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Pollution Crisis on the Southern Border
PURPOSE
This research essay assignment is designed to develop argumentation, research, critical thinking, writing, and persuasive skills and create a polished research-based academic argument.
SKILLS
A multi-source research essay will help you to
Compose an analytic essay with multiple sources, choosing an effective structure and creating significant relationships among sources by discussing how the claims of one or more arguments modify, complicate, or qualify one another.
Research and write a fully documented research paper using MLA in-text citations of sources and an MLA Works Cited bibliography.
Gain resources for your own writing and development of your own clear style.
KNOWLEDGE
This assignment will also help you to gain mastery in the following important content knowledge in this discipline:
Identifying and analyzing rhetorical and organizational strategies from a variety of sources and employing appropriate strategies to compose thesis-driven essays.
Understanding how professional writers employ organizational and rhetorical techniques to develop their ideas clearly and persuasively. 
TASK (Instructions)
Length: 
The final essay must be at least 2000 words of writing; in terms of page count that works out to at least 7 and 1/2 pages, NOT INCLUDING THE WORKS CITED PAGE using a 12-point Times New Roman font, standard margins and double spacing. It must have MLA formatted in-text citations throughout the essay and documenting your quotations, paraphrases, and summaries, as well as any references to sources that you analyze or critique. PLEASE NOTE THAT ANY GRAPHICS, CHARTS, TABLES, PHOTOS, OR OTHER INSERTS YOU MAY USE DO NOT COUNT AS PART OF YOUR WORD COUNT. So if your graphic takes up a half page, then your essay writing must compensate for that with an extra half page of writing.
The essay must also have a separate Works Cited page (which, as stated above, does NOT count as part of your minimum 2000 words).  The Works Cited must have a minimum of SIX outside sources that you have referenced in the essay and that correspond to your in-text citations. The entire essay and Works Cited must be MLA formatted. Do NOT use a different format like APA. USING A DIFFERENT FORMAT WILL CAUSE YOUR ESSAY TO FAIL.
ESSAYS THAT DO NOT MEET THESE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS WILL NOT EARN A PASSING GRADE.
Background: After every rainfall, the Tijuana River becomes a flowing torrent of raw sewage, chemical effluents, garbage and trash that flows directly into our ocean. As sea currents move the flow north, the inevitable beach closures occur at Imperial Beach and other points northward. Occasionally, too, when Mexico’s sewage processing plants get overwhelmed, massive releases occur without any rainfall at all. Many questions arise: How long has this been happening? How bad is the problem for people, wildlife, and the environment? How can it be fixed? Who is responsible for fixing it? How much will it cost? How long will it take? During the Trump administration, the Environmental Protection Agency promised $300 million for environmental border projects. A few years have passed since then What has happened to that money? When and how will it be used?
Approach: This is a PROBLEM/SOLUTION essay, which is a specialized form of ARGUMENT. You must consider the important facets of the problem on both sides of the border and consider proposed solutions that will share responsibility and solve the problem. Your research should come from credible sources. In your final essay, you will reference at least six outside sources to support your points.
You will begin by exploring articles and essays that address this problem as well as articles and essays that propose solutions. Then, you will select the most relevant sources related to your topic, generate ideas, and develop a working thesis. Based on your research, your thesis will indicate the solution or solutions that you believe will be the most effective to end this problem.
Your final essay should be detailed in terms of content, evidence, sources, and support. The essay should be tight and focused, and your position should be responsibly, persuasively, and credibly argued. As with any strong argument essay, you should:
Begin with a focused introduction
Provide historical background of the problem as well as the present magnitude and scope of the crisis
Consider solutions proposed to end the problem
Support your argument with a series of focused body paragraphs
Conclude with a focused conclusion that supports a solution based on your research and your own views
Reference outside sources smoothly and effectively to illustrate points and to support claims
Demonstrate awareness of your rhetorical situation in terms of purpose and audience
Address and respond to counterarguments, perhaps having to do with different solutions
Format the essay MLA style
Maintain an effective balance of ethos, pathos, and logos
Convey your points through professional academic writing
Maintain crisp, clear prose
Ensure that your finished essay is free of errors
Your final essay should clearly establish the nature and scope of the problem, examine proposed solutions, demonstrate your understanding of your sources’ arguments, and address and respond to them, presenting counterarguments when necessary. Each paragraph should have a clear a topic sentence and appropriate transitions to connect ideas.
