GEOG*1220 Assignment 2: Research Brief
Winter 2020 – Due Monday March 23 by 6pm to the Courselink Dropbox [25% of grade]
Overview
Building on your summaries from Assignment 1, you will write a short ‘briefing document’ about your
environmental issue. A briefing document is a concise report that updates an audience on an issue, so
that further detailed conversations can ensue. In other words, it is a research-based discussion paper.
Background
As you approach this assignment, imagine that you’re working as an analyst for an environmental nongovernment organization, a government agency, or a corporation. The Director of the organization has
asked you to prepare a briefing document that brings the organization up-to-speed on the state of
knowledge around the issue. The purpose of the brief is to establish a foundation for a discussion about
a new initiative or program aimed at addressing the issue. As such, the briefing document needs to
clearly describe the problem and identify possible solutions. You have already started to complete step
1, which was to summarize sources of information. Now your job is to do a bit more research, and then
synthesize that knowledge into a single document.
You are expected to submit the following all as a single document:
• Title page
• A research brief of no more than 2200 words that is:
o Organized into sub-headings and paragraphs as appropriate.
o Includes 2-3 figures or tables
o Properly cited and includes a complete reference list with no less than seven resources,
at least 5 of which must be peer-reviewed. NOTE: You already have three peerreviewed articles from your first assignment! You need to add at least two more. The
rest can be non-peer-reviewed.
Detailed Instructions
The following provides guidance on how you will structure the research brief, and provides a breakdown
of how your grade will be assessed (total of 100 pts):
Section one: What is the environmental issue? [20 pts – approximately 600 words]
Here you will provide a high-level overview of the issue (expand on your opening paragraph in
Assignment 1), and summarize our understanding of the biophysical processes and changes that define
the problem. Think back to the way we started to describe ‘eutrophication’ in the first lecture of this
course. When we described it in terms of ‘excess nutrients from detergents and synthetic fertilizers’ and
‘resulting in loss of dissolved oxygen which can make a body of water uninhabitable for some and
potentially all fish species,’ we were describing biophysical issues. We were detailing what happens in
the environment (hypoxia) as a result of a particular human activity (e.g. farming). Do the same here.
Section two: What seems to be the root cause(s) of the activity? [30 pts – approximately 1000 words]
Expand on the human activities that are leading to the problem, based on a summary of information
from the social science research articles and any relevant sections of the textbook. The objective is to
give everyone in the organization a summary of the main societal drivers underlying the problem, and /
or explanations for why society has not addressed the issue. There isn’t always a single root cause.
Again, think back to the way we described eutrophication in the first lecture in terms of its possible root
causes: population density, excess synthetic fertilizer application, modification of natural waterways
through dams, and so on. We were describing the societal processes involved, and how those interacted
with biophysical processes to create the environmental problem in question. It is on this basis that
possible solutions can be identified and discussed…
Section three: Identify and describe one possible solution [20 pts – approximately 400 words]
On the basis of the research you’ve summarized in the previous section, the objective here is to describe
one way to address the issue in question. Classify the solution according to the approaches we discussed
in class: is this a government / regulatory approach? A market-based approach? Is it a solution rooted in
community action / awareness? Is it some combination of these? These ideas can come directly from
the research – you should not start from scratch or pull something out of thin air. And the solution that
you suggest must be consistent with the way you’ve described the problem. This section is where you
will conclude, so be sure to leave the reader with a clear understanding of why you have proposed this
solution. Imagine that, after reading this document, you would then lead a conversation in your
organization about what the next steps might be. So the briefing document, and its conclusions, should
be thought of as establishing a firm basis for future discussions.
Reference list [10pts]
Meet the minimum requirements and use a standard citation format. You are required to follow APA
style guides for all of your references. Examples can be found at
https://www.library.cornell.edu/research/citation/apa. Marks will be deducted for any deviations from
this style guide.
NOTE: [10 pts] of the grade will be based on general writing structure – use of topic sentences,
grammar, and so on; Another [10 pts] of the grade will be based on your use of figures/tables in the
report.
Assignment Guidelines
• Use any font you see fit. Be sure to include a cover page, with your name and student ID
number. Use section headings to organize the research brief.
• Do not write more than 2200 words. Figures, bibliography, title page, section headers and so on
do not count toward the word count – the word count includes only the text in the main
sections of the report.
• Save your essay as a word file (.docx) and then upload this file to the Courselink Dropbox before
the deadline.
