ENV1107 Principles of Physical Geography

1. Making Notes;

2. Planning and Writing an Essay.

Essays

• Are an important part of the assessment process.

• Allow you to demonstrate:

1. Your Knowledge of a subject,

2. Your ability to Communicate in writing,

3. Your ability to Develop and Support an argument.

Reading

• As part of any essay - you will need to use a range of source materials including:

1. Lecture notes (which only give you an outline of what you need to know),

2. Published information (Books, Journals, Newspapers, Web Pages).

Question:

• In pairs, spend 5 minutes discussing why you need to read in order to produce a good essay.

• Summarise the key points in a couple of words each.

Reasons for Reading Include:

To get ideas.

To find out what others have done.

To help you express ideas better than you can.

To demonstrate your knowledge of the wider literature.

To justify and support your arguments.

To identify conflicting views.

So that you can evaluate / criticise what others have done.

Some Common Problems:

The amount of literature from a range of sources.

The wide variety of literature of peripheral relevance to your topic.

Conflicting opinions in the literature (Could be useful in answering questions that ask you to compare and contrast).

Sources: a Reminder

The Library

(Use catalogues, databases, abstracts and reviews, dictionaries and encyclopaedias or ask your subject librarian).

The Internet

GOOGLE is a great search engine (But BE CAREFUL much material published on the internet has not been refereed so evaluate your sources carefully).

TRY searching key research sites, such as Research Councils, Government Agencies, Office of National Statistics, European Union, Science Direct etc.

Time is of the EssenceIt is unlikely that you will want to spend several hours reading a book or journal article so think about what you want to know and why (we will think about this later).

Read the journal abstract – if it is well written it will summarise the article including aims, objectives, methods, results and conclusions.

If you haven’t got what you want, read the introduction and conclusion – this may tell you all you need to know.

Read the dust jacket of a book – it may save you a lot of time if you find that what it contains is not relevant to you.

Next time you are in the Library – take a book off the shelf and try to find out as much as you can about it in no more than 5 minutes.

Making Notes

You need to find your own system for doing this which could include:

•Index card-file system.

•Use of a computerised database.

•Use of a professional referencing system (e.g. ProCite).

•Flow or spider diagrams.

The decision is yours – but you are strongly recommended to start doing this NOW!

If you use an electronic storage medium BACK IT UP REGULARLY.

What to record? The Basics.

Authors surnames and initials.

e.g. Smith, N.P. and Jones, Q.R.

Year of Publication.

e.g. 1997

For a Journal:

Journal name, volume and part number, pages.

e.g. Catena, 51(3), 263-296.

For a Book:

Publisher, place of publication, edition

e.g. Blackwell, Oxford, 2nd ed.

Selecting what to make notes on.

• What do I need to know? • Analyse the essay question to make sure.

1. Looking for material relating to a key concept or theory?

2. Looking for supporting case study (ies) to illustrate your answer?

3. Looking for an opinion to support your argument?4. Looking for an alternative (contradictory) point of

view?5. Looking for information about a method or a

technique?

Try This After Reading an Article (After Kneale, 2001)

• Write down the reference in full.• Summarise the contents in 2 sentences• Summarise in 1 sentence the main conclusion.• List the strong points of the article.• Do I agree with the argument being made?• Does the information confirm or conflict with

current knowledge?• What else do I need to read to help me

understand the topic?• Am I familiar with all the terminology?

Terminology

• All disciplines have a specialist terminology and Geography is no different so you need to learn the language.

• It may help if you develop your own glossary of technical terms with definitions and sources.

How Long Should the Notes Be?

• Not as long as the article or chapter (which is why it is probably a waste of time photocopying references).

• Long enough to record the key points (but always bear in mind what the purpose of the note taking is).

• Kneale (2001) suggests that notes should be no longer than 1-5% of the text length.

Quotations?

• To quote or not to quote?

• Quotes add substance – especially if they are from a well known and respected source.

• This is the only time you should copy directly from a source.

• And don’t write an essay that is simply a series of quotes joined together.

Quotations.

‘Noting from documents is easier than from lectures, because there is time to think about the issues, identify links to other material and write legibly the first time’

Kneale, 2001. p 58

And then give the reference in full in your reading list:

Kneale, P.E. (2001) Study Skills for Geography Students. London, Arnold.

Plagiarism

• Remember that copying directly from a source without acknowledgement is plagiarism.

• When you take notes – make sure you write down the ideas in your own words rather than copying directly from the source – it will help you to avoid accusations of plagiarism!

Using Diagrams

• Some people are more comfortable using flow diagrams or spider diagrams for note taking. These approaches can provide a structured set of notes which again reduce the chance of plagiarism.

Spider Diagrams

• Get together in groups of three.

• Create a spider diagram in 10 minutes to answer the question

‘Is it important for Geographers to study Natural Hazards’?

Exercise

• For next week, you will find an essay in a word file on Nile called:

Discuss the importance of studying volcanoes?

You will also find a word document called essayassmentcriteria.

