Purpose: The purpose of the exercise
is threefold. First, it encourages you to see the relevancy of geography
in current events. Second, it invites you to critically read and assess
news coverage. Third, it provides you the opportunity to share your findings
with your peers.
Task: You will sign up for one of
the course topics on the sheet posted outside my office door, WNS 503.
(N.B. The topic presented in one week is connected with the course material
from the preceeding week. E.g. cultural geography articles will be
presented in week 3). Once you know your topic you will need to read newspapers
and weekly news magazines searching for a good article. I suggest that
you examine the corresponding chapter in the text to get an idea of the
range of subtopics within your overall topic. You are looking for articles
that cover any story within the purview of your topic, but you are trying
to acquire articles that contain an implicit or explicit geographic element
(this makes them "good" for the purpose of this exercise). The article
should be substantial, not just a brief report or a few column inches.
After introducing the content of the article, your presentation of the
article should address the following:
• Did the author/publication do a good job of presenting
geographic elements of a story. What did they do well, how did they do
it, and how did this make the story more useful or interesting?
• How could the article have been more clear or
insightful by the use of geographic ideas, perspectives, concepts. How
and why would geography make this story more powerful? How would
you have edited it to bring out the geography?
Presentations: During the last ten weeks of
class, students will present their article and analysis to the class. Presentations
should be no more than five minutes in length. Please begin by stating
where your article was published and when. You should make a copy
of the article and hand it in after your presentation. Note: The
sign-up sheet contains separate 'slots', one for each student in the course,
and most days contain more than one presentation.
Evaluation: You will be assessed on the
appropriateness of your article (the topical and geographic relevance),
the clarity and effectiveness of your presentation, and the strength of
the analysis you provide. The assignment is worth 20% of your participation
grade (5% of your course grade).
N.B. Duplicity should be avoided among students.
Please communicate with each other to make sure that you are not presenting
or analyzing the same articles.
