Assignment One: Find and Report on an
Example Research Paper
You must select, read, and analyze a research paper from a peer-reviewed journal. Please
get your choice approved by me first!
Be prepared to present a 10 minute assessment (one or two PPT slides) of the paper
in class:
1. What is the universal question?
2. What were the basic points, what research question, how did the author
address it, what did the author conclude?
3. Explication: how did the author organize and present the research?
4. What special qualities struck you: illustrations, implications, style, etc.
5. What additional research, gaps to be filled, or next steps did the author
suggest OR that you can discern?
I have copies of several papers that I think nicely illustrate formal research conduct and
writing, and propose that some of you chose one of these papers:
Robert Cervero, 2003: “Road expansion, urban growth, and induced traffic: A path
analysis.” Journal of the American Planning Association 69: 145-165.
Yan Song and Gerrit-Jan Knapp, 2004: “Measuring urban form: is Portland winning the
war on sprawl?” Journal of the American Planning Association 70: 210-225.
John C. Schmidt; Robert H. Webb; Richard A. Valdez; G. Richard Marzolf; Lawrence E.
Stevens (1998) “Science and Values in River Restoration in the Grand Canyon.”
BioScience, Vol. 48, No. 9, pp. 735-747.
Kates, R.W., Colten, C.E., Laska,S., and Leatherman, S.P. (2006) Reconstruction of New
Orleans after Huricane Katrina: A research perspective. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences 103: 14653-14660.
Pielke, Jr., R.A. (2007) Future economic damage from tropical cyclones: sensitivities to
societal and climate changes. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A, 365: 2717-2729.
Sorensen, J. H. (2000) Hazard warning systems: Review of 20 years of progress. Natural
Hazards Review 1: 119–125.
Westerling, A.L., Hidalgo, H.G., Cayan, D.R., and Swetnam, T.W. (2006) Warming and
earlier spring increase western U.S. forest wildfire activity.” Science 313: 940 – 943.