GIS Technology Report

You are required to turn in a report. Please visit the Course website for the due date of report. Here are some possible ideas.

1. Implication of GIS in a particular in a particular business / organization / industry. For example, implication of GIS in IT industry or disaster recovery.....
2. Since some of you are ERM or MIS concentration students, you may want to write implication of GIS in ERM or MIS filed.
3. Utilization and implementation of GIS in pubic organizations are growing fast. For example, you may want to write about importance and utilization GIS in government projects such as disaster prevention.
4. If you can support your report arguments by mapping using real world data that will be the best way to improve your report quality.
5. If you cannot come up with a report idea at all, you are allowed write a report using one of the below example reports. In other words, your job is to refine and to improve an example report's quality. Thus, quality of your report MUST be better than the example report that you are going to benchmark.
    
   • The Different Styles of Database Architecture in Geographical Information Systems
   • Implication and Importance of GIS in Public Administration: Public Safety and Public Health
   • Implication of GIS for Marketing
   • Implementation Factors for an Economic Development GIS
6. Remember! You must PARAPHRASE in order to borrow information from a source without plagiarizing. Otherwise, you will be charged for plagiarism.

Sample report - Implication of GIS in Marketing

Report Deliverables:

• You must turn in the report by dues dates.
• Submit your report through the course Balckboard (just like turning in an assignment)

Report Format: Need at least 10 references (six from the Internet site and four from article from newspaper,  magazine, book and etc.) You can download a full-length journal or magazine article thru CSUB library digital service
The report should be:  Typed, single-spaced, 3 pages (excluding the cover page), with one inch margins and use Times New Roman 12 point font.

Report References
For your report references, you can use academic journals, magazines, books, and Internet sources. You must use at least 5 references. The report must be typed, single-spaced, at least 4 pages (including the cover page), with one inch margins and use Times New Roman 12 point font. Remember that your report must follow APA Citation Style. Please visit the course FAQ on the class website for detail information about the APA Citation Style. Also, you MUST comply with below guidelines.

• The full list of all references cited in the report should appear at the end of the text, in alphabetical order by author, and in ascending chronological order for each author. They should be formatted in the house style.
• References must be cited in the text, and should be cited alphabetically in the format shown by the following examples: Batty, 2003; 2005a; Batty and Xie, 1994; Webster et al, 1999b.
• Where more than one reference appears for the same year, labels a, b, c etc should be used, in the order in which the reports are cited.
• All authors and editors should be listed for each citation.
• Any unpublished material, or material published by an organization or department (such as conference proceedings) must be accompanied by full contact details of availability, as shown in the example references (it is not sufficient, for example, to provide the name and year of a conference and the place at which it was held).
• A full contact address is required for any organizations.
• Acts of Parliament, statutes, government publications, legal judgments, etc, must be fully referenced as shown in the example references.
• First and last pages should be provided for all articles published in journals or books

Report Guidelines That You MUST Comply With

1. Write the report as if it were going to be read by someone who has no knowledge about the subject matter. This means that you must cite the authors and the year of publication when you refer to published work. Also, assume that the person reading the report is not predisposed to agree with you, but needs to be convinced.
2. Do not present just facts or just opinions. Your aim should be to make an argument backed up by evidence. "Facts" only become evidence when they are connected to an argument, and when you show why these facts are relevant to the points at hand.
3. The best reports consider at least some counter-arguments. Who would disagree with what you are saying and why? What opposing arguments do/would they make and why don't you find that convincing? Why should a reader accept your argument? You make your own position stronger if you present and refute counter-arguments. Often the best reports begin by presenting the arguments they oppose, demonstrating how such a perspective is flawed, and then showing how their position is more suitable.
4. Make an outline of your thoughts before you begin. You can use this outline to structure your ideas, but don’t feel that you have to stick to it too carefully. Outlines are helpful, however, when used to make sure that you have included all of your ideas and that they are presented in a logical order.
5. Your report will be graded on several different criteria, including: strength of argument, use of research material, presentation and writing style, grammar, spelling, etc. Of course, content is most important, but writing style, spelling and grammar can all add or detract from the persuasiveness of your argument. Be sure to edit your report several times.
6. The structure of the report should include an introduction, a body, a conclusion, and a list of references. Each of these sections can include as many paragraphs as you wish.

A good introduction briefly describes the specific research question that will be answered in the report. Feel free to hint as to what conclusions you will draw and any opposing arguments that you will address, but don’t spell it all out here. It is often helpful to go back and edit the introduction after you have finished writing the report to ensure that it truly reflects what the report is about.

The body of the report should include everything that you want to say. Describe the issue in depth. Why is the issue important? What does prior research on the topic find? What evidence, theories, or reasoning do different researchers give to support their stances? What are the strengths/weaknesses of arguments made by researchers? What are your reactions to the ideas/materials you find? Someone reading your report should be able to read only the first sentence of each paragraph and have a pretty good idea of what the report is all about. The rest of each paragraph should be used to back up that topic sentence.

The conclusion should be used to briefly summarize the main points/arguments and spell out the conclusions that you have drawn from the research. Also, feel free to be adventurous. What couldn’t this report cover? What are some related side issues that could be further explored? What are some solutions to a problem you analyzed?