The major individual assessment task in this course requires the completion of a written research paper on an important natural resource management topic. This assignment requires students to interrogate and report on a major problem or issue currently facing natural resource managers in one of the five NRM industries discussed in class (i.e., agriculture, freshwater, fisheries, forestry and mining). To achieve this you are required to identify a problem/topic that is of interest to you from Australia or around the world. The problem can range from a specific issue (e.g., the management of old growth forests in East Gippsland) to a regional, national, or international issue (e.g., managing the Murray Darling Basin or the impacts of mining in Indonesia).
Once a problem/topic has been selected you will write research paper that should:
- draw on relevant theoretical and management concepts covered through the course;
- describe the problem or issue;
- critically analyse the issue including considerations of relevant policy and ecological factors;
- interrogate the current and potential management or policy responses to the issue; and
- argue a constructive way forward to address the issue or problem.
So, what constitutes a research paper? For the purpose of this activity you are being asked to produce an argumentative paper. This means that you will use the literature to help you argue out a point of view about the topic you have selected to write on. Do not simply describe a situation, work to convince the reader of something and use the literature to justify the claims you are making and to establish the need for the work.