Assignment

For the term project, imagine yourself as a tour guide leading adults for three days anywhere on the planet where you can showcase and explore an area of Earth's most interesting physical and cultural features and phenomenon. Please select one particular geographic region and become an expert of the area's physical and cultural points of interest. On this three-day field excursion, indicate where you will go and why (i.e. how do sites you stop at relate to information within your textbook or topics covered in course lectures). Make sure that your trip provides a day-to-day scenario. In addition to describing the sites visited, indicate where you will be staying, how you will be getting around, what local foods you intend to try, any local people you will meet, unique species (flora/fauna) encountered, and/or any customs and festivities you intent to participate in while there. Maps, images/photos, diagrams greatly aid in conveying information about your project. You may choose any place on Earth that you find most interesting, but do keep in mind scale. Places that may seem close to one another on a map might actually require hours of flying or multiple days drive by car, particularly in rural areas not connected by modern highway networks.

Writing the Field Report

Your term project is an opportunity to integrate what you have learned in class with personal experiences or interests while practicing your writing and small group discussion skills. Be sure to organize and summarize pertinent observations and conclusions gained from textbook readings, lectures, and any additional sources. To avoid plagiarism reference ALL sources used BOTH in text AND in a bibliography page (APA, MLA or Chicago styles are all acceptable styles).

Field trip ideas: Below are a few examples, but options are as diverse as Earth's physical and cultural landscape. Please contact me if you have any questions or need clarification.

• Alaska's Mount Denali to Glacier Bay
• Yellowstone National Park & Grand Teton National Park Loop
• Hiking Mount Kilimanjaro from Base to Crest
• Hawaii - Best of the Big Island

Below are some helpful guidelines for the report:

1. Introduction

In your introduction, outline the trip objective(s). An original map with route and stops is required! There are many map-making tools and programs freely available, but you are able to use Google Map Engine or hand drawings so long as purposeful information is clearly conveyed.

2. Stop-by-Stop Descriptions

Each day should have an itinerary table followed by in-depth narrative of key activities.

The itinerary table outlines brief descriptions, provides stop locations, arrival and departures dates and times, plus activities planned. Think about how best to convey this information clearly and briefly. Note: Also consider travel times and modes between stops plus any time zone changes part of this project is to demonstrate basic logistics.

Then include narrative paragraph(s) offering longer description(s) of key each stop location and the relevance to physical and cultural geography. This would be a great place for a few representative images. Remember, as the tour guide, you want attendees to have an idea of what to expect and prepare for. The last thing you want is an angry mob of confused exhausted travelers who forgot to pack their parkas in Antarctica! Take your time with each narratives. Make sure you have thoroughly related each stop to ideas and themes represented during this course. I want to see your ability to apply course concepts into your writing and their connections to the larger world. Doing this will merit a much higher grade than just reciting destination information.

3. Bibliography

Cite ALL authors, publications, and/or websites you used as references in text and in a bibliography at the end of your paper.