Term Paper Information
You are required to turn in a term paper.
You must turn in a draft paper by Wednesday, April 25.
Final version of the paper must be submitted by Friday,
June 1. As long as your term paper topic is about GIS,
you are OK. However, it would be easier to write about implication of GIS in a
particular filed or subject. Examples can be “implication of GIS in Marketing,”
“implication of GIS in local government,” “implication of GIS for disaster
prevention,” and so on. Please
CLICK HERE to see some example papers and
possible paper titles. Please refer to the
course schedule for paper due date.
Paper
Deliverables:
- Submit your paper by email
(turn in the paper as an attachment)
- Also turn in hard copies of paper references (total of
20) by mail (i.e., USPS, UPS, and FedEx). Mail address
available on the first page of this website.
Here are useful websites for a
paper writing
For your paper references, you must rely
upon academic journals and books for your research. However, I prefer that you
focus upon journals. You need at least 20 sources, and only 3 or 4 should be
books and Internet sites. However, if you can download a full-length academic
journal article thru the Internet, it is OK to use it as a reference. The term
paper should be typed, single-spaced, at least 5 pages, with one inch margins
and use Times New Roman 12 point font.
References
- The full list of all references cited in the paper 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 (see
example references).
- 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 papers 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- Any unpublished material, or material published by an organization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
Deliverables:
- Submit your paper by email.
- Also turn in hard copies of paper references (total of
20) by mail.
Advice on Writing Papers:
- Write the paper 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 paper is not
predisposed to agree with you, but needs to be convinced.
- 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.
- The best papers 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 papers begin by presenting the arguments they oppose, demonstrating how
such a perspective is flawed, and then showing how their position is more
suitable.
- 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.
- Your paper 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 paper
several times.
- The structure of the paper 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 paper. 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 paper to ensure
that it truly reflects what the paper is about.
The body of the paper 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 paper should be
able to read only the first sentence of each paragraph and have a pretty good
idea of what the paper 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
paper cover? What are some related side issues that could be further explored?
What are some solutions to a problem you analyzed?