Syllabus description: Students will select their own topic in environmental sociology and conduct an analysis of how the issue is communicated across the following five areas/spaces: published scientific articles from climate
scientists, sociological literature in environmental sociology, journalistic reporting on climate science,
political claims about environmental issues, and how science and climate issues are discussed in
everyday conversation, including on social media.
The final paper that you have been working towards the entire semester should consist of the following:
1. It should be six pages long, double-spaced, Times New Roman, with 1-inch margins. There should be no headers or footers. Use a title page with your name and the course information on it. This title page does not count towards the six-page written requirement.
2. Provide background and contextual information about your chosen environmental topic.
3. Tell me (the reader) what the climate scientists are saying about the topic.
4. Then, look at the political claims surrounding the topic.
5. After that, tell me how both groups frame it and what the framing does (does it support the claim or not? Does it raise money, awareness, social movements etc etc.?)
6. Then, conclude your paper with what environmental sociologists or other scholars/researchers state about your chosen topic. Make sure to use the sources from your annotated bibliography in this section.
The final paper is worth 100 points.
