These are weekly extra/alternative credit assignments open to everyone.

These assignments should take the form of a short essay with references.  See the Critical Writing Rubric (Course Resources Module, below) for more details.  They should be typed-up as a word document (.doc, .docx) and uploaded to Canvas by the posted due date.

PROMPTS/QUESTIONS FOR CRITICAL WRITING ASSIGNMENT 

1. Research a mine (active or abandoned) near where you live.  Find at least one article on the mine.

2. Summarize what is mined there, how much economic activity it supports, what environmental issues arise from the mine, and what if anything is being done about it (find a second article if the first one doesn’t address this).

3. Do you think that the mine is ‘worth it’? What do you think could be done better, if anything?

4.  Use the CRITICAL WRITING GUIDELINES AND RUBRIC (see below) to evaluate the authors and apply skepticism to their positions.