Research Article Summary Proposal & Paper

GEA 3400 – Spring 2008

 

YOU are responsible for reading and understanding these instructions.   If you turn in an assignment that does not follow instructions, your grade will reflect it.  You cannot say I didn’t warn you.

 

The purpose of this assignment is to have you explore the type of scholarly research being done by geographers on Latin America.  The project will give you an understanding of the breadth and depth of research that Latin Americanist geographers do, point out important issues in the region that are the subject of academic research, and give you insights on how geographers conduct research and present that research.  This assignment requires you to focus on articles in peer-reviewed, scholarly journals rather than popular media.  There are several things that distinguish scholarly articles from other types of writing.  Firstly, these articles are peer-reviewed; meaning that they have been judged by up to four other scholars working on similar topics for their accuracy and merit before being published.  Scholarly articles are also fully cited so that another researcher can prove the validity of the arguments by looking at the same sources.  Thirdly, while popular media articles generally stand alone as a report on something, peer-reviewed scholarly articles represent ongoing conversations among scholars to advance our knowledge about the world – in this case, the geography of Latin America.

 

The project is divided into two parts: a proposal in which you will find three articles you would like to analyze, and have one of them approved for your paper; and the analysis paper which will follow a format that allows you to dissect the parts of the article.

 

Technical Aspects: Both your proposal and paper must conform to the following formatting: 12-point font (Times New Roman), one-inch margins, double-spaced, and number the pages.  You must turn in a paper copy at the beginning of the class on the date it is due.  I WILL NOT ACCEPT EMAILED COPIES OF EITHER ASSIGNMENT!

 

The Proposal (DUE FEB 14th – 10 Points): For this assignment, you are required to find three research articles (from the geography journals listed below) that you would like to analyze, read each of them, write a paragraph for each article that tells me why you picked that article, and submit a copy of the first page of each of the selected articles to me for approval.  I will then select the article that will be the source for your analysis paper.  The paragraphs for each article should address the following: who is the author and what journal it is from, what the article is about, and why you selected that article (what interest do you have in that topic).  You should also rank the articles in order of your preference, and tell me why you ranked them as you did.  THE ARTICLES YOU SELECT MUST BE RESEARCH ARTICLES (NOT BOOKREVIEWS OR COMMENTARY) AND THEY MUST COME FROM ONE OF THE FOLLOWING GEOGRAPHY JOURNALS.  They must also be published in the year 2000 or later; 1999 or earlier will not suffice.  Even though this part of the assignment is not where most of the points come from, you must complete this part of the assignment.  If you fail to turn this in on time, not only will you lose the 10 points for this assignment, I WILL DEDUCT 5 POINTS FROM THE OVERALL PROJECT FOR EACH DAY THE PROPOSAL IS LATE. Your proposal should be 1 to 2 pages in length.

 

The articles you select must come from the following GEOGRAPHY JOURNALS (double check the title and call number to make sure they match the list below):

 

Journal Title

Location

Annals of the Association of American Geographers

G3.A7

Antipode: A Journal of Radical Geography

G1.A67

Cultural Geographies

GE170.E376

Economic Geography

HF1021.E4

Environment and Planning D: Society & Space

H1.E58

Gender, Place and Culture

G70.G4

Journal of Latin American Geography

F1408.9.J6

Political Geography @ Biscayne Bay Campus

JC319.P65 @ BBC

Social and Cultural Geography

GF1.S6

Transactions (Institute of British Geographers)

G7.I6

 

The Analysis Paper (DUE MARCH 27th – 90 Points): For the paper, you will need to follow the format given below in analyzing and summarizing the components of the research article about which you are writing.  Remember that you are only using ONE article in the part of the project.  In completing the following format, you will need to read each section of the article you are using very carefully, possibly more than once.  Your paper should be 4 to 6 pages in length, you must follow the formatting procedure listed above, and you must submit a paper copy in class by the due date as well as submitting your paper to the plagiarism detection website Turnitin.com by the due date (instructions for submitting it to Turnitin.com will be provided soon).  YOU MUST SUBMIT A FULL COPY OF THE ARTICLE YOU ANALYZED WITH YOUR PAPER COPY.

 

Follow the format carefully.  When you write your paper, divide it into clearly labeled sections using the headings below.  In each section, be sure to address the questions fully.

 

I.                    Cover Page: Title of the Article, Author(s) of the Article, Publication Date, Publication Source (Journal, Volume & Number), Your Name, GEA 3400, Fall 2007, Date Submitted

II.                  Introduction

How does the author introduce the article (for example, do they tell a story to situate the topic, or do they discuss other research, a media report, an event)?  How does the introduction frame the coming discussion and argument?

III.                Argument

What argument(s) does the author make in the paper (for example, are they saying that some topic hasn’t been studied (enough); or, are they saying that if we study some particular issue/case it will change (or reaffirm) how we think about some conception; or, are they saying that if we bring in a different conception it will change the way we think about a particular issue/case)?

IV.                Structure of the Paper

How does the author go about making the argument in the paper?  What order do they present the information?  How do they layout the article?  What sections are in the article, and what points do they make in each one?  How do the sections build up to the overall argument?

V.                  Literatures

In what literatures (both theoretical and topical) does the author situate their work?  What works do they cite, and how do they conceive what they are citing?  Note: Not every paper will have a specific section dedicated to literature review – they may be embedded in various sections of the paper.

VI.                Methodology

How did the author go about collecting that information (data) used to support their argument?  Did they use interviews (who with and how many), participant observation (where and how long), document analysis (historical documents, newspaper accounts, policy papers, etc.), or statistical data (gather by the author or some other entity) to name a few?  How is the data presented: is it woven into the text of the article, or is it presented in some graphic form (maps, charts, graphs, photos)?  How well does the data support the argument that the author is making?

VII.              Conclusion

How does the author summarize their argument(s) one last time?  Do they hint at broader implications of their work beyond the focus of this article?  Do they make a call for more research in a certain area?

VIII.            Bibliography

How many sources does the article cite and what types of sources are cited?  How many of the sources are books?  How many are research articles?  How many are other types of documents (popular media reports – newspaper or magazine articles, government documents, planning documents, etc.)?  How many are internet sources?  Does the author cite Wikipedia?

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT PLAGIARIZE ANY PART OF THIS PAPER OR YOU WILL RECEIVE A ZERO FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT.

 

Most of your paper should summarize the article in your own words!  If you wish to use the wording of the article’s author(s) you should ALWAYS put quotations marks around it and give the page number where it can be found.  No more than 10% of your paper should be quotations.  If you quote too much, you will lose points.

 

If you have questions or need help with this assignment, come by my office during office hours or make an appointment.  I can only answer simple questions about the assignment by email.  Read the instructions carefully, and follow them exactly.