Provided that you meet the criteria of having scored 65% or lower on an exam, you are permitted to write one paper to replace your lowest exam grade. If the paper grade is lower than your exam grades, then the paper will not count.

Deadlines: Two deadlines must be met in order to submit a paper. The first is Wednesday, Nov. 17, by which time you must have read these guidelines and obtained approval from one of the instructors for your proposed paper topic. Your name will be added to a list that will enable you to submit the paper. The second deadline is 5 PM of Wednesday, Dec. 8, the due date of the paper. No papers will be accepted after this time. Papers submitted for this deadline that are not on the approved list will not be accepted.

Paper focus: All papers must focus principally on the scientific/geologic background of the approved topic and must strive to demonstrate an understanding of the underlying science. Related public policy or social implications can also be discussed once the geologic/scientific background is described.

Length: 8-10 pages, not including any figures. Papers that incorporate an excessive amount of copied or paraphrased Web-based material will be returned without a grade..

Sources: The paper must reference at least two written library sources (books or journals). The course text book cannot be used as one of those two references.

Other: Papers should be typed (not handwritten). Please run a spell-checker to help eliminate typos. Leave time to proofread your draft so that you have time to make corrections and to produce a revised version that is as free as possible from spelling errors, typos, and grammatical mistakes.

Acknowledging sources of information: Do not use footnotes to reference sources of information. Reference any published facts, ideas, or opinions as follows:

"In the decade of the 1980s, the amount of oil used by the average American exceeded that consumed by the average citizen of a Third World country by a factor of 30 (Author, 1992)."

At the end of the paper, all references that you cite in the text must be listed in alphabetical order (by author). This list should not include any references that are not specifically cited in the text.

Bibliography format: The format of references cited in the text of your paper should be as follows:

Author1, J.D., Author2, J.R., etc., 1979, Title of article: Journal, volume, page. OR (if a book) Publisher, number of pages

Figures: If you use figures or tables, put a label beneath each figure or table that refers to them in numerical order (e.g. Fig. 1). Within the text, refer to the figures and tables using the labels that you've assigned.