Paper I: Land Ethic
As an introduction to the theme for this writing exercise, read the attached handout on Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic, then read the essay itself on the following pages. You can also find Leopold’s entire Land Ethic essay at: http://www.tipiglen.dircon.co.uk/landethic.html.
Details of how to format these papers and how they will be evaluated are described in the Writing Syllabus for the course. All relevant due dates are listed in the course schedule. I expect these papers to be a highly polished piece of writing. But if you are unhappy with your grade on any writing exercise, you may always revise, and submit your paper for re-grading within one week of when you get it back.
Once you have read Leopold’s essay, your job will be to write a brief paper describing what Leopold’s land ethic concept means to you. In essence, I want you to write a “story of the land.” I have found that the best essays result when students write about someplace they care about. So, think about a place you care about. Why is it important to you? Next week I’ll ask you to specify the place that will be the focus of your paper.
Before you write, I will ask you to send me, for 5 points, a brief e-mail that includes:
- A short paragraph describing what the land ethic means to you.
- A brief summary of the thesis, or take-home-message for your paper. You should be able to do this in a sentence or two.