Wildlife Issue Analysis Paper – worth 50 points
All students will be required to summarize and analyze a current news article pertaining
to wildlife. Your article must meet the following criteria:
 Published during the present academic quarter
 Gives solid coverage (not just a short paragraph or two)
 Covers a wildlife topic that is controversial. (Simple descriptions of a
wildlife refuge or rehabilitation of wildlife will not offer the controversy
or differing viewpoints for you to consider and analyze.)
 Covers a species that occurs in the Pacific Northwest. This includes the
area from southern British Columbia to Northern California.
I suggest using local papers such as the Columbian or Oregonian as your reference. The
Oregonian offers online access at http://www.oregonlive.com and the Columbian can be
accessed at www.columbian.com. Another good jumping off point for looking for
articles may be the wildlife news (http://www.thewildlifenews.com). I usually find their
articles to be too short for this assignment but they sometimes have links to longer
articles at the end.
Cannell Library has a great database called ProQuest that you can use at the library or
access from home. Proquest contains local newspapers so you can search the contents of
the papers online.
Your analysis will be 3-4 pages long, typed, 1-1/2 or double-spaced and should consist of
the following sections. The summary section and the personal conclusion section should
be longer than the middle sections. Label each section of your analysis as follows:
1) Summary of article. Make sure the summary contains enough detail so that the reader
can gain a good understanding of all the relevant points of the article. Summarize the
article in your own words and avoid extensive use of quotations. Quotes should only
be used around a single word or phrase and only when you have no way to re-state it in
your own words.
2) Viewpoints Each analysis should include the viewpoint of the author. Did the author
show bias in the writing (note: bias means leaning toward one side or another. Bias is
not necessarily intentional or hurtful).
In addition the viewpoint section should include all other viewpoints that are discussed in
the article and state who had those opinions. Finally, identify viewpoints that were not
discussed but that are important to seeing all sides of the story. Who would you have
liked to have heard from on this issue?
3) Unanswered Questions The media does not have the space or information to give a
reader all the details of any story. You will have questions that you wished were
answered in order to draw a fully informed conclusion. Formulate at least 4 in your
unanswered question section. Note: You do not have to come up with these answers.
You only need to show what information you wished was in the article.
4) Personal Conclusion This section requires you to choose a side and draw upon what
you have learned in this class to defend your choice. I expect you to form an “educated
opinion”* on the topic and be able to clearly articulate and defend it based on your
current understanding of wildlife management from what you’ve learned in this class. In
other words, this is the part of the assignment in which you should demonstrate to
me that you have gained pertinent information from this class. There needs to be at
least three clear references to the class material to defend your position. If you need to do
a bit more research on the topic to flesh out this section, make sure you cite where you
got the information. Additional information will help you understand an issue better and
strengthen your position. In summary, you must take and defend one side or the
other on the controversial issue in order to do well in the Personal Conclusion
section.
5) Article Include the article (you can scan it in separately) to your analysis. If there is
no reference to the article on the part of the paper you have scanned then write out the
reference at the top of the page containing the article before scanning it. A complete
reference includes the author, the name of the publication, and the date of publication. If
scanning is a hardship for you I will accept paper copies of the article in my mailbox in
APH 203 “Perillo”. Make sure your name is on the article so I can review it and give you
credit for it when I grade your paper. Articles need to be submitted by the paper due
date.
Note: I will distribute a copy of an article of suitable length and controversy at the in-class
orientation so you can see a good example of the type of article that will make a good analysis
subject.
You have all quarter to search for the perfect article for this project BUT don’t put it off until the
end or you may not be able to find an appropriate article.
Use the Cannell Library to find articles and make sure to visit with a reference librarian if you need
some help getting started. They are an excellent resource to point you in the direction of how to
locate appropriate sources for this assignment.