Assignment: Description
An assignment is a short research paper where a specific component of regional geography will be examined on the example of two countries.
The writing assignment is worth 15 % of your final grade.
Rationale
This assignment will evaluate the following course learning outcomes:
CLO2. Explain the spatial interactions between the physical environment and human activities.
CLO3. Compare and contrast the physical and human patterns and their spatial variations in different regional contexts.
CLO4. Use and interpret the various types of cartographic resources to explain geographic phenomena and their interrelationships in world regions.
CLO5. Apply various geographical concepts to the study of a specific region.
CLO6. Examine the complexities of regional and global environmental, demographic, cultural, political, and socio-economic phenomena
Directions
This assignment aims to examine and compare one specific topic/issue in the geography of a selected world region for two countries in the region – for this semester – Middle and South America.
The issues can be related to any aspect of geography: human-environmental interaction; global change; geopolitical issues; demographical issues (population growth, fertility rate, aging, etc.); cultural geography; ethnic/religious problems; economic development: social issues (poverty; slums; geography of criminal activities, etc.), and other.
The topic should be discussed in both countries. For example, if you choose two countries, Peru and Panama, and deforestation as the problem, you should discuss this topic in both countries (analyze and compare/contrast).
This semester, you can select any two Middle and South American countries.
To collect your data and information, you can use Conestoga library resources, as well as internet resources, including academic journals’ papers, official media publications, and websites of reliable international organizations (e.g., CIA world factbook at .https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/Opens in a new tab)
The students must use at least three (3) sources, cite them in-text, and include them in the bibliography.
Wikipedia cannot be considered a reliable source except for the figures/pictures/graphs.
The assignment should include the following elements:
Introduction (one paragraph, general information regarding your topic);
Basic geographical information about the countries (a couple of paragraphs: physical geography and human geography – the main characteristics of the countries);
Description of the theme/problem/issue (several paragraphs);
Analysis and comparison (several paragraphs);
Conclusion (two paragraphs maximum, including your personal opinion regarding the topic/ issue).
The assignment should consist of 3 pages of text minimum (Word or PDF document; double spaced, 12 points, APA format citations including in-text citations) plus a title page and bibliography.
Illustrations/ maps might be included in the assignment as an appendix (not in the text);
All the citations in the text and references cited should follow a uniform APA format according to standard models (see APA Conestoga for the details).
Wikipedia cannot be used as a reference source.
Students should identify all content produced by generative AI, even when AI content has been combined with their ideas or thoughts or utilized in brainstorming or proofreading. A note must be added after the references: “ChatGPT (or another AI) assisted in (brainstorming or proofreading only) for this assignment.”
How Your Assignment Will Be Graded
The rubric for the assignment has been created and can be found on eConestoga.
Submission folders can be accessed by selecting Course Tools and then Assignments on the course navigation bar.
Unless otherwise stated, your assignment will be graded seven business days after it is due.
