What are themes and how are they used in the ENVS Program? Themes are points of departure for situated research, addressing major environmental topics in particular contexts. ENVS has created a number of research themes for each site as a way to bundle site-specific issues, high quality data and resources, and individual/group projects. Themes are linked from each research site page; see the ENVS research sites page for a complete list.

If you have an idea for a theme, please communicate this to us at envs@lclark.edu. If you are interested in working with ENVS to develop a theme, keep in mind that they are intended to get students thinking about particular issues and, thus, do not need to exhaustive. Instead, they should provide an overview of a given topic, problem, or area; think of a theme as a "sandbox" in which to play. Being a web-based resource, it's important to keep in mind the aesthetic dimension of developing a theme: too much information can overwhelm the user (and webpage scrolling negates the utility of a compact overview). Here is the template each theme is to follow:

• Theme Overview: This serves as an abstract for the theme. A good theme overview should begin with basic information about the research site and environmental issue, followed by a broader perspective on the interesting complexities the issue presents in a particular location. Situating an issue within the context of the research site is very important. If a citation is in order, please use an endnote [author, date] and properly cite in the "References" section found below.
• Focus Questions: Three or four questions that flow from the overview stated above; these should be bulleted, and guide the user toward formulating even more focused research questions. Focus questions should aim to be a model of how to think about a particular aspect of an issue, and prompt readers to make new connections.
• Research Resources: Between six and ten web-based resources, bulleted and alphabetized by resource name. Web resources should ideally be relevant journal articles, news items or websites of organizations that provide useful information. Each should have a brief title and a one-sentence description including the type of resource and summary information. It's also important to make sure that each resource has also been properly tagged in our Delicious research site database.
• References: If you have included any citations in the theme overview above, be sure to cite the references here. Feel free to use any standard style as long as you are consistent.
• Additional Resources: List the name(s) of the theme developer(s) and the semester it was added. In addition, you should include a link to additional resources in Delicious (since there will often be more than just the 6-10 you have included in your theme). To do so, copy the search string in Delicious for all resources connected to this research site and add it here.

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