CRITERIA FOR SUCCESS (RUBRIC)
Grading will be based on the following:
A clear thesis stated in your introduction and reinforced in your conclusion. Essay length and MLA requirements as stated above have been met.
Relevant and sufficient support of your thesis based on your presentation and analysis of published authors in the field.
Logical organization that begins with an introduction that hooks the reader, adequately introduces the issue, and states a thesis; body paragraphs that are well-developed and in a logical progression with appropriate transitions to connect ideas; and a conclusion that brings the essay to a meaningful close.
The essay is written in clear prose with accurate, precise word choice, a variety of sentence structures, and correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
MLA format is correct with accurate quotations and paraphrases that are written without borrowing the sources’ words or sentence structures.  Quotations and paraphrases are integrated effectively and documented properly without omissions or plagiarism. The Works Cited accurately lists the sources used in the essay and is formatted properly.
I will consider all of the above holistically (all the criteria for a successful essay taken together) in my evaluation of your submission. I will assign the essay a letter grade and offer you constructive criticism in my comments. I will then convert that letter grade according to the following scale:
A+ = 1000 points (100%)
A = 950 points (95%)
A- = 925 points (92.5%)
B+ = 875 points (87.5%)
B = 850 points (85%)
B- = 825 points (82.5%)
C+ = 775 points (77.5%)
C = 750 points (75%)
C- = 725 points (72.5%)
D = 650 points (65%)
F =  550 points (55%)
No Essay = 0 points
Plagiarized Essay = 0 points and disciplinary action
Articles 
1. 
Mariam Ayad,   Jingjing Li, Benjamin Holt , Christine Lee. 
“Analysis and Classification of Stormwater and Wastewater Runoff From the Tijuana River Using Remote Sensing Imagery”
Frontiers in Environmental Science
December 2020 
https://www.proquest.com/docview/2466558440?accountid=38878&parentSessionId=5gTIYiSlV3X9nsZjy422N5aKAdmuODly1Ze2UsNnANw%3D&pq-origsite=primo&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals
2. 
Nicholas Allsing, Scott T Kelley, Alexandra N Fox, Karilyn E Sant. 
“Metagenomic Analysis of Microbial COntamination in the U.S. Portion of Tijuana River Watershed”
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
December 2022 
https://www.proquest.com/docview/2761184457?accountid=38878&parentSessionId=AcqMIpdGt3AGVttqV53HKcKx1aY4kvFooWIivyUALQk%3D&pq-origsite=primo&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals
3.  
Gig Conaughton
“ County Identifies Projects to Dramatically Reduce Tijuana River Valley Sewage
San Diego Country News Center
June 9th 2020
https://www.countynewscenter.com/county-identifies-projects-to-dramatically-reduce-tijuana-river-valley-sewage/ 
4.  
No Author
“Tijuana River Valley Needs and Opportunities Assessment – Trash Technical Memorandum”
Unsure
March 6, 2020
https://www.sdparks.org/content/dam/sdparks/en/pdf/Resource-Management/Appendix%20F%20-%20Trash%20Technical%20Memorandum.pdf

1.      Proposed
Capstone Proposal titel: Ehancing Respiratory therapy protocol to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia 
2.      Rationale for the Capstone
Proposal:  
3.     
Provide a  description of the research and evidence available
in the literature and any clinical practice guidelines that  support your proposed Capstone topic.

Journal 3:
This journal covers chapters 5 and 6 of The Honest Truth about Dishonesty by Dan Ariely, specifically page 117 to 161. In particular, this journal asks you to pay attention to how self-image and honesty are affected by appearance and material changes to our appearance and how “helping ourselves to a better self-image” sometimes gets us to act irrationally and dishonestly but also can, sometimes, actually increase our self-confidence. 
This journal asks you to pay attention to special terms Ariely uses to explain things, such as wearing fakes, “from Ermine to Armani,” self-signalling, external signaling, moral restraints loosening, honesty threshold, what the hell effect, fake it til you make it, self-puffery, not-flinching, false achievement markers, and self-deception. Please make sure that your journal, when completed, includes mention of at least three of these terms. 
