Minutes, October 1, 2008 by Owen

Writing for Environmental Professionals
October 1, 2008
Taken by Owen Barbour
Attendants: Chris D., Josh, Daniel, Amanda, Yumie, Bobby, Megan T., Sarah, Don, Benjamin, Chris L., James, Megan C., Owen

Today’s class:
• Bumper stickers due
o Condensed meaning of your topic idea
o Quick way of focusing your topic
o Drive meaning into and out of text
o If your topic changes rethink everything
• New bumper sticker, new proposal idea.
o Cognitive exercise,
• body of info into a phrase
• rhetorical meaning
• Using humor, visual(images), or Rhyming
• Students bumper stickers
o James- conservation vs. preservation both require smart participation
o Owen- Conservation over Preservation
o Chris- Trap the Wind
o Josh- Risk. How much can you handle?
o Daniel- Stay in School
o Bobby- Ethanol Sucks!
o Megan T.- Give Green a Foothold
o Sarah- CoExist, Respect your Mother
• Repetition
o You learn faster
o Monkeys learn by observing older monkeys
o Humans learn to smile by watching adults smile
• Yumie is researching student interests at ESF
o Methodologies
• Survey
• Interview
• Group interviews (focus groups)
• Ethnographic methods
• Observations
• Participant observations
• Role playing
• Literature review
• Observe behavior
• From Don
o “An image is worth a thousand words. An image plus a word is worth a thousand and one.”
o A guy loses his keys in the backyard and is looking for them under a street light.
• Go back to where you lost it.
• Think Thematically
• GAIA Principle
o Theory viewing the entire earth as one ecosystem
o Everything is connected, there is always a consequence
o Balance is key
o Full cost accounting, cradle to cradle
• Abstracts
o Some people read
• 5 abstracts to create 1 paper
• 20 titles to create 1 paper
o Research around “key terms”
• Key terms are important
• Resumes
• job descriptions
• cover letters
• Formal Proposal
o What do they do?
• Solicit a response by asking a question
• State intention
• State plan
• State costs
• State commitments
• Example Wedding proposal
o Start with topic/subject
• Introduction
• 1 paragraph
• Define topic
• Describe topic (meaning)
• Describe purpose and audience
• Use background lit. review (info that already exists)

Due next class:
• Begin writing Introduction paragraph of Proposal
o 1 page
o Why should the proposal be accepted as a project for class?
• If you haven’t yet sent Don your bumper sticker do so before class on Friday