Geography 111: Introduction to Physical and Environmental Geography
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Geog 111 Course Project
last updated: 12/9/05
Course Project
The Geography 111 course project is intended to get you thinking about and researching environmental issues you are interested in. The Geography 111 course project entails the following four steps:
- Chapter Review: Select a chapter that
interests you from
Middleton's The Global Casino (excluding chapters 1-3) and write a 6 page
review of that chapter.
- Focus Topic and Annotated Bibliography: Select a particular topic of interest from the Middleton chapter you reviewed, and locate at least two relevant books, two relevant articles, and two relevant WWW sites on the topic. Write a 250-300 word review of each of your sources.
- Presentation: Present your topic to the class during weeks 14-16.
- Course Project Synthesis: Combine your revised Middleton chapter summary (already complete) with your Annotated Bibliography (with minor revisions if needed), the outline or notes for your presentation, and a summary of the entire project and what you learned.
- Focus Topic and Annotated Bibliography: Select a particular topic of interest from the Middleton chapter you reviewed, and locate at least two relevant books, two relevant articles, and two relevant WWW sites on the topic. Write a 250-300 word review of each of your sources.
- 1 page: Summarize the topic of the reading: Note key concepts and issues
and examples. Write this summary so that you communicate, in one page, what the
environmental issue discussed in the chapter is about.
- 4 pages: Summarize the main conclusions of the chapter: What are the most
urgent aspects of the environmental problem outlined in the chapter? Who are the
major 'players' involved in the problem (industry, government, etc.)? What
solutions to environmental problems does Middleton (and people he quotes)
suggest? What are the main impediments to solutions?
- 1 pages: Three Focus Topics: The last part of you critical summary should be an assessment of what you think are three of the most interesting and vital issues raised in the chapter. This may be a one part of the chapter (eg., in the Waste chapter, you may find Toxic Waste Remediation absolutely fascinating) or it may focus on conflict between major players involved in debates over the issue (such as organizations who believe global warming to be a major threat and organizations that don't believe global warming is a threat). Choose three topics that interest you! Why is this issue of interest to you? Why is it a vital environmental issue? Be creative and please attempt to pursue issues you are interested in. In the next part of the exercise you will select one of these three topics to focus upon in more detail.
Important Dates for Middleton text Chapter Review part of Course Project:
At the end of your Middleton chapter review, you defined three
topics of interest related to issues discussed in the chapter. Select
one of the three topics as your focus topic. You will locate,
at minimum, the following resources related to your focus topic:
Help locating relevant sources will be provided by your instructor and Deb
Peoples, science librarian at OWU. It is important that you learn how to
locate resources from a diversity of sources, and that you learn how to
assess the quality and relevance of these resources. Class time will be
spent assisting you in both of these endeavors.
It is vital that you determine the best sources for learning more
about your focus topic, then seek those sources wherever they may be. Do
not select sources only because they are easy to find (full text
articles on the WWW or a book that just happens to be on the shelf at
Beeghly). You may have to order an article through inter-library loan, or
get a book from another campus. It may take weeks for such sources
to get to you at OWU - thus you cannot wait until the last minute to get
sources.
A good starting point for Environmental resources is Deb People's list of
Environmental Studies
Information Sources.
Once you locate your sources, you will write about 250-300 words per
source (book sources may be a bit longer). Preface your annotated
bibliography with the one paragraph description of your focus topic
you wrote earlier in the semester (include any changes to your focus topic
in this paragraph).
Details about correct
citation style and writing an annotated bibliography will be
presented in class. Also recall in-class discussions about evaluating information on the WWW.
Important Dates for Focus Topic and Annotated Bibliography part of Course Project:
You will present a summary of your course project in class. Each student should
prepare a TEN minute presentation (with about a minute for set up and a
minute for questions at the end). You should spend most of the time on your
focus topic, but also touch on the context of the topic (the Middleton chapter).
You have access to the WWW, computer, and computer projector and all presentations
must use PowerPoint or a HTML presentation.
More information on how to organize and present material is available on
the course Presentation Skills
page prepared by Deb Peoples.
Please consider using a handout with a presentation outline and relevant
graphs or maps for your presentation. Your instructor can make copies;
please get the master to him 24 hours before your presentation.
PowerPoint Presentations:
Important Dates for Course Project Presentations:
You are not required to write a final paper as part of your course project.
Instead, consider your Presentation and a Project Synthesis as the
final products. The Project Synthesis (due the last day class meets) consists of:
E-mail: jbkrygier@owu.edu
Your final grade for the course project consists of:
Important Dates for Course Project Summary and Synthesis: