Course materials

1. Write about pollution in the Potomac River in Washington D.C. area.
Follow the i
Write about pollution in the Potomac River in Washington D.C. area. Follow the instructions
below. More in depth instructions attached in file. Cite scientific sources. 2. Abstract (a short
summary of my study with an emphasis on what I found, not my methods orwhat I plan to
do in my paper) (A great way to organize a scientific abstract is to give aims(questions,
hypotheses, or both as would be appropriate), have 1–2 sentences on methods, havesome
sentences on findings, and have a concluding sentence. Abstracts should be about 1
page2long, in font 12, and double spaced.)3. Introduction3.1. Background (background
information about my subject; a short history of my subjectespecially parts that are more
relevant to my paper in 1–2 fat paragraphs.)3.2. Aims of my paper (observations, questions,
hypotheses, or some combination thereof)4. Methods (steps I took to undertake my study,
how many books, scientific articles, popular-style articles, YouTubes, websites, etc. I used,
listed in my Literature Cited)5. Results (findings of my study). (If you can, include a timeline
as found for many subjects inour textbook. You may make your own from scratch if one is
not in our textbook or you may addto one already in our textbook. It should be in the form
of a table and have a table heading. It isnot part of the 5 pages of your paper body, but of
course you can refer to it.)6. Discussion (interpretation of my results, how my results relate
to other studies, importance ofmy results.6.1. Relationship of my findings to my subject big
picture, my interpretations of the information Ifound)6.2. Relationship of my findings to our
textbook. (Specifically how our textbook should beimproved with regard to my findings) (1
big paragraph. This is a teaching part, not necessarily apart that would be a conventional
scientific paper.)6.3. Relationship of my findings to me. (Specifically, how my subject relates
to my education,environmental behavior, life plan, etc.) (1 big paragraph. This is a teaching
part, not necessarily apart that would be in a conventional scientific paper.)7. Conclusion (a
summary paragraph about my findings, importance of my findings to Earth,what future
studies on my subject should be undertaken, exact new questions to anwer,
exacthypotheses to test.) (This part may be more than one paragraph should you so
desire.)8. Acknowledgements (a thanks to people who helped me; for GE, people besides my
professorwhose job it is to help.) (Be sure to thank your SAA in writing and send your SAA a
healthytreat.)9. Literature Cited (also called References), in correct GE style. (See our
textbook for correctstyle. See below for Literature Cited information. See “glossary” below
for referencedefinitions.)9.1. Scientific books, at least 2. (Our textbook and at least one

2. other scientific book.)9.2. Primary scientific papers at least 2.9.3. Popular-style references
date least 6, including reports as would be appropriate.Feel free to include more references.
Note: Our textbook has many listed references. Try to findsome newer ones if possible. You
may use some of our textbook references.