Assignment 1: The Presentation
Project Overview: For this project, you choose a food or drink item, a cuisine, an invention or an idea, and then research how four geographic concepts are related to and affect your choice. Instead of presenting your research as a traditional paper, you'll use PowerPoint or similar presentation software to create a narrated presentation. Your presentation will be structured like a paper, including a title, introduction to the topic, main body, summary and conclusions, and references. Creative use of properly cited graphics and photos from the Internet relevant to your topic is required.
First, choose a food item, cuisine, invention or idea that interests you. Some will have more information available about them than others, so it's worth doing some investigation before you settle on one. If you're not sure if your desired topic is appropriate, please feel free to ask!
Once you have selected your topic, you will then do research to see how each of the following geographic concepts affects or is related to your topic:
- regions,
- cultural landscape
- diffusion
- and distance deca
The first three concepts are well covered in your textbook. Distance decay refers to the fact that influence and interaction between locations decreases as the distance between them increases. As such, it has a significant influence on how things change as they diffuse away from their point of origin. Be sure to address these specific geographic terms and concepts. You don't need to address them in this order, but you do need to address all of them. You may use "subsets" of these definitions (e.g. contagious diffusion) if such subsets exist.
Be sure to refer to your text and other reliable resources to ensure you completely understand these concepts. You should be detailed in your treatment of these concepts - for instance, you should explain both how and why your choice varies by region, and how and why it has been affected by distance decay. Remember that geography, as an academic discipline, seeks to explain why things vary from place to place, not just describe how they do.
You will complete this project in 3 separate assignments: an annotated bibliography, an outline, and your final presentation. In this assignment, you will complete your presentation.
Assignment Objective: Develop an audio-narrated PowerPoint presentation based on the research you have conducted about your chosen topic.
Assignment Instructions: Using the course project steps completed to date, you will develop your presentation based on the work you submitted for Assignments 1 and 2 as well as the feedback you were given.
To prepare for this assignment, I recommend that you do the following:
Read these directions carefully.
Message me with any questions!
Presentation requirements:
Your presentation will be submitted as an audio-narrated PowerPoint. For instructions on how to create audio narration in PowerPoint, see the following link: Record a Slide Show With Narration. Audio narration is a requirement!
There must be a visual element (e.g., photos, videos, graphs, figures).
Your presentation must contain approximately 10-15 slides (excluding references) and run approximately 5-10 minutes.
Proper use and pronunciation of geographic terminology are required.
Be sure to properly cite your work, both internal to the presentation as well as within the reference slide (this includes photos, graphs, figures, videos, etc.).
All references listed on the reference slide should be cited internally within the presentation, and vice versa.
The required elements: Your presentation should contain the following elements in the order listed below. Specific content for each section is detailed in
Assignment 2: The Outline.
In addition, I expect that any feedback provided to you from Assignment 1: Annotated Bibliography and Assignment 2: The Outline be incorporated into this assignment. Please go back and review those comments.
Introduction - this section must contain your topic, why you chose your topic, and preview where your topic developed and diffused to.
Body (Content) - this section must contain examine how your topic relates to four geographic concepts: regions, cultural landscapes, diffusion and distance decay
Conclusion Slide - this section must contain four to six points that sum up the main topics of the presentation.
Reference Slide (and Internal Citations) - this section must contain the following:
Internal citations - This is not just a separate section; rather, referencing should occur throughout the presentation via parenthetical citations anytime you paraphrase, make direct quotes, or use visual components from other sources. Please be sure to cite any language, images, videos, etc. in the presentation that should be cited.
Reference Slide - Your paper should also have a final reference slide listing at least 5 credible sources researched for your presentation.
Do not include your summary/evaluation from Assignment 1: Annotated Bibliography; simply list the references utilized in your presentation in APA format on the reference slide.