General Guidelines

The paper should ask an interesting question that is clearly relevant to the content of this course. Be sure that your question is answerable (or at least accessible to meaningful consideration) within the time and space limits of this assignment. While most papers will have empirical content, they should not be primarily descriptive or historical, but rather analytical, explanatory, or reflective. In other words, your paper should express your own thoughts on the topic, not just what you have found in the writings of others. If you write on a specific event or series of events, or an environmental regime, move beyond merely relating what happened. Address such questions as: Why did it happen? How did specific actors and/or structures of power and knowledge influence what happened? What are the larger implications of what happened? What do we learn from the case? Note that these questions are intended to be suggestive, not directive. You will decide which questions are relevant to your topic.

Your paper may be an empirical research paper, perhaps a case study, a theoretical paper, or a policy analysis and recommendation. Whatever your approach and whatever your topic, be sure to take a clear position, present evidence and reasoning to support your views, and consider alternative positions. Your paper should relate to the broad themes of this course

Your paper should be 10-12 pages long (inclusive of your bibliography), double-spaced, with pagen numbers and 1-inch margins.

Your research proposal should articulate your research question clearly, and state how you intend to go about answering your question. You may find it useful to present a working hypothesis, which you should justify on the basis of what you know already. Please include in your proposal a working bibliography, with at least seven (7) outside references, with at least half from scholarly sources. If you use generic websites like Wikipedia for background information, you should cite them, but these should be in addition to your seven references. Research proposals should be no more than 3 pages long.

Some broad themes of this course

Progress, modernity, shadow ecologies, democratic participation and the environment, the relationship between science and/or technology and the environment, local-global linkages, the role of the media on the environment, the North-South divide, sovereignty and ecology, the meaning of security, roots of consumerism, capitalism and environment, the role of international organizations or NGOs…

Some empirical issues, beyond those covered in lectures

Trade in endangered species, genetic modification, acid rain in Asia, corporate responsibility initiatives, fisheries, oil pollution at sea, regional seas programmes (Baltic, Mediterranean, etc.), Agenda 21 and its implementation, international cooperation on nuclear waste, the Global Environment Facility, ecological modernization, environmental directives of the E.U.