The Report

The primary purpose of the paper is to provide an opportunity to document a personal connection with the concepts in the texts.  This means it is not simply a report of what you see there, but how it affects you and your understanding of the content of the class.

Content:

• Begin the paper with a brief description of the location you visited.  This should be no more than one or two short expository paragraphs.
• The bulk of the paper should explain how the experience relates to the course materials.  Do not regurgitate what the signs and pamphlets or websites have said about the location.
• This paper is not about the destination, it is about your experience and what you are learning in this class. Make declarative statements about the experience and back them up with examples – specific citations from your class texts and visual presentations. Use the names/authors of the texts, chapter titles where appropriate, titles for class discussions and subjects in the visual presentations.  Utilize quotes, citations and paraphrasing of the course materials with appropriate citation format. Make these connections frequently throughout your report but do not be repetitive. A good paper will make several references/citations on each page.
• In some cases, the relationship to completed readings may not be immediately obvious.  In this case, think about how the experience impacted your view of the Sonoran region or changed your expectations for the class and compare this to how the readings and discussions have changed your expectations.
• Each report should contain 1 “selfie” (or picture with you in it) and two additional photos that capture highlights of your experience.
• End your paper with a summary paragraph.  This may repeat some of the ideas stated earlier, but in a more general way.  Typically, summary paragraphs do not introduce new ideas but bring together arguments made previously in the paper.

other course material than the attached reading guide:

READINGS:

• A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert – 2nd Edition Pages: 1-26; 45-156; 181-192; 244-268
• “Arizona Native Plants and the Urban Challenge” – Katherine Crewe

MEDIA:

• Arizona Illustrated Episode – La Vaquita: https://www.pbs.org/video/february-16-2020-lzdemi/