Physical Geography Research Paper

GEOG 1301 RESEARCH PAPER

Each student will compare and contrast the physical geography of a pair of assigned territories. The territory pairs are listed below the assignment instructions. This writing assignment is designed to provide students with a more in-depth understanding of prominent physical geography features in the two assigned territories. Additionally, the assignment will provide a more thorough understanding of the human/nature interactions, along with environmental issues, that take place within these territories.

Due Date: See syllabus schedule. Late Penalty: As stated in syllabus.

Format: The paper needs to be at least 5 full pages of writing total. It needs to all be turned in as one single essay, in paragraph form complete with introduction and conclusion paragraphs and a thesis statement. No more than 10% of this assignment should be quoted word-for-word (even if in quotation marks). See Page 3 for the list of questions to answer for the paper.

Papers are to be double-spaced, 12-font with 1-inch margins. No cover page is required. Have your name written at the top of the first page, with a title and page numbers. The intro paragraph needs to have a specific thesis statement that gives a brief-but-specific overview of your analysis of the material in its entirety (Tip: The thesis is best written AFTER doing all the research and writing in the body of your paper).

The amount of writing on each of your two territories should be roughly equal in length. Any photographs, maps, tables, etc., need to be attached at the end of the paper only, and they do not count as part of the length of the paper. A cover page will not count towards the paper length.

Writing about territories other than the ones assigned to you will result in a 30% reduction of your score.

Grammar, Spelling: It is expected that these papers are free of excessive grammatical and spelling errors.

Sources: Needed: At least 5 academic/scholarly sources. Use MLA, APA, or Chicago Manual of Style which you can Google to find websites with examples of these formats.

Scholarly sources include: Journal articles from college library or college library website. Books from researchers (at college library). “Dot-gov” websites. Most encyclopedias Do not use Wikipedia in the paper, as that information will not count as part of the paper.

Non-scholarly sources include: News articles, pop culture websites, magazines, or other forms of mass media.

In-Text Citations and Bibliography:

To avoid plagiarism, all sources MUST be cited in the body of your paper AND listed in a bibliography, otherwise you will receive a score of ZERO for the paper and potentially an F for the entire course! Parenthetical citations are to be placed at the end of EACH sentence where you received a specific quote, idea, or a statistic from one of your sources.

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A good rule of thumb is that if you have at least a couple citations in each paragraph, you will probably not be accused of plagiarizing (unless you often quote word-for-word without quotation marks). However, you will still lose points if you do not cite ALL of the sentences which need citations.

Examples of in-text parenthetical citations: http://www.aresearchguide.com/sampleparenth.html

Assistance: Recommended starting points: – HCC Library’s Geography Page: https://library.hccs.edu/geography/home – Google Scholar – World Factbook from CIA.GOV (an online encyclopedia) – Academic Search Complete (journal database) – JSTOR (journal database)

Library Services: HCC librarians have made a special effort to reach out to students, allowing them to communicate with a librarian by email, live-chat, Instant Messenger, and phone; to use databases and ebooks from home; to request transfer of books to a campus closer to the student’s home, etc. The link to the Library is provided on every HCC website at the top of each page: http://library.hccs.edu/home

Libline: One of the links at the above library webpage is called Libline. They call it their “lifeline for students” because it provides a way for students to contact librarians and to access online databases. See http://libline.blogspot.com/

Upswing: Online Tutoring HCC offers 24-hour access to tutors online. Students can get free tutoring for a variety of subjects. Papers can be submitted for advice, with an approximate 24-hour turn-around at https://hccs.upswing.io/

3 Ways to Avoid an Automatic ZERO (and being reported to the Dean):

1) Use parenthetical citations as needed inside the body of your paper.

2) Include a Bibliography/Works Cited page at the end of your paper.

3) Do not copy multiple paragraphs from other sources without citing. Copying over 20% of your paper directly from another source, especially without providing citations, is an automatic F.

Any student scoring below a 50 is allowed to revise the paper (with a 15 point revision penalty) as long as they show proof that they attended a session with the HCC Writing Center and they turn it in a week before the Final Exam.

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The parts of the course paper (also include an introduction paragraph with a thesis statement):

Be sure to support any of your own opinions with research that you cite in the paper itself.

Part 1: Lithosphere – For each territory, what is one major geologic feature found there (can include mountains, mountain ranges, deserts, plains, coasts, etc)? Briefly describe these features and how they came to look like how they do today. How have they formed, been shaped over time, etc? – What do you see as some pros and cons for how are humans using these features (tourism, nature reserves, sacred land, mining, etc)? In other words, how has the human impact been beneficial or harmful to people and the natural environment in the region?

Part 2: Atmosphere – For each territory, describe the year-round climate found in the majority of the territory (climate charts called “climographs” will help with this). If there is a wide variety of climate types in one territory, just pick one city and describe its climate. Be sure to include information about temperature, precipitation, and seasonal changes. – Aside from warmer temperatures, what are two ways long-term climate change has impacted each of your assigned territories (such as changes in weather, seasons, wildlife, landforms, people, etc)? What is being done about it (either local efforts or global efforts to help reduce the impacts)?

Part 3: Hydrosphere – What is one major body of water found within, or adjacent to, each of your assigned territories? Briefly describe them and where they are found within your territories. – What do you see as some pros and cons for how are humans using these hydrologic features (fishing, boating, shipping, drilling, etc)?

Part 4: Biosphere: – What are the most widespread biomes in your assigned territories? (Check a biome map!) Briefly describe these biomes and where they are found within your territories. – What are a few of the most common species of wildlife (plants or animals) in your assigned territories? – Which species are native to your territories, and which ones came from elsewhere (called “exotic” species)? – What are some of the species listed as endangered in each territory? Why are they endangered?

Part 5: Putting It All Together / Concluding Paragraphs – All four spheres of physical geography are interconnected. For each of the assigned territories, what are two ways that one sphere of physical geography impacts another sphere of physical geography? For example, how does the atmosphere affect the biosphere, or how does the hydrosphere impact the lithosphere? Be brief but provide specific examples from your two territories. – What do you see as the two most urgent environmental concerns for each of the two territories to address, and why? Explain your logic. What types of programs/efforts exist to improve these issues (if you haven’t written about them earlier in the paper)?

The assigned Territory for HT :

Newfoundland (Canada),