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GEOGRAPHY 102: ASSIGNMENT #3 -- THEMES AND TRADITIONS
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THEMES AND TRADITIONS:
EVALUATING A JOURNAL ARTICLE
Assignment #3: How to start
For this library research assignment you will need the following:
1) the "Five Themes of Geography" handout;
2) Pattison's "The Four Traditions of Geography"; and,
3) the CSUS Library bibliographies distributed by Bill Kristie.
Read through the themes and traditions articles carefully. Recall what you
learned about geography's journals, the appropriate guides that list their
contents, and their locations in the CSUS Library and on the Internet.
Review the sources of biographical information about geographers.
Step I or II): Choose an article; read it carefully
Select a full-length article from either of these geographical periodicals:
Annals of the Association of American Geographers or
Geographical Review
The article chosen must bear a publication date from 1983 to the present.
It must be at least ten (10) pages in length and include footnotes and a
bibliography. As you read, keep in mind the themes and traditions we've
highlighted in geographic writing.
Step II (or I): Find two periodical guide entries for the article
This step may precede or follow Step I above. That is, you may leaf
through the periodicals until you find a likely article or you may turn
to the citation guides first for likely leads. Either way, your eventual
goal is to uncover two citations--citations from two different periodical
guides--which you will reproduce as part of the final paper. Remember
that you may consult either printed or computer-accessed guides.
Step III: Uncover some biographical information about the author
Use the biographical sources listed in the our CSUS Library bibliography
to track down information about (one of) your article's author(s). Use
other publications--faculty or department guides, college catalogs, thesis
and dissertation guides--as well. Ascertain facts about the author's
professional life--training, jobs, publications. A particularly useful
resource for geographers working in academic departments is the AAG's
Guide to Programs in Geography (see Bill Kristie's handout).
Assignment #3: What to produce
Prepare an 7-page paper on the article and its author:
First page (SEVERAL LINES)
This page will be your title page (see Step I above).
It will have--typed and properly centered in the middle of the page--
the author's name, the article's title, the journal's name, the journal's
volume and date, and the page numbers for the article. In the lower
right-hand corner type your name, the course number, and the current date.
Second page (A PARAGRAPH)
Discuss briefly your reasons for selecting this particular article.
How did you begin your search? Did you go directly to periodical guides
with a topic in mind or did you skim some sample issues until you found
an article? Is the topic one you've previously been interested in?
Is the article useful for another course or assignment?
Third page (TWO SHORT PARAGRAPHS)
Reproduce, by typing, printing or mechanically reproducing, two periodical
guide entries (Step II) that you uncovered. Indicate for each entry the
guide from which it was taken--title of the guide, volume, date, page
numbers; or, in the case of Internet sites, the site title and its URL and
the date and time you consulted the site. Although I do not require you
to use both key word (e.g., Social Sciences Citation Index; UnCover;
FirstSearch) and topical (e.g., Geographical Abstracts: Human Geography,
Current Geographical Publications, Social Science Guide to Periodical
Literature) guides, be aware of their different formats and uses.
Fourth page (A PARAGRAPH OR TWO)
Type a summary of any biographical data (Step III) you found. Again,
indicate the source(s) of these pertinent facts about your article's author.
Fifth page (ONE PARAGRAPH)
Type a concise summary of the article in your own words: essential points,
statements, facts. Save opinions or evaluations for the eighth page (below).
Sixth page (A WHOLE PAGE)
Compose a one-page discussion of the article based on the "Five Themes"
and "Four Traditions" of geography. Into which theme(s) and/or tradition(s)
does the article fit? Cite evidence for your assertions. Typed, please.
Seventh page (A COUPLE OF PARAGRAPHS)
Type a critique of the article's readability and utility. Consider
elements of grammar, of style that make the article more or less inviting,
more or less accessible. What level or type of audience does the author
seem to address? What preparation--vocabulary, specialized knowledge--
does the author expect of readers? Consider any graphic materials--maps,
charts, diagrams--included. Did they make the presentation easier to
follow? Overall, how accessible did you as an undergraduate reader find
the article? Was your interest in the topic of the article increased by
what you read? And based on this article would you seek out other writing
by this/these author/authors?
DUE DATE for this assignment is Monday, October 20th.
IMPORTANT UPDATES
Bill Kristie's last presentation to the class will be this Wednesday,
October 8th, in LIBR 2022. This is a change from the previously
announced date, October 13th.
Please sign up for a display case (Assignmnt #2) date if you've not
already done so. Plan to meet with your display case group today in
class to consider possible topics. Plan to met with me the week before
your display is posted in the Amador Hall display case.
For assistance with topics visit these web sites:
American Geographical Society
Association of American Geographers
Geography @ About.com
Geography Exchange
GEOSOURCE webdirectory for geography and geosciences
INFOMINE: Maps & GIS
Internet Resources for Geographers
Librarians' Index to the Internet: Geography
Mercator's World
National Council for Geographic Education
National Geographic Society
Oddens' Bookmarks: Maps and Mapping
World Factbook 2003 (C.I.A.)