• The authors have made a serious attempt to minimize their own biases in both methodology and interpretation. Scientists can be advocates, or they can provide the best possible balanced assessment of the evidence but they cannot do both simultaneously.
• Since the policy process tends to be very fast, papers must be timely.
• Remembering that the audience may be intelligent laypeople authors should apply the aphorism attributed to Einstein; be as simple as possible (but no simpler) in methods and language.
• Describing the problem that needs resolving is only useful until the description is clear, and policymakers understand there needs to be action.
• Don't feel the need to spell out policy implications.

Students will consider environmental issues of importance to Tampa, Florida and the Gulf Coast region from the point of view of a government agency tasked with regulating toxicant exposure limits (if applicable) in the environment. This approach will not be appropriate for every issue; there are a lot of problems facing Florida that do not directly involve chemical releases. If your topic is a practice that is detrimental to the environment in Tampa or the Gulf Coast, then you will use the same basic approach (from the perspective of a regulatory body). Policy papers should "dig deeper" into the issues introduced in class material, particularly with respect to the scientific data found in the primary literature.

How do you pick a topic?

• What are environmental problems in the Tampa Bay area?
• They need not be completely anthropogenic. Some seemingly environmental issues will have an anthropogenic component.
• Think about the things that affect your quality of life. The things that affect your future profession. Things that affect the ecosystem.
• If you are unable to come up with a topic that is specific to Tampa Bay, you can widen your focus to include the tri-county area (Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas). Still nothing? All of Florida...then the Gulf Coast, Southeast and US.

Suggested Topics include:

• What's in my water bottle?
• Mercury in Fish, small animals, Florida panthers, etc.
• Heavy metals in drinking water
• Fate of Toxic Releases
• Gypsum Stacks
• Pesticides and Migrant Workers
• Atrazine and Water Quality
• CAFO Contamination
• Tampa Bay Pollution
• Habitat destruction and indicator species
• No longer fond of the pond
• PCBs
• On a clear day you still can't see forever
• PAHs
• PFOS
• Lead
• TCE
• Red Tide
• HABs

Technical Requirements:

• Double-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font, 1" margins
• 5 to 7 pages in length
• Correct grammar, spelling, sentence structure, etc.
• References should be cited using APA formatting.