SCI502 Climate Change Literacy and Science

Individual Assignment 1 - Climate Change Literacy Essay

Assignment description

Students are individually required to write an essay (minimum 2,000 words) on ‘How does XXX contribute to climate change?’, where ‘XXX’ is an industry of students’ choice (e.g., agriculture, energy, fashion, transportation, etc.). Students are expected to demonstrate their understanding of the causes of climate change, and the ability to communicate scientifically literate information via written means effectively. This assignment contributes towards 30% of your final grade for the course.

Requirements

•   Write an essay on the topic ‘ How does XXX contribute to climate change?’, where ‘XXX’ is an industry of your choice, e.g., agriculture, energy, fashion, transportation, etc.

•    Word limit: min. 2,000 words (max. 2,200 words), excluding reference list, tables, figures

•     Use Times New Roman font, font size 12 with 1.5 line spacing

• Title page and abstract are NOT required

• In-text citation and a reference list is required

•     Save your file with the filename: “SID_LastName”,e.g. “4123456_Chan”

•     Submit your essay in a PDF/Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx format) file via Turnitin (on Moodle) by 16th October 2024, 23:59

•    You can submit your file up to 3 times, make sure the Turnitin similarity score is lower than 20% for your final submission.

•     Late submissions will be penalised:

•   1-day (< 24 hr) late: -15% mark

•   2-day (< 48 hr) late: -30% mark

•   ≥ 3-day (≥ 48 hr) late: assignment will not be graded

Instruction and guidelines

When writing your essay, you should:

•    Select an industry that interests you or with which you are familiar, and make sure it has a significant impact on climate change.

•    Include a title. The essay should start with an instruction, followed by the main body paragraphs (you may include sub-sections if needed) and end with a conclusion section. Here are some suggestions of how to structure your essay (you can structure your main body in your own way, as long as it flows):

• Introduction (200-300 words): Give a brief introduction to the issue of climate change, draw connections between climate change and the industry

• Main body paragraphs:

Provide an overview of the industry, its scale and importance.

Explain how the industry contributes to climate change, supported the arguments with evidence (e.g., statistics, reports).

Discuss  the  environmental  and  social  impacts  associate  with   climate  change induced by the industry.

Discuss   mitigation   practices   and/or    innovations   that   the   industry   adopts currently and/or in the future to reduce its climate impacts.

• Conclusion (200-300 words): Summarise the main points. Highlight the significance of the industry in the context of climate change. You can also include your thoughts on the future development of the industry regarding climate change.

•    Support  your  arguments  with   data  and   evidence  (include  references   from  reliable sources, e.g., research articles, IPCC reports, international organisations, etc.).

•    Include at least 3 tables/figures to help illustrate explain your arguments in the essay (e.g., table of GPD, figure of CO2 trends, etc.). Label the tables and figures as Table 1, 2, 3, … and Figure 1, 2, 3, …, respectively and placed them at appropriate places in the main text.

•    If the tables and figures you included are from other sources, cite the original source of material (e.g., Source: IPCC, 2021).

•   As of the 2023-24 academic year, Lingnan University has provided staff and students access to ChatGPT. In July 2023, the Teaching and Learning Centre issued “Best Practices for Ethical and Responsible Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) Tools in Course Assessments” for teachers and students’ reference.

•   You   are  allowed  to  use  generative  artificial  intelligent   (GAI)  tools  to assist the preparation of the assignment, including for summarising scientific articles/materials you found, checking spelling/grammar,organising and synthesising your ideas. However, do not use GAI tools as a source of information, nor present GAI-generated work as your original work (this is considered a violation of academic integrity!).

•   You must declare the use of GAI tools or other Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology at  the end of your assignment (i.e., after the reference list) using a sample template listed in  the “Best Practices for Ethical and Responsible Use of GAI Tools in Course Assessments” (issued  by  the  Teaching  and   Learning  Centre  in  Term   1,  2023-24).     The  following  paragraph is also acceptable as an alternative:

“Declaration

I/We (name) declare that Generative AI tool/s has/have been/not been used to prepare the submitted work for (course code) course  and assignment/assessment (assignment name) . ”

Example:

“Declaration

I/We XXX declare that Generative AI tool/s has/have been/not been used to prepare the submitted work for SCI502 course and assignment/assessment Climate Changing Literacy Essay . ”

•   You  also  need  to  indicate  which  GAI  tools  you  used  and  explain  how  the  generated materials have been incorporated into your work. The submitted assessments should include the declaration:.

“I acknowledge the use of (AI system/s and link) to (specific use of Generative artificial intelligence) . ”

Example:

“I acknowledge the use of ChatGPT (https://chatgpt.ln.edu.hk/) to summarise scientific article cited and for checking spelling and grammar . ”

•    Include at least 5 references in the individual essay.

•    Be careful not to plagiarise! Never copy and paste! Paraphrase instead. Find out more about how to avoid plagiarism at:

https://www.ln.edu.hk/cht/tlc/support-for-students/avoiding-plagiarism

•   Use in-text citation in your main text paragraphs, include the full reference list for all your citations after the conclusion section.  If you need help on how to do referencing and citation, visit:https://www.library.ln.edu.hk/en/research/publish/citation

Assessment rubric - Climate Change Literacy Essay