Paper Guidelines for
Geography 2002 – Spring 2007
Purpose of the Paper:
In the paper that you are required to submit
to your TA, we want you to take a position and then develop and present a coherent
argument on one of the topics that have been debated in class. For the paper,
the topic choice can be any one of the five debates that we will have this Spring semester.
a) The war in
b) The geopolitics of
c) Aftermath of the war in
d) Solving Conflicts in
e) The Second Partition of Palestine
You are required to take one of the five
perspectives on the debate of your choice, gather information to support your
case, argue it fluently with supporting evidence, and package it well. You do
not have to choose one of the positions that you argued in oral debate but it
must be one of the many (25) options available.
Paper Mechanics:
The paper must be between 4 and 6 typed
pages (11 pt or 12 pt fonts). It should
have a cover sheet with your name, student ID number, recitation section
(time/day) and TA name. You can attach any supporting evidence (maps, charts,
graphs, tables, etc) but you must refer to them in the text – no dangling
appendages. The attachments will not count towards the page text limit. The
paper is due at 5pm on Friday 20 April 2007 to your TA or his/her mailbox in
Guggenheim. The TA will not grade the
paper till the electronic copy is uploaded to Turnitin.com
Paper Content:
In the paper, you should clearly indicate
what position you are arguing. Think of this exercise as preparing a report for
an international body like the United Nations or the International Court of
Justice and therefore, make your best case. In the paper, you should
a) state clearly
the key issues,
b) marshal evidence
to make your points (historical, legal, economic, territorial, security, etc),
c) counter other
arguments, and
d) state your
preferred outcome for the dispute.
Paper Sources:
You should use the relevant reserve reading
as an important source, as well as the web pages that represent your point of
view. (They are available on the "debate materials" link on the
course webpage). Also, take a look at the relevant sections of the readings on
electronic reserve. You must have at
least two additional references that
are from “academic sources” (books, journal articles, etc).
Additional materials can be obtained in the library from the usual sources-
start with Chinook and use “Find Articles and more”. The material must be up to date – to
the end of 2005. Do not treat the
problem as “historic” and discontinue the story before the
contemporary period. Make sure to cite
all sources used in the paper. There is
no penalty for excessive citation: there is a huge penalty for plagiarism.
If you have trouble determining what is an
academic source, ask the TA or your instructor.
Paper Grading:
The papers will be graded based on the
following items:
a) clarity and
consistency of argumentation;
b) evidence
presented to support the case;
c) use of
bibliographic and other sources;
d) up-to-date
sources and account;
e) quality of
writing and use of the English language (you will be penalized for egregious
spelling and grammatical errors); and
f) the extent to
which you represent fairly and accurately the position that you have chosen.
Please pay attention to format, spelling,
syntax, referencing, etc. The paper accounts for 10% of the course grade. Late
papers will be penalized a grade per day late. And, of course, we will be
watching for source materials without attribution and other elements of
plagiarism.
If you need help in formulating your
position, deciding on a position, getting reference material, please contact
the instructor or your TA.
Style Guide:
Here is a useful link to a
Geography-specific style guide from Professor J.W. Harrington at the
http://faculty.washington.edu/jwh/stylgide.htm
Questions?
If you have any questions about the
assignment, contact your TA or Instructor well before the deadline (April 20).
Turnitin.Com
As you can read elsewhere on the course
website, you are required to submit the electronic version of the paper to the
Turnitin.com website. See the link for
the details for submission procedures.