• In the text of your essay, you must use citations when presenting facts, direct quotations or
ideas that came from your references (i.e., when the facts or ideas are not your own). Please see
the University of Guelph Learning Commons, the library help desk or librarians for further
assistance on bibliography and citation formats.
• Citations / References: Include all references cited in the paper (a minimum of 7 is required).
Wikipedia is not an allowable reference, although it can help you locate other material. Lecture
material does not count as a reference either.
• At least two – but no more than three – figures or tables are required (e.g. tables, graphs, maps,
diagrams, etc.) Note that when it comes time to apply captions, a research brief has only
‘figures’ (graphs, maps, diagrams are all labeled as a ‘figure’) or ‘tables’ (columns and rows to
summarize information succinctly). It is very likely that you will be sourcing these from your
articles, rather than making them yourself. Each figure must be referenced, properly labeled
with a caption, and referred to in the text. Place the figure/table between paragraphs, so that
text is above and below – the text in which the figure/table is referred should come before the
figure/table.
• Use correct grammar, spelling, sentence structure and paragraph construction. Number the
pages.
• Read the course syllabus for our policy on late assignments. It is your responsibility to ensure
your essay is saved in multiple locations (e.g. email a copy to yourself) to avoid losing it. It is also
your responsibility to ensure that the correct version of your assignment has been uploaded to
CourseLink – so double check before you sign off!
Writing Tips
It is important that you write concisely. You will need to cover a lot of ground, but must do so in no
more than 2200 words. Some tips on how to achieve this:
• Consider using short, descriptive subheadings to communicate main points
• Definitely use topical sentences to organize your paragraphs into main points. The topical
sentence is the first sentence of a given paragraph. It must set the theme of the paragraph, and
that theme must be consistent with the overall argument you are making in the paper and/or in
a specific sub-section. Each topical sentence, and each paragraph, collectively formulate your
main argument. The topical sentence should be the most interesting sentence in the paragraph
– don’t bury the lede, as they say in journalism!
• Write much more than you need at first and then trim down. You can remove sentences and
maybe even entire paragraphs, once you have a better sense of what should be prioritized. If
you can remove a sentence or a whole paragraph and your argument still hangs together,
consider it filler and remove it!
• Don’t think and then write – instead, think while writing. Editing is critical to effective writing.
Writing more than you need allows you to think through the writing process. The sooner you
have something on paper, the sooner you’re into editing mode.
• Use your 2-3 figures and tables effectively. They can convey a lot of information in a small space,
and they don’t count as text!
Grade Breakdown
Section Guidelines
Section one [20 pts] Student will be graded on how well the brief:
– introduces the issue: where it is happening and its emergence through
time
– leverages scientific research to provide details about the extent and
severity of impact
– provides the reader with the basic facts of the biophysical processes
involved
Section two: [30 points] Student will be graded on how well the brief:
– describes the human activity or activities involved in driving the problem.
That is, why and through what mechanisms is this problem occurring – the
underlying social and technical causes, policy/market failures, etc.
– leverages social science research to provide details about the major
components of and relationships between the human activity and the
impact
Section three: [20 pts] Student will be graded on how well the brief:
– identifies and describes relevant interventions (e.g. policies, markets,
technologies, norms) that are currently practiced or could be
– recommends and defends a viable solution to managing the impact of the
activity on the resource into the future, one that is consistent with the way
the problem has been characterized
Section four: Reference
list [10pts]
Student will be graded on how well the brief:
– Adheres to the guidelines regarding references
– Does the reference list include the minimum number of references, per
the instructions above?
Structure, grammar and
style [10 pts]
Student will be graded on how well the brief:
– incorporates a professional title page with creative title
– organizes the report into appropriate sub-headings
– uses topical sentences and paragraph structure to organize key points
and connect them into a coherent narrative
– is edited (i.e. fewer than five spelling, grammar and referencing errors)
Figures and Tables [10
pts]
Student will be graded on how well the brief:
– uses at least two informative figures, or trends to illustrate trends and
relationships
– Are figure/table captions descriptive – i.e., can the image stand alone
with the caption?
– Are the figures/tables incorporated into the report neatly? All figures
should be legible and large enough, positioned closely following the
section of text where they are first mentioned. They should not be put at
the end or in an appendix.
– Are they well considered and do they add value by highlighting a key
point or summarizing key information, or are they simply ‘filler’?
– Does the caption include an in-text reference to indicate where the
figure/table came from, or where the data for the figure/table were
derived?
– Is each figure directly referred to in the main text?