Semester Project: Natural Disasters

The research project is a solo project.• Each of you will research

a specific natural disaster from history.

• After the research papers are written, there will be a group project.

Possible topic categories:• Earthquakes• Volcanoes• Hurricanes• Tornadoes• Tsunamis• Major Floods• Major Blizzards• Massive mudslides or

rockslides

• These are just the possible categories to help narrow down your topic.

• You still need to pick a specific event.

• For example, if I was interested in hurricanes, I could pick the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 or the more recent Hurricane Katrina from 2005.

After you have picked your specific event from history, here are some of the things you will need to include in your research paper:• Basic information on your natural disaster

• For example, if I chose Hurricane Katrina, I would need to provide details on hurricanes in general (how they form, how they are classified, what are the affects, etc.)

• Details of your specific event:• Societal impact• Environmental impact• Long-term effects?• Cleanup?• Et cetera…

Mrs. Henry and I will provide more detail for you later this week. For now, you should be thinking of a natural disaster that you would like to research.

• First – pick one of the major categories that interest you (hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.)

• Second – explore specific natural disasters within your category. Make a list of potential events.• We will be in the computer lab tomorrow where we

will work on using the Internet to find topics.• Last – project signups are on Friday

• Come to class with a list of possible events: someone else might pick your event before you.

• If you are not in school on Friday, you will have to sign up on Monday when we are in the library.• That means you get last pick and might not get

the event you want!