Directions: Read pages 117 to 161. Using “Calling All Chloes” (pages 123-126) as your base for overall understanding, write a 450-480word reflection, approximately, to answer the following:
Open your writing with a statement about honesty that makes an interesting point or raises an interesting question about honesty and truth-telling. To help you to style your writing, you should hook into an expression from Chapter 5 that you can use as a flow quote–a clever or interesting expression of Ariely’s of four to eight words–that you can blend into your own sentence or sentences for this step 1 of the journal. Of course, this opening for your journal should have some complexity to it, get your reader to think and be interested, and generally lead into and match the content of what you will discuss. (50 words, approximately)
Talk about the weird-ness (yes, use the word “weird” or “weirdness”) of Ariely trying to determine the honesty of college graduate MBA students by getting them to do a certain amount of math puzzles in a certain amount of time while they knowingly or unknowingly wear fake sunglasses! From what you know of Ariely by now, how does it kind of make sense that he would think up a project like this, involving the wearing of fake sunglasses? Tell how this experiment does seem to prove a new point about what he calls “self-signaling” as a factor that affects truth-telling and self-image? Imagine, what else–if he didn’t have the fake sunglasses to use in the experiments–could he have substituted as a something people could wear and their honesty might change by it? (Approximately 130 words)
Choose two other example-stories from anywhere within the pages from 117 to 161 which you observe in fact connect to, support, and enhance the lesson in “Calling All Chloes” (pages 123-126) about the fake sunglasses. In other words, what are two other examples or experiments anywhere in those pages that relate to what is going on in “Calling All Chloes”?  Just name the two example-stories for this step. (Just write, “One example-story within pages 117 to 161 that I believe relates to “Calling All Chloes” is the one in which ___ [tell what happens briefly]. A second example-story within pages 117 to 161 that I believe realtes to “Calling All Chloes” is the one in which ___ [tell what happens briefly].” Approximately 70 words.
Thinking of all three example-stories (including “Calling All Chloes”–see step 3), what larger human-oriented point is Ariely making specifically about how oddly or ironically people will “help ourselves to a better self-image,” whether it’s to gain more self-confidence (think of the blue crab at the beginning of chapter 6) or to gain a “higher MENSA score” (page 146) or earn an award we don’t deserve, or to see ourselves as better than we really are? What point is Ariely making? (Hint: Ariely seems to have a comical view of human nature in this respect, yes? Would you agree?) But be sure to use evidence from the comparison stories you chose and tell me what page numbers your comparison stories come from.  (Approximately 100 words)
As you did for Journal 2, make a connection to social media: Think of a celebrity or influencer whose habit of showing off a good appearance has become part of their brand or their art, and that doing so has likely shaped or changed the messages they tell themselves about themselves (self-signalling). How does this celebrity kind of fit themselves into Ariely’s theory about “helping ourselves to a better self-image”? Include a screen shot of the celebrity-influencer with visual evidence in that frame and include a few sentences of direct reference (details, exact phrases, quotes—be specific) FROM the post you have chosen.  (For example, you could say, “Viewing this post of the celebrity, please notice in it —-(what details?)”) Include a link to the post as well as well as a correct Works Cited reference for the post.  (Approximately 120 words)
See this attachment for how to correctly cite an Instagram post: 
April2024HowToCiteInstagramPost-Photo(2).pdf
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Checklist for this journal assignment: An “Add Comment” Mini-Reflection
To make sure this journal is complete, when you submit this assignment, please copy this checklist into the “Add Comments” box that appears on the Submission Page for this assignment:
Yes, I paid attention to special terms Ariely uses to explain things, such as self-signalling.
Yes, I used a “flow quote” from Ariely to blend into my own sentence for some stylistic flair in the introduction.
Yes, I covered step 2 well, using the word “weird” and directly answering the question asked in step 2.
Yes, I dealt with two other example-stories, alongside “Calling All Chloes” for step 3.
Yes, I did the social media mini-research of step 4, including referring to an actual post, including a screen-shot of the post, including the link, and doing a correct Works Cited entry for the post.