Length: 1,200-1,800 words (please note 1,800 words is the maximum length)

Format: single spaced, 12-point letter size, Times type face, one inch margins. Number your pages and include your first and last name and student number at the top of the document.

OVERALL ASSIGNMENT:

Choose an environmental issue that you find interesting. It could be a large-scale problem like climate change or First Nations campaigns to protect land and ecosystems in Canada. Or you might choose a specific event, like Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. or the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. The goal is for you to pick a topic you are interested in, and for you to apply analytical approaches learned in class to your case – so you can better understand it.

For this assignment, you will summarize three academic articles and one additional source (can be in-depth investigative journalism article from sources like Harper’s, The Atlantic, The New York Time Magazine, or the New York Review of Books). The academic articles should mostly come from sociology journals (Environmental Sociology, Social Problems, American Sociological Review, Social Forces, Critical Sociology, The Journal of World Systems, or others). In addition to at least 2 sociology journals, you can check out related social science journals like (Antipode, Environmental Justice, Catalyst, Social Studies of Science). These should be articles you find on your own, and not ones assigned in class. But you might look at the bibliographies of chapters and articles we have read for potential sources for your paper.

You should use your critical reading for critical writing skills to create these summaries.

The goal of this assignment is threefold:

1. To create summaries that you will use in your literature review for the midterm and final research paper.
2. To begin drafting the research question.
3. To help you explore your potential paper topic. You can adjust this as you complete each assignment leading up to the final paper.

You will follow the detailed instructions below regarding format and the questions that you should answer in crafting these summaries.

DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS

Format: The five sections of this assignment

1. Article 1. Full ASA reference as heading. Then, answer in paragraph form questions 1-4 (sociology journal)
2. Article 2. Full ASA reference as heading. Then, answer in paragraph form questions 1-4 (sociology journal)
3. Article 3. Full ASA reference as heading. Then, answer in paragraph form questions 1-4 (can be from a sociology journal or another social science journal)
4. Alternative Source 4. Full ASA reference as heading. Then, answer in paragraph form these questions: 1. (below), 2. Social forces contributing to the problem, 3. Solutions proposed or implicit, and 4. (below)
5. Final section: A paragraph developing your research question (see detailed instructions below).

Article summaries – questions to answer:

Sections I-IV:

In your summaries you will include the following four sections for each article:

1. Research question: What sociological question did the researcher ask? What is the environmental/ environmental justice problem this article seeks to examine?
2. Theoretical framework: How did they approach their research question? Possible sub-questions: What are the theoretical concepts or frameworks the authors use in their paper? What was the method (data collection technique) that they used or what was the data source (interviews, survey, documents, other)?
3. Findings: What were their findings? Please provide a summary of their findings for this section. Does the author propose some solutions?
4. Possible research question(s): After reading each article and answering questions 1-3, what research question would you want to ask for this article? This can be a single question or multiple questions.

Section V – Reflection on possible orientation re research question.

We are asking you to think out loud as it were for this section. In your reflection, consider the following: How would you build on what has been addressed by these four articles? What new avenues for research could you pursue? Think back to how Eduardo Bonilla-Silva argued, based on his reading of the literature on race that not many people have theorized the role of emotions in how structural racism operates.

NOTE: This part will get you ready for your midterm literature review!

Grading Rubric (70 points):

In grading your assignment, we use the following criteria:

A. Articles summary content. The overall goal is to respond precisely and perceptively to the task of writing your answers to questions 1-4. We will look at whether you:

i. Appropriately identify the research question(s) of each article

ii. Correctly identify and discuss the theoretical approach of each article

iii. Accurately summarize the findings of each article

iv. Create a research question that is related to each article

B. Final Section: Provide a one-paragraph reflection on why and what you would want to research regarding the topic and articles you chose as a focus thus far.

C. Writing skills, will look at whether you:

i. Write well constructed paragraphs. Write in your own words, use paraphrases and limit your use of direct quotes (no use of long block quotes, 1 sentence max).

ii. Use proper ASA style citation

iii. Use proper language mechanics: grammar, spelling, punctuation

For this discussion, you will be required to do the following:

• Explain the relationship between stress, anger and communication using what you learned from your readings (including chapter 8 in Cahn and Abigail) and additional research from the UAGC library.
• Share an example of how stress and/or anger impacted your communication behavior in a professional experience, resulting in a conflict.
• Examine specific communication techniques that could have been used to address the challenge. 

Your initial response should be 250 – 300 words and must be posted by Thursday, Day 3. Support your claims with examples from required material(s) and/or other scholarly resources, and properly cite any references.

The conflict climate is the psychological atmosphere the individuals perceive. This climate can be harmful or nurturing. Share an example of a situation in which abuse of power, competition, distrust, or defensive behavior created a harmful climate in a conflict situation.  Identify the behaviors that created this environment. What behaviors would change this into a nurturing climate?

Your initial response should be 250 – 300 words and must be posted by Thursday, Day 3. Support your claims with examples from required material(s) and/or other scholarly resources, and properly cite any references. 

Read the assignment instructions for the Final Paper. Next, develop a formal outline for your Final Paper writing in full sentences (12 point font, Times New Roman font, double spaced). The outline must contain an introduction section with thesis statement, a body section that identifies the five conflict topics that you will use in your Final Paper and includes supporting material for each topic, and a conclusion section which reinforces the thesis statement established in the introduction. Be sure to include a bibliography with at least two of the sources that you will use for your Final Paper. Please make sure that the sources that you use are listed in the APA format.

Focus of the Final Paper
This course focuses on identifying types of conflicts and resolving conflicts through effective communication techniques. Your Final Paper will be an eight-to ten-page paper (excluding the APA title and reference pages) that will showcase what you learned about conflict and conflict resolution. 

Identify a recent interpersonal, group, or organizational conflict that you were involved in and was later resolved. Select five of the topics listed below and discuss how they apply to your chosen conflict.  You must use a minimum of five resources to help support your discussion of these topics. Be sure to focus on communication techniques that were used during the conflict management process. Argue whether the resolution to this conflict was a “best practices” approach to resolving this conflict.  

Your paper must include an introduction paragraph that provides a high-level overview of your paper. In addition, your paper must include a strong conclusion paragraph that brings together the topics discussed. Remember not to introduce any new topics in your conclusion.

Conflict Topics for the Final Paper (select five)

• Why does conflict occur?
• Conflict management
• The positive and negative effects of conflict
• Role of personality types in conflict management
• Communication techniques
• Ethics and workplace conflicts
• Climate in a conflict situation
• Stress and anger
• Facework
• Forgiveness
• Mediation and arbitration