Question: Geography 202
Dr. Sunderman
Research Project Guidelines
- This semester we survey human-modified regions of North America called regional landscapes. The research project assignment of Geography 202 provides you with the opportunity to investigate human/environment relations in a sub-region of one of these regional landscapes.
- In this paper, you are to identify one of the regional landscapes surveyed in this course, and to develop your own geographical study of a sub-region within its borders. Regional landscapes correspond to the chapter divisions in the Birdsall and Florin textbook. An example of this is Philadelphia as a sub-region of the Megalopolis regional landscape. Another example is the Central Valley in the regional landscape of California.
- You should select a sub-region of a manageable spatial scale. In the paper, start by presenting the key physical geographic characteristics of the sub-region, and provide an overview of its relevant regional historical geography. Most importantly, you are to develop a specific thematic interpretation of how this sub-region fits within its regional landscape context. This should form the core of the paper's thesis.
- Successful papers will take into account the contribution of at least one professional geographer in the formulation of your thesis. To illustrate this, consider the example of Philadelphia in the sub-region of Megalopolis. It is too broad to simply do "a geography of Philadelphia." Instead, one might select the important theme of gentrification, and to find relevant sources in the geographical literature on this theme. Then one could apply this knowledge to a specific study of your own on gentrification in a neighborhood of. Then one could compare and contrast the on-the-ground events in your study region with broader patterns of gentrification in the regional landscape of Megalopolis.
- Your one-page paper proposal should include a detailed outline of the region and theme(s) you intend to address in the form of a clear thesis, and a written description of your topic and the approach you intend to take. You must also provide a formatted preliminary bibliography, with citing the published work of at least one professional geographer relevant to your region and/or theme. The bibliography should occupy a second page of this outline. The outline will comprise 10% of the cumulative term paper grade.
- No papers addressing the regions of Hawaii or Michigan may be submitted. The point of this restriction is not to thwart you, but to encourage you to think outside the boundaries of our immediate regional surroundings to consider the variety of regional landscapes and issues facing North America as a whole.
- A satisfactory research paper will be a minimum of ten-pages long, double-spaced in a typeface no larger than 12 points. This ten-page minimum includes the title page, the bibliography, maps, or other supplemental materials.
- The finished paper will include: 1) a cover page with a suitably interesting (and relevant) title; 2) an introduction in which a central thesis is clearly defined; 3) the body of the paper, comprising sections in which different aspects of the thesis are presented and interpreted; 4) a summary and conclusion; 5) a works cited section containing at least 8 MLA formatted references, of which only two of this minimum may be websites. You may include additional web-based sources, but not at the expense of journals articles and books obtained through thorough library research.
- You are required to include a minimum of two references to the research results of professional geographers, preferably drawn from scholarly journals, or books by geographers. You may not cite the textbook to satisfy this requirement. Examples of suggested journals include: The Annals of the Association of American Geographers, The Geographical Review, and The Professional Geographer. Of course, other peer-reviewed geography journals are acceptable. Probably the best place to find an article of this nature is enter the geographical journals database of JSTOR and other online databases. JSTOR is a web-based database of scholarly journals that is part of the SVSU library resources.
- The final paper must include a minimum of one map that clearly depicts the relative location, and relevant place features of the region you address in your paper. This map may be of your own design, or it may be drawn from another source. If you choose the latter option, you must properly cite the source of this map.
- You are urged to use the MLA format for citing references. This requirement includes references electronic sources. If you are unsure about any part of this requirement, obtain the free guidelines form MLA citation guides which are always available at the University Writing Center. The University Writing Center, located on the 3rd floor of the library, is an excellent resource for helping ensure professionalism in the completion of your research paper. If you bring a pre-submission draft to the University Writing Center, be sure to have the coordinator send a visitation report to Dr. Sunderman. Completion of this step will result in a 5 point bonus added to the overall paper grade.
- Grades for the paper (both drafts and the outline) will be determined by utilizing the grading rubric that may be accessed on the VSpace site. This rubric awards prescribed points for a variety of parameters. You are encouraged to use this rubric to help guide your preparation of a research paper that fulfills these parameters.