For Next Week

• Read the essay and the assessment criteria.• Grade the assessment using the standard University of

Northampton grading system.• Write comments that could be given back to the

student to justify the mark you have given (ca 100 words).

• You will all be asked to give the grade awarded and the lucky few will be asked to justify the mark you have given.

Have Fun!!

ENV1107 Principles of Physical Geography

1. Making Notes;

2. Planning and Writing an Essay.

Last Week You Should Have:

• Read the essay and the assessment criteria.• Graded the assessment using the standard University of

Northampton grading system.• Written comments that could be given back to the

student to justify the mark you have given.• You will all be asked to give the grade awarded and the

lucky few will be asked to justify the mark you have given.

So – How Good was the Essay?

• Scores and Comments Please

Essays

• How to plan and write your essay.

1. Read the essay title very carefully.

2. Look out for key wordsDescribe Explain

Discuss Account for

Critically Evaluate Using Examples

Compare and Contrast Evaluate

What is this essay NOT about?

Explain the main causes of flooding and discuss the effects of, and methods used to reduce, hazards associated with flooding.

IT IS NOT JUST ABOUT FLOODING GENERALLY

It is about 3 things: • The causes of floods (coastal and / or riverine

floods, rain, snow, storm surge etc); • The hazards (loss of life, damage to property,

communication routes and infrastructure);• The various ways (land use planning /

structural engineering) that we might use to mitigate against the problem.

The Structure

An essay has 3 parts:

• Introduction

• The Main Body

• The Conclusion

The Introduction

The Purpose:

1. Outlines the general Background to the problem;

2. It signposts the Structure and arguments in the main body of the answer.

The Main Body

Contains a number of separate paragraphs linked together in a LOGICAL STRUCTURE that contains:

• The theory (or conflicting theories)• Factual Material• Case studies and examplesAll supported by cross reference to the published

literature

Case Studies

• Even if the question doesn’t specifically ask for them it is often helpful to include them since you are likely to get a much better mark.

• In general, go for several less detailed case studies rather than a single case study. It shows you have read around the subject.

The Main Body (Cont..)

Include Diagrams and Tables.

Number them in sequence (Table 1, Figure 1) and

Refer to them BY NUMBER in the text (The main body and maybe also the conclusion).

The Synthesis (Discussion) and Conclusion

• The discussion helps you draw together the threads of the essay contained in the paragraphs of the main body. It shows that you can skilfully draw together the main points and / or arguments.

• The conclusion sums up the arguments (without repeating statements made in the discussion).

• It must not introduce new ideas / concepts / factual material.

Writing in English

Try to avoid:

Very long sentences.

Unsubstantiated statements.

Writing in the first person.

Colloquialisms.

ENV1107 TCT 2. 16/2/09, 4:00 pm.Ashton 2 and Ashton 4

The test will be in the form of an unseen essay. You will be given two questions, on the topics below and will be asked to choose ONE of those questions, for which you will then write an appropriately structured essay response in 50 minutes. In addition, you should bring with you to the test, a list of at least THREE relevant references (other than those given here!), which should be laid out in full, correct, Harvard fashion. The reference list will be submitted with the essay. You are permitted to bring up to four additional A4 sides of summary notes into the test.

Assessment criteria:

• Knowledge and understanding of relevant material

• Evidence of reading and research

• Referencing

• Appropriate use of language

• Use of illustrations, as appropriate

Topic 1

Exogenic and Endogenic Controls on Surface Landforms

References:Smithson, P., Addison, K., and Atkinson, K. (2002) Fundamentals of the Physical Environment. London, Routledge. 3rd ed.

Summerfield, M.A. (1991) Global Geomorphology. London, Longman.

Topic 2

Fog

References:Barry, R. G. and Chorley, R.J. (1992) Atmosphere, weather and climate. London, Routledge. 6th ed.

Smithson, P., Addison, K., and Atkinson, K. (2002) Fundamentals of the Physical Environment. London, Routledge. 3rd ed.

Next Week

We all meet as one seminar group in HLT2 (with IDLF).

Topic:

Planning and Revising for Essay TCT’s.

For Next Week

• Choose your topic.

• Read and take notes from the 2 main texts and find and start making notes from at least 3 additional references.

• Bring your notes and details of the references to the next session.

Be Prepared……

• To discuss how to write an essay under time constraint.

• Ian’s tip of the week.

• Don’t Panic (just yet).

TCT3

Date: 23/03/09 Time 4:00 pm. Venue: Ashton 2 and 4

• The test will be in the form of an unseen short answer test.

• This last test is specifically designed to allow you to assess the depth of your knowledge of the module, in advance of the end of module test, in May.

It will cover the following 3 areas of the course:

• Earth Materials, Processes and Landforms

• Magma and Volcanoes

• Atmospheric Processes

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the module at threshold level, students will be able to:

√√ a) understand and explain the language of physical geography and geology

√√ b) explain the contributions of geology, surface processes and climate to the development of landscapes in a range of settings

√√ c) explain the role of energy within the atmosphere in the production of weather conditions

Assessment criteria:

• Knowledge and understanding of relevant material

• Ability to clearly describe / explain phenomena using the language of physical geography / geology.