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Group Paper Assignment (Course: Principles of Environmental Engineering)

Module by: The Cain Project in Engineering and Professional Communication

For this group project, you will review a particular phenomenon, issue, or technology of your choice related to environmental engineering and science. Potential topics include, but are not limited to
  • Environmental implications and applications of nanotechnology
  • Emerging global challenges
  • Sustainable infrastructure
  • Alternative energy sources
  • Globalization and the environment
You are welcome to pick another topic not covered here, if it fits within the basic confines of this assignment, which is to examine an environmental engineering and science issue. If you are unsure about your topic choice, run it by me first.
Note that the sample topics are very general. Once you select a topic of interest to you, you will then need to develop a focused subtopic. For example -- the topic could be sustainable infrastructure and the subtopic might be the effectiveness of LEED certification.
This assignment is composed of three parts:
  1. A project proposal
  2. A group paper
  3. An oral presentation of the paper by the group (all members presenting)

Requirements for the project proposal

Due date:
For this part of this assignment, you need to submit a one-page proposal that identifies the topic you picked and describes the research you plan to conduct for this assignment. Your proposal should define both the problem/question and the methods used to research it.
Questions the problem/question section should address:
  • What is the technology, phenomenon, or issue you will review in your paper? In other words, what is your general topic area?
  • What is the specific problem/question you will investigate within this more general topic area?
  • Why is this problem/question important?
Questions the methods section should address:
  • How do you plan to research your problem/question? What (library) resources will you need?
  • How do you plan to organize the paper?
  • What is your projected timeline?

Requirements for the group paper

Due date:
The paper is your group’s opportunity to demonstrate its thorough understanding of the issue you’ve studied. The paper needs to be typed, double-spaced, ten pages maximum, and include at least 7 scientific references (i.e., refereed journal articles).
The goal of the paper is to take the information gathered from your research and develop it into a well-organized paper that informs the reader about an environmental engineering and science issue.
The paper needs to include
  1. An introduction that states your thesis
  2. A background section that explains key terms
  3. A research section that presents the information you gathered from your research
    • You may wish to organize your paper as the answers to specific questions about the topic, based on the articles you read.
    • Another organizing strategy could be to apply the questions below to identify relationships among the sources.
  4. A references page with a list of your sources.

Questions to identify relationships among articles, especially research articles.

• Variations in the population to be served? Did the article discuss a solution that doesn't fit all the problems or characteristics you recognize in the population today? (say, did those researchers design a heart that turns out to be too big for small women and children?). If so, mention the design criteria of earlier work and point out problematic assumptions or adoption of constraints.
• General functions of a design or process that need to be controlled in ways that were not foreseen by earlier designers or scientists (say, a method for speeding up runoff during heavy storms that has led to erosion or deposition of unwanted sediments). If so, what aspects of the system in the earlier works need to be changed? Why did they assume a uniform or uncontrolled process? What is missing that contributes to the problem you're now trying to address?
• Previous materials choices that limit the application or duration of a product or structure? Why were the original materials chosen? Were these choices the same as other researchers' choices or designers' choices? What were the differences between the reasons given in the various articles for these materials' choices? What are the implications of the choices (say, low friction coefficients although less durable)?
• Production or construction constraint (size, speed, heat, volume, materials, cost, durability, worker training, robotics needed, etc.)? How was the production constraint related to availability of needed controls or uniform size (items 1 and 2 above)?
• Political or legal restriction or requirement that makes certain steps or features necessary (a permitting process that may not be enforceable or takes too long)?
• Foundational assumption with consequent side effects (for example, a wastewater treatment that targets only plant effluent) instead of a different assumption that invites new solutions (runoff from highways in the early part of a rainstorm may have many hydrocarbons and should be targeted as well)?
• Changed definition for a component or process (Back in about 1987 the EPA significantly revised the definitions of “wetlands,” for example). Compare the articles that used the different definitions and describe or analyze the results or implications of your comparison.
• Difference in the time perspectives or periods used by different investigators one study may have made a one-year follow-up but another study that followed up after 3-years and noticed something quite different (adding ethanol to gasoline looked good for the environment early but now cattle feed and other costs are rising)
• Difference in materials costs: once costly element used sparingly or not at all in early experiments is now dirt cheap, which affects which approach can be taken (molded instead of hand-made, or can be administered in a different way or under different conditions).

Requirements for the oral presentation

Due date: Last week of class, to be announced
This assignment gives your group an opportunity to share your paper with the rest of the class. Learning from one another will expand the context in which course concepts may be applied. For this particular assignment, you will prepare a PowerPoint file and present your paper findings to your classmates. (See the Designing PPT Presentations file in the course OWLSPACE.)
Your presentation should be 15 minutes long and should go into some depth on your subject so as to truly inform your audience. In particular, your presentation should cover the three main components of your course project, which are: (1) an introduction that states your thesis, (2) a background section that explains key terms, and (3) a research section that reviews the “literature” (articles) you gathered from your research. A literature review explains the relationships among the articles you read and leads to a conclusion about the issue you’ve chosen. You may want to decide what are the most important questions about these materials that you can answer for the rest of the class and then divide the responsibility for answering these questions for the audience among your team members.
Your group will practice your presentation with the Cain Project at least 3 days before your scheduled presentation date.

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