Select 2-3 articles from mainstream news sources (i.e., not a personal blog) pertaining to an event or research on marine mammals that has been covered in the media in the last year or two (see example news stories below). You can choose any species or location except bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Western Australia, as that will be the focus of your second assignment. Research the topic in depth using primary literature and examine the accuracy of the coverage and why it received so much public attention. Note: here primary literature refers to scientific research articles published in scientific journals (e.g., on Google Scholar or Web of Science).
Aim for 3-4 single spaced pages of text (about 1500-2500 words). Figures, tables, and references do not count towards the page length or word count. Figures and tables are optional, and should be referenced within the text of your report if included. References must be included and should be in a standard format, e.g., APA, Harvard, or Chicago style (see citation formats in Google Scholar). Note that you should cite the articles by author(s) and year in the text (e.g., Singh et al. 2018) with the full reference in at the end of your paper, including the DOI when available. The reference format and general writing style should be similar to what you would see in a typical scientific manuscript, but you won’t have sections like a scientific paper (i.e., intro, methods, results, discussion). Use references liberally (min. 5-8 primary sources), but footnotes and quotations rarely unless they are essential to your point. Be critical and careful and your analysis.
This will be graded according to the following criteria:
(1) solid clear and concise writing
(2) well-researched background into the story and where the original scientific data came from
(3) careful and critical analysis which might include an examination of conflicting results (other papers that published on the same topic with different findings)
(4) consideration of why this story attracted attention – and possibly more research on that in of itself
Article I found that could be used to research (unless you can find one better with more primary sources about a marine mammal): https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/salish-sea-whale-fight-1.6602134
Example news stories from previous years: (DO NOT USE, JUST EXAMPLES)
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/13/the-tale-of-the-killer-whalesLinks to an external site.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/u-s-navy-exercises-will-put-further-pressure-on-west-coast-s-endangered-killer-whales-experts-say-1.5701554Links to an external site.
https://globalnews.ca/news/7230067/coronavirus-oceans-marine-mammals/Links to an external site.