Writing Assignment #1**Refer to the Writing Assignment Instructions file for formatting and content organization. **For this first paper, you will make connections between each city’s latitude and that city’s temperature. How does latitude impact insolation? How does the level of continentality impact the annual range of temperatures for each city? Is your city close to the ocean? How does that impact temperatures? What atmospheric hazards may occur based on this data? Keep in mind that this is a technical writing assignment; all statements must be supported by data. Pick one city (out of the three assigned by last name in lab 1) to focus on. You may start this assignment with a description of three assigned cities in terms of their locations on the surface of Earth (e.g., latitude and longitude). You will also need to describe this city’s data, such as the maximum and minimum temperature values as well as the range, and explain atmospheric hazards that are associated with such data. Once you have established one city’s data you will need to explain how it compares to the other two cities. Is it hotter? Is it colder? Why? Etc. Why this city is hotter or colder when you compare it with the other two? Differences in insolation amount (latitude), elevation, maritime/continental effect, etc.? Avoid simply listing data from the other two cities and instead very much focus on explaining how the three cities are different. Include a statement about how the unique physical geography of each city impacts the possibility of hazards. Much of this comparison should be in your “Discussion” section. For example: Olympia, WA is located at latitude of 47.04° N and near a large body of water, which moderates its temperature and dampens its annual temperature range. Comparing to Olympia, WA, Austin, TX is located at a much southern location, at 30.25° N, and receives a much higher amount of insolation, and this affects its maximum and minimum values, and its temperature range is greater than that of Olympia, WA, due to its distance to a large body of water.Please note that this is slightly different than what is described in the “Introduction” section of the “Writing Assignment Instructions” that have been provided. That document is provided mostly as a formatting and style guide. Remember there is a two-page maximum for the text! This does not include the cover page. P.S: Cities: San Diego, Phoenix, Miami(Chose one of these cities)

Instructions for the Writing Assignments

Introduction
One atmospheric hazard existing in at least two of the student’s three cities will be chosen from the list. The name of the cities and the chosen hazard must be stated in the introduction. The hazard itself will be explained in detail in the background section. A description of the data used and the analysis undertaken will appear in the methods section. Results will simply report key findings from the analyses, and the discussion section will serve to explain why this particular hazard exists in some of the cities, but not all of them. The conclusion will simply summarize the paper itself, and provide closure to the document. The purpose of this assignment is to learn how to produce technical writing, which is very different than creative, reflective, promotional, or other styles of writing.
Background
The background section explains important concepts contained in the paper. There should be no mention of your cities in the background. This section is entirely focused on explaining concepts that are key to understanding the paper (Bettis 2014). If your discussion relies on a concept, it should be defined here unless it is common knowledge. This section will clearly require citations as much of the information will be drawn directly from the book or other provided sources (Bettis 2014). You will be marked down for not following directions if you utilize outside research in this paper, as doing so is outside the scope of this assignment.
The background should not waste time defining concepts that are incredibly obvious. The best way to write this section is to read through your results and discussion sections and write down any terms or concepts discussed that were unknown or not well understood before taking this class. Those terms and concepts should be defined here in the background.
Technical writing is rooted in logic and critical thinking. This style of writing is very utilitarian, and as such has rigid requirements (Bettis 2014). Students absolutely must focus on logically organizing information, thinking critically about that information, and reporting on it with clear and concise statements that get straight to the point. Technical writing is not meant to entertain, but is meant to objectively convey data in the most efficient and articulate way possible.
Methods
Data
In this section, an explanation is provided that explains how the research was conducted. The methods section serves to describe the steps taken to produce the document. No background information, results, or discussion is included here. The first subsection, Data, will list the specific types of data used in the research such as “monthly average insolation” or “annual average precipitation” or possibly “monthly extreme weather occurrences”. Also, a description of the specific location should be provided for each city in the following format: Chico, California is located at 39˚45’N, 121˚50’W and has an average elevation of 245 ft. This does not need a citation as this data resulted from the author’s own analysis of a map.
Analyses
The Analyses subsection should lay out the analyses at a level of detail that makes it possible for someone else to reproduce your work. This means defining some methods (or citing the original source) and explaining how you did things. This section of the instructions will explain specific requirements for the paper. Formatting is very important. The paper has a 2-page maximum with no exceptions. All text should be 12-point Times New Roman with 1.5 line spacing and 1” margins. Using any other formatting will result in point deductions. All scholarly journals require very specific formatting, hence the requirement here.
Technical writing is not written in the order that it will be presented. All technical writing results from experimentation and analysis of data. Therefore, the first section to be completed is the results section. Data was collected and organized into tables or charts. Necessary averages were computed. Notice that this is being written in the past tense. After the data were compiled and the results section written, the discussion section was undertaken to explain the results. The methods section was written third so that it does not have to be heavily edited if certain data analysis never appears in the results. The background was written fourth because by that point the author had the main bulk of the paper produced, and knew what concepts were important to understand. Following all of that, the introduction and conclusion are written last. Once the body of the paper was written, it was easy for the author to introduce exactly what is contained in the paper, and also summarize it in the conclusion.
Most of the writing assignments will be turned in electronically. You will be required to submit the papers to Turnitin via your lab section’s Blackboard Learn page. Comments will be made on the papers, and the Applied Lab Report at the end of the semester will require the students to review those comments. That paper will be discussed in a later document.
Results
The results section accomplishes one very specific goal. Key components of the data are presented here in very straightforward terms. For example: As shown in Table 1, the average score on the final paper over the last two semesters was 76% C. Each semester at least one student is caught cheating and fails the assignment. Last semester 9.58% of students received an A on the final paper according to Table 2. Over 90% of the content in this section is based on specific numbers and figures, but this section does not include an exhaustive list of each student’s performance as that would be more effectively displayed in a chart or table.
Discussion
The Discussion section is your opportunity to interpret your results further and to put these into the context of similar studies or prevailing theory (or opinion). Any wild speculation or personal opinions you might have can be included here (rather than in the Results). However, wild opinions must be backed with actual evidence. Any uncertainties, limitations or biases that might confound your results should also be admitted here. The following paragraph is an example of how this section should be written.
The students who understand that writing is a process tend to perform the best. Students who attempt to complete writing assignments in one sitting do not tend to perform well according to observations. Numerous individuals attempt to complete this assignment as if it were a promotional speech or some kind of sales pitch. That particular group of students would have scored better if they had taken the time to understand the stylistic requirements of technical writing. Once understood, technical writing is actually quite simple to create. One must simply employ logic, think critically about the content, and deliver a concise but thorough explanation of the subject.
The discussion is admittedly the most difficult part of the assignment, as it requires the student to demonstrate their knowledge of the subject. Students are expected to explain the “why” in the discussion. Many students inadvertently continue the results in the discussion, focusing more on the “how much”. Discussion explains why there is X amount of insolation in a particular city, or why earthquakes frequently occur near tectonic plate boundaries.

Conclusion
The conclusion provides closure and very briefly summarizes the paper. Often times, there are not actually “conclusions” about the data here, as those typically appear in the results or the discussion. No new information should appear in the conclusion. Instructions for writing assignments have been thoroughly defined. An overview of the technical writing process has been provided. The document has been formatted and written in the style that the assignment should appear. Understanding this document will prove to be a critical component of performing well on the writing assignments.