Geography Project plan

Geography Project Plan The
Geography Project Plan is a research paper and a capstone assignment whereby
you will apply geographic and research skills toward
solving a real problem.

Choose
a service project at an accessible location where you have an interest and
passion for making a difference. The project must be feasible in scale and
scope for a student’s time and budget. Choose a specific location rather than a
grand scale project like ending world hunger. Your plan must be 1,000–1,250
words, use Times New Roman 12-point font with 1-inch margins, include a cover
page, the required sections (shown below), a reference page, a map, and a
realistic budget. Cite at least five scholarly sources (other than Scripture, the
textbook, and Wikipedia) in current APA format.

The
project can have an environmental focus, e.g., access to clean drinking water;
preserving natural habitats; reducing air and water pollution; or dealing with
the aftermath of natural disasters like floods, tsunamis, and earthquakes. Many
students choose humanitarian projects focused on health, education, and
financial needs, e.g., educating illiterate populations; helping start
businesses; feeding the malnourished; or
resourcing underserved schools, health
clinics, hospitals, or orphanages. Your project may be as simple as building a
wheelchair ramp for your neighbor or building a new playground at your church. The
project may expand upon an existing service, but you must identify what
services currently exist and how the services may be expanded based on your
contribution. You must include realisitic materials, transportation, labor, and
other associated costs. For example, is there a need for additional homeless
shelters? If shelters exist, where are they located and what populations do
they serve? Is there a need for shelters to safely house families, or just
women and children? How much would it cost to erect and operate a homeless
shelter for the number of clients that you are proposing?

·
Step 1: State
the objective (what will be accomplished) and location of the project, e.g., “I
will provide clean drinking water to the rural population in Nimba, Liberia by
digging three wells.” Then give a brief explanation based on your initial
research for why this project is needed.
·
Step 2: Research,
analyze, and describe the problem through a geographic lens. Consider the terms
and concepts in the textbook and the five main themes of geography.
·
Step 3: Describe
a feasible course of action to solve the problem. The paper must explain the
who, what, why, and where of this project. In the end, this paper is about the
proposed solution, or Project Plan.
·
Step 4: List
and describe the detailed costs of
the project (i.e. materials, transportation, labor, etc.)
·
Step 5: Utilize
and bold highlight at least five geographic terms from the text.
·
Step 6: Incorporate the five main themes of geography into
their required section headings.

Use
the following 10 required main sections
when writing your paper. You may include subheadings as needed.
I. Introduction
II. General Overview and Rationale
III. Region
Relevance
IV. Location
Relevance
V. Place
Relevance
VI. Movement
Relevance
VII. Human-Environmental Interaction Relevance
VIII Budget
IX. Summary
X. References

HINT: The CIA World Factbook is a
helpful place to begin when studying another country.
Start
by describing and analyzing the significance of location. Is the problem
unique to a specific location or region? Why or why not? Describing the
location of a low income rural town relative to regions of industry or
agriculture can be revealing. Is the location a conurbation, technopole,
forward capital, or primate city?

Follow
with a regional analysis that might include physiography (climate,
terrain, bodies of water, flora and fauna), culture, population data
(demographics), the economy, political geography, urban development, industrialization,
and agriculture. How would you characterize the people, i.e., their culture,
lifestyle and beliefs? How do language, gender, religion, and cultural
traditions and values affect the project? Are the people part of a shatterbelt?
Think about the sectors of the economy and development. Is the area you are
addressing a periphery, semi-periphery, or core state, and how does that help
or hinder the solution to the problem? Are the people subsistence farmers?
Describe the population. Analyze the population distribution and density. Is it
a floating population? Look at demographics like the birth rate, infant
mortality rate, overall longevity, ratio of physicians to population, per
capita income, average years of education or illiteracy, and the dependency
ratio. What do those statistics indicate regarding the problem to be solved?

Movement,
or connectivity, is often a key component in any geographic analysis. Will
you move people, goods, or information? How will you do that? What are the
challenges of movement? Can you hand out brochures or a Bible if the people
receiving them are illiterate? Do they have access to the internet? Is there
adequate transportation infrastructure to move people and goods? Are roads
improved or unimproved? Is there access to public transportation? Analyze
physiography as it relates to movement. Think about transferability of goods,
distance decay, or the movement of people through immigration or emigration.

Study
the cultural landscape and develop a sense of place. This can add insight
to the culture and the economy. Can the type of places of worship indicate
cultural or ethnic diversity in a location? Where is the nearest hospital or
college? Do most people live in single-family homes, or do most residents rent?
Can the number of traffic lights in a town indicate size?

Consider
the cause and effect of human interaction with the natural environment
as it relates to your project. It may be as simple as studying the general
climate and the seasonal effect on activities and services. Do the people
contend with devastating drought, earthquakes, tsunamis, or hurricanes? Have
people permanently altered the natural landscape through deforestation or the
construction of dams, levees, or canals?

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