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| Giant tubeworms |
Photos on this page by David Brenner, courtesy of Alaska Sea Grant College Program, Bridge Ocean Sciences Education Resource Center.
Write a fictional descriptive essay about an exploration of the ocean depths. Travel into the depths and write a first-person narrative. Include at least three of the five senses in your description of your expedition.
To obtain the information you need to write your narrative, plunge into the subjects of oceanography and marine biology. Learn about the discoveries, technology, and advances of these sciences.
STEP 1: Initial Search
Begin your research with visits to the following Web sites:
Extreme 2000: Voyage to the Deep
Explore any of these topics: Mission and Crew: Seafloor Geology; Creature Features; Toxic Chemistry; High-Tech Tools. There is also an extensive resource guide. This University of Delaware site is packed with fascinating facts about the bottom of the sea. Learn about vent crabs, tubeworms, ancient bacteria, the Mid-Ocean Ridge (a chain of undersea volcanoes), and much more about deep sea geology and inhabitants.
National Geographic: Kaikoura Expedition
Search: Canyon; Creatures; Crew
New Zealand's Kaikoura Canyon is a little-explored maze of undersea trenches, home to a rich variety of marine flora and fauna, including sperm whales and the elusive giant squid.
Dive and Discover: Expeditions to the Seafloor
Choose any or all of five different expeditions that take you around the world to explore spectacular hydrothermal sea vents, towering undersea volcanoes that are thousands of meters deep, and the bizarre creatures that live at the bottom of the sea. This site is funded by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and the National Science Foundation. It is an interactive, distance-learning Web site that brings you on board a series of research cruises in the Pacific and Indian oceans. It gives you access to the latest oceanographic and deep submergence research as it happens.
The Jason Project VII
Click on one of the images to find expedition journals, field studies, and shark tracking pages.
PBS Online
Click on "The Deep Sea" for articles and animations of deep-sea objects and technology.
Search for specific information about undersea discoveries. Take notes on the discoveries, the people involved, the expeditions, and the animals or formations that were discovered. This is a huge field of study, so keep an open mind as you browse.
STEP 2: Focus Your Search
Focus your search on one discovery or expedition. Use cluster diagrams to organize the details you have discovered about that event. (See Grammar for Writing, Level Gold, pages 10–11.)
Search the Internet for more information on a specific scientist, expedition, or discovery. You may need to do several specific searches to find what you need. Explore other resources, such as newspaper and magazine articles and scientific journals.
STEP 3: Define Your Audience
A first-person account is written in narrative style. Target your narrative to your classmates and other high school students. They probably know little about discoveries of life under the sea. Be sure your detailed narrative describes the discoveries you selected. Use friendly, informal words and an approachable tone. Don't get too technical—explain things in everyday words.
STEP 4: Brainstorm Ideas
Once you have done your preliminary research, brainstorm how you will approach your narrative; include sensory descriptions as well as factual details. (To review brainstorming, see Grammar for Writing, Level Gold, pages 9–10.)
Be sure you understand the vocabulary you will use in your narrative. You can't use a word if you don't know both its definition and usage. (To review how to use a dictionary, see Grammar for Writing, Level Gold, page 319.)
If you are taking the reader in a submarine to 3,500 feet below sea level, you won't want to start with the first ten feet of the dive. Begin mid-dive, when the last glimmer of sunlight is barely visible—or pick the moment when you start feeling the intensity of the experience. Thrust your readers into the experience: make them feel what you feel and see what you see.
STEP 5: Organize Your Ideas and Write a Rough Draft
Develop an outline of the material. Include a glossary that will add realism to your narrative, then write a rough draft of your first-person account. Be sure to write about your feelings during the expedition as well sensory descriptions of the descent and any creatures and geological features you see.
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| The Woods Hole research submersible Alvin about to launch |
STEP 6: Revise, Edit and Proofread Your Writing
As you revise, make sure that your narrative begins with some background information. Let the reader know where you are and what is going on. Write the events chronologically using transition words such as then, next, the following, or finally. Reread your narrative. Make sure that each paragraph has a topic sentence and that all the sentences in the paragraph support that topic. Add details and sensory descriptions to your paragraphs to give readers a clear idea of the experiences you have.
Edit your writing for grammatical errors; then proofread your work carefully for spelling, punctuation, and capitalization errors.
STEP 7: Publish Your Work
Present your narrative to the class. You might also provide illustrations to accompany your writing.
Copyright ©2007 by William H. Sadlier, Inc. All rights reserved.