321term paper
assignment
Louisiana Tech
University Geography
Geography 205h: Cultural
Geography Graves
Why do we have to do a term
paper?
There
are several reasons for doing research projects. The most important reason for such an exercise is to give
students an opportunity to learn something new and valuable. Another important reason involves giving you
a chance to practice your writing skills.
Since the ability to write well is highly valued by employers, but
generally underdeveloped among most students, it is important that you practice
writing frequently. A research project
also gives students a chance to demonstrate their progress in a medium other
than multiple choice tests. Students
who do poorly on multiple choice tests may be do better on a paper or
project.
How long does it have to be?
Always
the first questions students ask, and probably the most annoying because it
demonstrates a commitment to doing the least possible work for a passing grade. The minimum answer to this question is 10
pages, but there are more details included in these guidelines, so read
on.
What can I write about? (or
for the whiners…. What do I have to write about?)
You
should write about a significant, ordinary American cultural phenomenon,
particularly one with place or space implications. This phenomenon can be a building, a billboard, a collection of
landscape items, images of landscape items, or any other piece of the cultural environment. You are to discuss the creation,
maintenance, contestation, subversion, etc. of the meaning of this item. Your source materials can be as wide or as
narrow as you like, but you should be looking for public discourse on the cultural
item that is the point of struggle.
What are the format requirements?
The
format of the written part of the project should conform to known standards of
presentation. It should look
professional or scholarly. Appearance
and neatness always count.
1.
All
papers must be typed and they should be done on a word processor.
2.
Margins
should be about 1 inch all the way around.
3.
Font
size should be 10 or 12 and of a standard type, such as Times New Roman.
4.
Double
space your paragraphs.
5.
You
should have a title page, but don’t put your name on it.
6.
Please write your four digit
ID on the back of the last page ONLY…(not as a header on each page or on the
title page). This helps me grade your
work more objectively.
7.
Staple
your pages together in the top left corner.
I don’t like binders, folders and other things of that sort.
When is it due? ______________
The
due date shall be decided by a vote made by the class. A secondary due date shall also be decided
upon for those students who want some early feedback. Students who would like some helpful criticism may turn in a
draft of their opening paragraph and
a tentative bibliography. The opening
paragraph (or two) should outline the course the larger paper will take. This paragraph should have introductory
statement, a suggestion of critical content of the paper and of your estimated
conclusions.
How many references do we
need?
The number of references is not important. The quality of reference material and the appropriateness of the references to your project are important. Because this is an upper-division course, I expect upper-division-quality reference material. Some papers may not have any references, depending on their subject matter. Some papers may draw their data from unusual sources, like trade magazines, art books, the internet or from TV.
What about footnoting and
bibliographies and that sort of stuff?
Footnotes
and citations are designed to give credit to those people whose ideas you may
repeat in your paper. Citations also
keep you from being credited with ideas or opinions that you might find
embarrassing or controversial. To copy
down someone else’s ideas or data without giving them credit is plagiarism,
a serious academic offense that is easy to detect and will be rewarded with a
failing grade. To avoid the appearance
of plagiarism, it is very easy to begin cited sentences with an expression such
as, “According to McGriff,….”.
As
a simple rule, the only two things you should need to cite are:
1.
Ideas and opinions cited by another
author(s). These are ideas that are
unique to that person. Ideas or
opinions that are not controversial or those held by many people are generally
not necessary to cite.
2.
Data
that has been collected by another author or source. The source for tables, statistics, and other numbers should be
cited, especially if there is some controversy surrounding the data (such might
be the case with estimates of illegal immigrants…. but not with the population
of Denmark). Data found in almanacs and
encyclopedias are rarely cited.
I
recommend that you use the parenthetical “Chicago” reference style used by
geographers. For example, you’ve found
an opinion expressed by author Joe Smith on page 82 of a book called Insights by an Egghead published by
Smartypants Press in 1995. You would
reference this simply by typing within or following the appropriate sentence
(Smith 82:1995). If you prefer another
citation style, use it in a consistent manner.
