A GUIDE TO WRITING YOUR GEOGRAPHY TERM PAPER
The purpose of this guidebook is to aid students in writing research papers in introductory college-level geography courses.
Choosing a Topic:
Choose a topic narrow enough to find specific information, but not so narrow that you cannot find enough information. Before committing to a topic, scan a database to see if you will be able to find enough information on that topic. Please limit your topic to a United States National Monument or Park feature. Do not exceed font size 12 or more than 1.5 spacing.
Example from Physical Geography:
Too broad: Volcanoes
Too narrow: The Effect of the Eruption of Mt. St. Helens on the regeneration of plant species
Appropriate: The Geographical Impact of the Eruption of Mt. St. Helens
Example from Physical Geography:
Too broad: Rivers
Too narrow: Formation of The Grand Canyon
Appropriate: The Geographical and Geological formation of the Grand Canyons South Rim
Gathering Information:
Start early! You must use appropriate articles… this means NO WIKIPEDIA. Please use published papers- try using https://scholar.google.com (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. as a starting point.
Your objective in writing a geography research paper most often is to assemble information from a variety of sources of data into a coherent argument to demonstrate to your instructor that you understand the material. Often you want to add a different perspective for looking at the data, one which has not been introduced by a previous writer. Therefore, when searching for materials, don’t expect to find a book or article with the exact title of your topic. If you find such a book or article, there is probably little that you can add to the subject.
Helpful hint: Look for an up-to-date book or article on your subject, and scan the bibliography. This is a great technique to gather additional sources for your paper.
Acceptable Sources- Journals, books, edited chapters in books, and government documents are the most widely accepted sources for a research paper in Geography. Encyclopedias, newspapers, and textbooks usually are not considered adequate sources for a research paper, although they may be used as supportive material.
Materials on the Internet may or may not be appropriate. One of the problems with the Internet is that much of the material has not undergone the process of peer review. Through peer review, materials are examined by other specialists on the subject and judged for their worthiness for publication; this, however, does not mean that the material is without criticism from others. Government documents accessed through the Internet are acceptable sources of information; check on the website address to see if it has a .gov suffix.
Students may assume that National Geographic is a geographical journal. However, it is a popular magazine. Although you may refer to an article from National Geographic in your paper, it has not undergone a rigorous peer review process and is more geared for general information.
Some Noted Geographical Journals:
1. Annals of the Association of American Geographers
2. The Professional Geographer
3. Geographical Review
4. Progress in Human Geography
5. Progress in Physical Geography
Geography’s interrelationship with other physical and social sciences should not be forgotten. Geological, biological, sociological, and economic journals may also be of benefit to your paper.
Writing the Paper:
Introduction/Literature Review: You will need to provide your thesis statement, the argument you will pursue throughout the paper. You will probably also want to inform your reader why this is an important issue to examine. The introduction should also provide the reader with an overview of the topics and the order in which they will be covered within the paper. This will be an opportunity to introduce many of your resources and background that you will go in to more detail later with.
Think carefully about how you begin your paper. Simply stating your topic is not likely to generate much interest from your reader.
Examples of Thesis Statements from Physical Geography:
Not Acceptable: In this paper I will discuss global warming and the increased incidence of hurricanes in the Southeastern U.S.
Appropriate: The frequency and intensity of hurricanes in the Southeastern U.S. has risen dramatically since the 1990s (source). Scientists have noted that some of the warmest average global temperatures over the past 100 years have also occurred since the 1990s, suggesting that there is a causal link between global warming and hurricane development (source). This paper
will examine the connections between human-induced global warming and the increased incidence of hurricanes, and the impact that future warming may have on the Southeast United States.
Body:
The body of your geography paper is basically going to be a literature review. Thus, you are presenting data or providing