Fact Sheet Assignment Guidelines

Introduction

You have learned a lot in this course about biorenewable resources and the products that we make from them. Hopefully, you have an understanding of how products derived from biomass typically have less of an environmental impact than those derived from mineral resources. In this assignment, your job will be to introduce a bioproduct to the public, and explain why they should care. You CANNOT do a factsheet on bioenergy (biofuel or biopower).

For this assignment you will need to carefully consider everything you have learned and how you would explain it to someone without a science/environmental background.

Assignment overview

Your task is to create a fact sheet for the general public of the United States about a biomass-based product or unique bioenergy of your choice. NOTE: This excludes food and fiber. We'd also like you to stay away from conventional bioproducts (e.g. dimensional lumber, plywood, paper) and common biofuels (e.g. biodiesel, ethanol). There are so many other cool products to report on!! Also we want the product, not the feedstock. For instance, you can't select corn, algae, or municipal solid waste because they are feedstocks - instead choose a product made from corn, algae, or waste.

A fact sheet is a document that provides clear and easy to read information on a topic. Fact sheets are often used by experts in a particular field to disseminate their work to the general public. For example, a geologist at the USGS who studies volcanoes might produce a fact sheet explaining the volcanic hazards in a particular region. Often, but not always, the purpose of a fact sheet is to convince the reader to do something, like getting a flu shot or recycle stuff.

General format and audience

Most fact sheets are about two pages long so that they can fit on a single piece of paper (front and back) and have a good balance of text (in a readable font), white space, and images. An effective fact sheet is informative and visually interesting. Use your creativity! Below are two example fact sheets on bioproducts:

Dupont Biobased Products Factsheet Links to an external site. - this is informative, but the plain black font and lack of images makes it very dull and boring to look at.

USDA Bioproducts Factsheet Links to an external site. - this one is much more visually appealing; the only downside is it’s a bit too lengthy.

It is important to keep your audience in mind as you write the text for your fact sheet. You have to assume that your reader has little prior knowledge of the topic, and will not be familiar with much of the terminology we have used in this class. It is important to define any terms you use (note that the first thing in the Dupont example was a definition of biobased products). Informative subject headings within the document will also help your reader follow your narrative.

Content & Formatting Expectations

In terms of content, your fact sheet should:

Define any unknown words/concepts.
Provide the reader with information on the bioproduct/bioenergy you’ve chosen. Below are some ideas to get you started. You only have two pages, so we do not expect you to answer all of these questions. It is up to you to decide which topics are relevant to your bioproduct/bioenergy and worthy of inclusion in your fact sheet.
- What biomass source is the product made from? Where does the plant grow? Where do the different products come from on/in the plant? What’s the history of this biomass as a source of material?
- What is the manufacturing process for the bioproduct/bioenergy? Where is it made? Is it difficult to produce or not? Why?
- What is it used for? What are the key attributes of the product? Is it sold commercially?
- What is the likely outlook for the future expansion (or reduction) in the use of this bioproduct/bioenergy? Why? What factors (regulation, environmental concern, etc.) currently affect its use?
Explain why the reader should care about the bioproduct/bioenergy, how it relates to their everyday lives, or possibly benefits to users of the product
Compare the bioproduct/bioenergy to the non-renewable alternatives:
- What are the environmental, social, and economic impacts of producing this bioproduct/bioenergy? Are those impacts greater or lesser than those of a non-renewable alternative?
- How feasible would it be to adopt it and/or convert from a mineral-based product/energy source to a bio-based alternative?

How you organize this information is ultimately up to you, but keep in mind that being interesting and engaging is just as important as being informative.

In terms of formatting, your fact sheet must:

Cite sources for all factual information
Optimally two pages in length - see rubric for point deductions on page length.
Have a balance of readable text, images, and white space
Use appropriate communication strategies for presenting technical material
Be well-organized and free of spelling and grammatical errors

Below are some additional examples of fact sheets. These are not related to bioproducts/ bioenergy, but they can help you visualize what the format should generally look like:

Grading Breakdown

Content (70 pts)	Poor	Average	Excellent
Information on product (30 pts)	Little information provided on source, production, and use.	Vague or incomplete information provided on product.	Information on source, production, and use of product all provided.
Definitions (10 pts)	Technical terms not defined.	Some technical terms defined.	All technical terms are defined correctly.
Benefit/relevance to consumer (15 pts)	Product benefits or relevance not described.	Somewhat clear why the reader might be interested in the product.	It is clear how the product is relevant or beneficial to the reader’s life.
Comparison to alternative (15 pts)	Unclear how bioproduct compares to non-renewable alternatives.	Vague or incomplete comparison between bioproduct & non-renewable alternatives.	Bioproduct is compared to non-renewable alternatives in terms of environmental impact, economics & feasibility.

Format (30 pts)	Poor	Average	Excellent
Citations (5 pts)	Factual information is not cited or is not cited correctly.	Some factual information is cited correctly.	All factual information is cited correctly.
Length (5 pts)	Less than one page or Longer than 2 pages.	NA	Between 1.5 and 2 pages
Grammar (5 pts)	Major grammatical and/or spelling errors. Document is disorganized and difficult to follow.	Minor grammatical and/or spelling errors. Document is fairly easy to follow.	Document is well organized, easy to read, and free of grammatical and spelling errors.
Visual balance (5 pts)	Document has poor balance of text, images, and white space and is not visually interesting	Some visual interest, but document is not well balanced.	Document is visually interesting with a good balance of text, images, and white space.
Presentation of technical material (10 pts)	Information is not accessible to a general audience.	Information is communicated somewhat effectively for a general audience.	Information is communicated effectively for a general audience.