RESEARCH PAPER ASSIGNMENT

Each student will compare and contrast the physical geography of a pair of assigned nations. This writing assignment is designed to provide students with a more in-depth understanding of prominent physical geography features in two different assigned nations. Additionally, the assignment will provide a more thorough understanding of human/nature interaction, along with environmental issues, within these nations.

The nation pairs are listed below this assignment.

Look at the syllabus schedule for the due date. Late Penalty: As stated in syllabus

Writing about nations other than the ones assigned to you will result in a 30% reduction of your score.

The paper needs to be at least 4 full pages of writing total. It needs to all be turned in as one single essay paper, complete with introduction and conclusion paragraphs and a thesis statement. See Page 3 for the list of questions to answer for the paper.

Format:

Papers are to be double-spaced, 12-font with 1-inch margins. No cover page is required. Have your name written at the top of the first page, with a title and page numbers. Your paper needs to be organized in paragraph form, including an intro and a conclusion. The intro paragraph needs to have a specific thesis statement that gives an overview of your analysis of the material in its entirety (This is best written AFTER doing all the research and writing for the paper).

The amount of writing on each of your two countries should be roughly equal in length.

Any photographs, maps, tables, etc., need to be attached at the end of the paper only, and they do not count as part of the length of the paper. If you want to attach a cover page, it will also not count towards the paper length.

Grammar, Spelling:

It is expected that these papers are free of excessive grammatical and spelling errors.

Sources, Bibliography:

You must have at least 5 academic/scholarly sources total and list them in a bibliography at the end of each paper. Use MLA or Chicago Manual of Style which you can Google to find websites with examples of this format.

All sources MUST be cited in the body of your paper (see "In-Text Citations" below) AND listed in a bibliography, otherwise you will receive a score of ZERO for the paper and potentially an F for the entire course!

Copying and pasting over 20% of your paper from another source, without providing citations, is an automatic F.

Only 2 of the scholarly sources can be encyclopedias. Once you have 3 more scholarly sources (from books, etc), you can add additional encyclopedia articles if you wish.

Scholarly sources include: Journal articles from college library or college library website. Books from researchers (at college library). Most encyclopedias (not Wikipedia). "Dot-gov" websites.

Non-scholarly sources include: News articles, pop culture websites, magazines, or other forms of mass media.

Recommended starting points: - World Factbook from CIA.GOV (an online encyclopedia)

- Academic Search Complete (a journal database)
- JSTOR (a journal database)

In-Text Citations:

Parenthetical citations are to be placed at the end of EACH sentence where you received a quote, an idea, or a statistic from one of your sources.

A good rule of thumb is that if you have at least a couple citations in each paragraph, you will probably not be accused of plagiarizing (unless you often quote word-for-word without quotation marks). However, you will still lose points if you do not cite ALL of the sentences which need citations.

3 Ways to Avoid an Automatic ZERO:

-Use parenthetical citations as needed inside the body of your paper.
-Do not copy multiple paragraphs from other sources without citing.
-Remember to include a Bibliography page at the end of your paper.

The 4 parts of the course paper:

Part 1: Lithosphere

- For each country, what is one major geologic feature (can include mountains, desert, plains, coast, etc)?

- Briefly describe these features, how they came to look like how they do today.

- How are humans using these features (tourism, nature reserve, sacred lands, extracting resources, etc)?

- Does human use of these features create concern for the future of these features, or the wildlife found on them? If so, explain how, and describe what is being done about it.

- Print pictures of the geologic features, or maps showing where these features are located, and attach them to the back of the paper.

Part 2: Atmosphere

- For each country, describe the year-round climate found in the majority of the country (climate charts called "climographs" will help with this). If there is a wide variety of climate types in one country, just pick one city and describe its climate. Be sure to include information about temperature, precipitation, and seasonal changes.

- How has climate change impacted your assigned nations? What is being done about it?

Part 3: Hydrosphere

- What is one major body of water found within, or adjacent to, each of your assigned nations? Describe them, and give a brief description of where they are found.

- How are humans using these features (fishing, tourism, wildlife etc)?

- Does human use of these features create concern for the future of these features or the living organisms found within them? If so, explain how, and describe what is being done about it.

Part 4: Biosphere / Environmental Sustainability Challenges:

- What are several of the most common species of wildlife (plants or animals) in your assigned nations?
- Which ones are native to your nations, and which ones came from elsewhere (called "exotic" species)?
- How did the exotic species arrive, and are they threatening the existence of any native species?
- Sustainable development involves balancing the environment, the economy, and society to achieve the best long-term benefits for all. What type of sustainable development programs/efforts exist to improve your nations' environmental problems that you discussed earlier in this paper? Your answer can include actions being taken by either your assigned nations or other nations providing assistance.