Term Paper on "Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts"

Term Paper 4 pages (1336 words) Sources: 4 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

There are a number of charts and images as illustrations of some of these issues.

The article goes on to speculate at the possibility of reversing climate change. It argues that the effects of climate change are unavoidable, at this point, but that if we take steps to reduce emissions drastically, effects will come slower and be less intense, giving societies more time to adapt. It concludes by saying that climate change has very serious implications for the Arctic region.

Discussion

I believe the New York Times piece accurately reflected the information given in the Corell's article. However, not all the information in Corell's article was presented in the Times piece. This is either for the sake of brevity or because the Times piece did not use his article for its research.

In Corell's article I detected a specific focus on the negative effects of climate change in the Arctic, whereas in the Times report, it seemed that negative effects were contrasted with positive effects, and far less were listed. I found it interesting that I interpreted Corell's piece as "feeling" alarming, whereas I had much less of that kind of sense reading the Times story. It was interesting to me because I've become so used to media sensationalism, and this time I actually found an academic paper that felt more sensational than a mainstream media outlet's piece on the environment.

I did not find any contrasting information in the two articles. This is most likely because the story was written shortly after Corell's report, and so less time existed for updated data to enter the picture. I found the Times piece to lack any bias or

Continue scrolling to

download full paper ⤓

interpretation -- it seemed to report the information from all possible angles and with a strong sense of neutrality, qualifying most of the "facts" with "the authors said," or something similar. I feel positive about this type of reporting.

The same level of "humility," as you might call it, did not exist in Corell's piece. This is probably because the author had no need, as the Times did, to appear completely neutral and act as if even "science" was under question. The Times must use language that does not condemn or condone science; to do so would be to show bias. Conversely, the academic article, acting under the paradigm of science, does not need to appear unbiased toward its belief in science, as that might make the whole thing seem irrelevant.

I believe that a news story that reflected all that Corell reported would be much appreciated by the public, but not in its "raw" form (as an academic piece). As it is written in the academic piece, the information reads slowly and haltingly, because the language is by an academics, for the academic community. It is not meant for the eyes of the public. The images are complex graphs which do not necessarily even look like graphs at first glance, but strange, colorful shapes. This is opposed to, in a publication like the Times, photographs that often enable the reader to visualize the scene and connect with the story emotionally, which is typically what needs to happen if one should remember it. The public is not academia, and thus, I believe, the format and style of academic articles such as the one I reviewed are neither appropriate nor effective for public consumption. The style of the Times piece is much defter at presenting to the general public the science and implications of climate change because it is written concisely, in everyday language.

Bibliography

Corell, Robert W. "Challenges of Climate Change: An Arctic Perspective." Ambio 35.4 (2006):

148-152.

Revkin, Andrew C.… READ MORE

Download Full Paper

Write a New Paper for Me

Quoted Instructions for "Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts" Assignment:

“

TERM PAPER INSTRUCTIONS

In recent years, the *****media***** has come under fire from many in the public. It has been suggested that they harbor an inane political bias. Others deride the sensationalism that accompanies otherwise serious stories. And still others complain that news is just plain boring. These claims may/may not be true.

The reality is that most of us stay abreast of current events via this troubled field. This term paper asks you to do a comparative study of journalistic coverage and scientific research. This field of inquiry is called *****translational science,***** referring to the effort to translate the *****˜foreign***** language of science into something easily digested by non-scientists. By the end of the paper, you will hopefully have a better understanding of science (in this case, climate) and how it is represented to the general public.

1. Find a major news article from the past 5 years that discusses some aspect of climate change, either global or local. You must select your article from a legitimate news media source. I define *****major***** as being at least 1,500 words. I define a legitimate news source as being one of the top 15-20 print news outlets in the country (LA Times, NY Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, etc.). You can search these catalogs via the U of A library web, and specifically Lexis-Nexis.

If you have questions about the legitimacy of the source, ask me.

Print out the article, or series of articles. Read it thoroughly. Note the principal scientists cited in the article, as well as other sources the ***** consulted.

2. Search for an article on the topic from an academic journal. These are outlets primarily read by scientists in the research/academic community. They are peer-reviewed, and often the empirical research is displayed for comment and critique. If you can, see if you can find the exact scholarly research article that triggered the news story. Some examples are Science, Nature, and a multitude of journals examining water resources, vegetation, air pollution, etc. You can quickly search for these articles using Google Scholar, or the U of A library.

Print out the article and read it thoroughly. It will probably be hard, but do your best to understand the data, methods, and conclusions presented in the article.

3. Write a 5 page (double-spaced, 12 pt. Times New Roman font, standard margins) paper that reviews/summarizes both articles. This should be about Â½ of the paper. The rest of your paper should be a comparison.

a. Does the news story accurately capture what scientists are trying to say?

b. Do you think the public would appreciate what the scientists have researched?

c. Is there contradicting claims in the journal or news story*****¦do you think these are valid? Why or why not?

d. Does this research open up new questions?

These are just a suggestion of questions you should ask. The point of this paper is not to prove a claim about media or overly critique the esotericism of scholarly research. Rather, I want you to see a difference between writing styles and presentation of applied research. Along the way, you may come to conclusions about the effectiveness of presentation*****¦feel free to thoughtfully comment in your paper.

For the local area the Bay Area is where i am from.

How to Reference "Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts" Term Paper in a Bibliography

“Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2010, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/arctic-melt-unnerves-experts-andrew/438204. Accessed 29 Jun 2024.

Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts (2010). Retrieved from https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/arctic-melt-unnerves-experts-andrew/438204

A1-TermPaper.com. (2010). Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts. [online] Available at: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/arctic-melt-unnerves-experts-andrew/438204 [Accessed 29 Jun, 2024].

”Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts” 2010. A1-TermPaper.com. https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/arctic-melt-unnerves-experts-andrew/438204.

”Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts” A1-TermPaper.com, Last modified 2024. https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/arctic-melt-unnerves-experts-andrew/438204.

[1] ”Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts”, A1-TermPaper.com, 2010. [Online]. Available: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/arctic-melt-unnerves-experts-andrew/438204. [Accessed: 29-Jun-2024].

1. Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts [Internet]. A1-TermPaper.com. 2010 [cited 29 June 2024]. Available from: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/arctic-melt-unnerves-experts-andrew/438204

1. Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts. A1-TermPaper.com. https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/arctic-melt-unnerves-experts-andrew/438204. Published 2010. Accessed June 29, 2024.

Related Term Papers: