MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

You will need to use signal phases as way to be professional, ethical, precise, and careful in your citation. Read this brief guide, noting carefully the table of words and phrases at the end. The signal phrases ANNOUNCES where your cited information begins.  Then, you complete the announcement by placing the author, date--parenthetical cite.  Example,

According to Hocking's 1994 analysis (INSERT, SAY FIVE SENTENCES). . . . . . THEN (Hocking, 1994)

RECALL this bottom line:  When you place a cite in a paragraph, the location can be ambiguous in at least three ways:

1. do you mean to cite on the information in THAT ONE SENTENCE?
2. do you mean the cite to encompass or surround all the information that PRECEDES the citation?
   1. to the beginning of the paragraph?
   2. just select sentences?
3. if you place the citation at end of paragraph, do you mean to cite
   1. ONLY THE LAST SENTENCE?
   2. the ENTIRE PARAGRAPH?

Sentences and paragraph-parts bank for the coffee cup memo: 

Hocking's work, though dated, is strong support for the styrofoam cup choice.  We should, however, acknowledge that if you weight the fate of ocean plastic as more important than climate change, you would reach another recommendation. Oceanographer Charles Moore.......

Overall, I recommend paper cups for our office.  I based my analysis on two criteria:

• fate of ocean plastic as the primary environmental problem, and,
• LCA to examine the existing peer-reviewed evidence.

Having described both our office problem and reviewed the way we use and dispose of hot beverage cups, let's turn now to life cycle analysis (LCA).  LCA is.......The EPA provides this useful definition  THREE OR FOUR SUMMARY SENTENCES THAT YOU PARAPHRASE.....then, (EPA, n.d.) 

Now, some humility sentences (science is HUMBLE before truth) that address fairly the counter-argument, for the last part of the memo:

I want to acknowledge the reasonableness of the other recommendation.

Clearly, this recommendation is limited in several ways. First, we begin with the environmental problem in our analysis.  

The problems of the fate of ocean plastic and climate change are incommensurate, or without common measure.  

These two problems resist a direct and definitive comparison. In other words, you cannot declare which environmental problem is worse.  Both problems poet sustainability problems for us.

How is your coffee cup memo arranged?  Here is a good but rough pattern for you to use:

Polite first person opening, where you 1) preview the recommendation and 2) reveal your bias about the environmental problem 

Description para with quantifiers about office problem

Review briefly the three choices in two categories -- Use one or two short paragraphs 1) compare contrast of paper/styrofoam 2) description of ceramic option as main reuse-able

Define LCA (needs source, use EPA) and explain this is your main decision criteria

Hocking's work OPTIONAL PLACEMENT FOR THIS PARA

Moore' s work OPTIONAL PLACEMENT FOR THIS PARA 

Recommendation paragraph (use bold title to flag this part of the memo)

Restatement of Moore or Hocking's work BUT
Acknowledgement of other readings of the options

You CAN add the reusable concept, too.

Example paragraph (people like concrete examples)

Polite closing 

-----AND now, some paragraphs to look at revision:

Coherence in a paragraph (sample content but the paragraphs might not be complete for the purposes of your coffee cup paper):

"Meh" paragraph (but a good start at a classigying the cup problem)
Plastic and paper cups pose problems for recycling. Ceramic cups are very energy intensive to produce. Recycling seems environmentally-sound.  Paper does not degrade deep within most landfills and the plastic coating is also difficult.  Not all plastic can be recycled.  You need to check the bottom of the container.  Landfills are increasingly full.  There is a huge "patch of garbage" in the Pacific Ocean.

Better paragraph
Paper and plastic both pose disposal problems.  First, not all plastic can be recycled. Check the bottom of the plastic container. "No. 1" and "No. 2" types can be recycled by most facilities. Second, paper does not degrade deep within most landfills because of low oxygen conditions. The plastic coating also interferes with decay. Landfills are increasingly full.  ]There is a huge "patch of garbage" in the Pacific Ocean. Other watersheds, too.

Even better paragraph (can you see the re-thinking of content as well as sentence-level revision)
Paper and plastic both pose disposal problems.  First, not all plastic can be recycled. Check the bottom of the plastic container. "No. 1" and "No. 2" types can be recycled by most facilities. Second, paper does not degrade deep within most landfills because of low oxygen conditions. Methane release from landfills is part of paper degredation ( SOURCE?) The plastic coating also interferes with decay. Landfills are increasingly full, with paper and plastic part of the waste stream. Not all plastic is recycled or landfilled. MISSING SOMETHING? According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) huge "patches of garbage" in the Pacific Ocean are further evidence of the environmental harm posed by plastic that "leaks" out of disposal/recycling systems (2015)