Capstone Evaluation of Sources Assignment

Goal of assignment: For your final paper you will be evaluating information from a variety of sources on a contentious environmental issue. These sources will provide different perspectives and types of data to support their points of view. The goal of this assignment is to think critically about different types of papers on the same topic.

Thematic question: All four of the following papers attempt to answer the following question: “How successful has community-based ecotourism been in meeting the dual goals of conserving species/ecosystems and providing for the livelihoods of human communities?”

Kiss, A. 2004. Is community-based ecotourism a good use of biodiversity conservation funds? Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 19: 232-237.

Nagendra, H., M. Karmacharya, and B. Karna. 2005. Evaluating forest management in Nepal: views across space and time. Ecology and Society 10: 24 -

http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol10/iss1/art24/

Rome. A. 2003. Bolivia: partnerships for community-based ecotourism. E/The Environmental Magazine. http://www.emagazine.com/view/?1136. Accessed Jan. 20, 2005.

Stronza A. and J. Gordillo. 2008. Community views of ecotourism. Annals of Tourism Research 35: 448-468.

Assignment: Read each of these papers and answer the following questions:

1. Who is the audience for this article?
2. What is the author’s purpose in writing the article?
3. What credentials does the writer have?
4. What are the author’s one or two main arguments/conclusions in the article?
5. What evidence does the author present to support these arguments/conclusions? Do you find these sources reliable and convincing?

Please bring a written copy of your answers (hand-written is fine) to lecture on Jan. 27 when we will discuss these articles.