Weather and Society

Writing Assignments

Hurricane Katrina illuminated scores of deficiencies at all levels of government, despite attempts to plan for a major natural disaster in New Orleans. Please choose one high-profile individual involved with the decision-making process at either the local, state, or federal level during and shortly after Hurricane Katrina. Write a paper that examines the rationale and motivation behind the decisions that this person made and evaluate the efficacy of those decisions. In your narrative, use the SEE-I model (state, elaborate, exemplify, and illustrate) to convey this information to the reader (imagine that your audience is your friends in your first Tuesday morning class). With perfect hindsight, which no one possesses while living in the moment, please describe an improved course of action that this individual could have chosen. Describe the consequences of those hypothetical actions. Again, use the SEE-I model to convey your ideas.

Your essay need only be long enough to address the requirements above, but please do not exceed five double-spaced pages with 12-point font (10 pts). Your writing will be graded based upon:

a) the clarity and completeness with which you present the rationale and motivation behind one individual's decisions (10 pts),
b) your thoughtful evaluation of the efficacy of those decisions (10 pts),
c) the depth of thought displayed in your suggested course of action (15 pts),
d) the feasibility of your suggested course(s) of action (10 pts),
e) your use of the SEE-I model (10 pts), and of course,
g) your appropriate spelling and grammar (30 pts).

This assignment is due in class on Thursday, November 21. For full credit, please upload your document before class via Moodle (5 pts). If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask!