Paper Guidelines for
Geography 2002 – Spring 2004
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 six debates that we will have
this Spring semester.
a) The war in
b) The geopolitics of
c) The war in
d) AIDS in
e) The Israeli-Palestinian conflict
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 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, social security 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 in the recitation section meeting in the week of 21 April.
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 textbook,
the CD that comes with it, and the text web-site. 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
“Article Access”. The
material must be up to date – to the end of 2002. 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.
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 15% 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 (week of April 19).
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.