**Save
all your notes and preparatory materials.
I reserve the right to ask that you make them available to me upon
turning in your paper.
Hints and Suggestions
·
Be
creative. You don’t have to do a
standard term paper on a boring topic.
People who have fun with their project generally do a much better job.
·
PROOFREADING
is an absolute must. Get a friend or a
classmate to read your paper and do the same for them. Poor grammar and spelling will result in an
unfavorable evaluation.
·
New
versions of Microsoft Word and WordPerfect will help you with your spelling and
with grammar. Writing in the passive
voice is a major problem for students.
If you don’t know how to use this program or this function, ask me or a
friend for help.
·
Avoid
doing a book report. The idea behind a
paper is to give you a chance to express your opinions. You may evaluate, synthesize or analyze others opinions,
but to simply collect and record the ideas of others is boring and gives me
little to evaluate your effort. Without
your own opinions and ideas, I have nothing to grade.
·
The
most effective way to use footnotes is to use them as a backdrop to your own
ideas. Expert opinion can be used to
support your argument or offer a counterpoint to your own. Any monkey can “cut and paste” a bunch of
quotes and ideas together, but I CANNOT GRADE YOU ON SOMEONE ELSE’S IDEAS!!! Overuse of other people’s words, ideas and
opinions will get you a much lower grade.
·
The
most important thing to keep in mind when you pick a topic is to keep it
narrowly focused on one well thought out issue or question.
·
Keep
in mind that the purpose of this activity is to get you to learn
something. If you want to do something
out of the ordinary, sketch out your ideas, then consult with me.
·
For
those students in classes with textbooks, check the “For Further Reading”
section(s) at the end of the chapter or the end of the course text. These sections can help you get a head start
on your library work.
·
Avoid
the temptation to “recycle” old papers or to “rely too heavily” on the
library’s convenient article retrieval system.
You would be amazed how easily I might interpret such action as
“cheating” and assign the project a failing grade. (in other words DON’T CHEAT, I’ll catch you and fail you).
·
Essays
make good term papers.
·
Get
started early and plan on finishing this project two weeks before it is
due. Papers done the night before they
are due are almost without fail poorly written, incomplete and not thoroughly
considered.
·
DEMONSTRATE TO ME THAT YOU
CAN THINK CRITICALLY!
Due
Date: _____________________ Early
Due Date: _______________________
This guide roughly outlines the things that I consider while I am evaluating your paper. I provide this guide in order to help you better prepare your paper. The numbers on the right-hand edge of this guide represent the maximum percentage I will deduct from papers failing to meet this component of the paper requirements. I reserve the right to use considerable discretion with regard to this guide.
Title
page? ________ 5
Stapled
in upper left hand corner? ________ 2
Minimum/maximum
length? ________ 10
Presentation
(margins, font size etc.) ________ 5
Punctuation,
Spelling, Grammar and Syntax: ________ 10
Meets
subject matter criteria (is it significant/everyday/landscape) ________ 20
Quality
of source material ________ 10
Appropriate
use of source material ________ 10
Quantity of source material ________ 3
Properly cited? ________ 3
Properly referenced? ________ 3
Quality/Quantity
of critical thinking ________ 50
Appropriate percentage of the text
is the student’s idea/opinion? ________ 10
Did the student describe the
landscape item? ________ 20
Of what quality was the student’s analysis or
evaluation of
the landscape item? ________ 30
For
example, I might evaluate whether or not the student… Check?
Established that the landscape item has a meaning ________
Established a
political/religious/cultural connection with the item ________
Explained how the item
maintains/subverts systems of dominance ________
Offered an alternate explanation of
the item or society ________
Compared the item’s significance
with another item ________
Etc.
Does the paper seem recycled/plagiarized? ________ 40