The topic question is “Is Climate Change the Biggest Threat to the World?”
In a 1 1/2 – 2 page semi-formal brainstorming essay (ie–quality ideas,
especially questions will be more important than gorgeous phrasing), identify and
introduce your final topic with a bit of background. State why you wish to
choose this particular topic. Finally–and most important, raise questions for
your final paper. Obviously, some basic reading must come first, so START ASAP
with, say, encyclopedia overviews.
The paper should cover the above points in roughly these proportions:
1) Some background information (maybe a short paragraph total);
2) A rationale / statement of why you wish to work on this project (just a
couple of lines); and most important,
3) Lots of questions to research. DIVIDE the questions into 3 categories and
try to raise a few in each: 1) Factual 2) Open ended 3) Broad theoretical or
context implications.
Most productive are interpretive, open questions (“why” and “how,” for instance,
rather than “what” and “when”–though basics will be important for your knowledge
and credibility, and will be included in, but not the focus of, your final paper.