BIOLO 1110: Ajgaonkar Lab 6/9

You'll want to begin by thinking broadly about the impact of COVID-19 on our environmental systems as you begin this project.  Not quite sure where to start?  Here are some options: 

• This article from The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development summarizes several positive and negative impacts of shelter-in-place policies; you might be able to pick one to focus on.
• This BBC article also lists several possible future changes due to shelter-in-place edits.
• This Guardian article also showcases several possible environmental changes due to COVID-19.
• Finally, you can see this environmental repercussions of COVID chart, published as part of Rume, T., & Islam, S. (2020). Environmental effects of COVID-19 pandemic and potential strategies of sustainability. Heliyon, 6(9), e04965. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04965

Now that you've picked your topic, check the sources below to gather more information to see what else you can learn. 

Now that you've chosen your topic, you'll want to find your 1-3 article options for your paper. 

If you do find a result in that you can't find in full-text, you can contact reference (https://library.cod.edu/ask) to ask for help in locating the full article or check Journal Locator to see if we have the article in full-text in a library database, 

While you're searching for information on your topic, you want to take time to decide if the information (either website, article, or podcast) you find is trustworthy.

When it comes to science, nearly everyone has opinions: should we be labeling genetically modified food for consumer's awareness? What will fracking do for our economy or our groundwater supply? Your job is to evaluate the information you can find through Google to find the good information sources--those written by authors you can trust, with good and up-to-date information.

Authorship: Who created this website? What is their background on the topic? Are they trustworthy?

Bias: Why was the website created? What point of view does the author have? Does that limit the facts they present or how the facts are presented?

Date: How old is the information that is presented? Is it still accurate?

Citations : Does the author seem to consult good sources of information?  For example, do they refer to good sources of information, whether statistics from a governmental source, or interviews of experts, or do they state vague generalities not much supported by other data?

Questions? Check out the COD Library's guide to evaluating information.

Google might be one of your best bets to thinking through the different pathways solutions you can discuss,

• For example, googling your topic and nonprofit should often bring up a range of groups already working on your issue that you can promote. 
• You can also try googling your topic and foundation or your topic and grant to see what philanthropic groups may already be tackling your project.
• Also, return to your original newspaper article: did the journalist who wrote the article highight any solutions? If so, what pathway would they belong to?

Want some more concrete help with citations? Try the following: 

• Google Scholar can create citations for articles.  Click the quotation marks below the article information after doing a search. 
• COD Library's guide to APA citations
• Purdue OWL's guide to APA citations and paper format

Want software to create citations for you? Check out the database below: