Study Guide

Click here to view the Study Guide for your 2018 Human Geography Semester Exam.

a few words about Mechanics and Plagiarism

The mechanics of a paper refers to formatting, grammar, usage, spelling, etc. I have written an essay to help you with this, cleverly titled The 500-Word Essay. I am not requiring your essay to be 500 words - it can be more than that, a lot more than that, or a little less than that. What is important is quality of writing, not quantity of words. Also note that I am not requiring parenthetical citations or a bibliography (Works Cited). Please click here to read my essay for details on mechanics.

Although this is not a massive term paper, it is still important to avoid plagiarism. It is expected that you do all of your own work on this paper. As part of the assignment, you may choose to refer to your notes, or to the handouts, or you may do some online research. But it should aways be clear what is your writing, and what information came from an outside source.

Here is an example of how to make it clear what is yours, and what is part of your research.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, plagiarism is defined as "the action or practice of taking someone else's work, idea, etc., and passing it off as one's own." An honest student will make every effort to write their paper so the teacher can easily recognize what is the student's original work.

See what I did there? I used a direct quote, but I gave credit for it. It's that simple.

classwork for Wed Dec 12

I will not be in class today, but you have plenty of work to do in my absence. The Honors section and Section 102 will meet today, and, as we discussed in class, you will spend your class time working on your exam essays. If you have already started your essay, you may work with a classmate and peer review each other's essay. If you haven't yet started writing, start today. This is a big part of your grade, and you need to devote time to your essay in order to do well.

I hope to see you soon. In the meantime, be productive and be nice to your sub.

Also: Olivia, Leigh, and Caitlin, please make up your test in class today. Your tests are sitting on my desk, so tell your sub where they are. Thank you. 

Essay Questions for Semester Exam

For the Human Geography Semester Exam, you will write essays from the following prompts. Sections 101 and 102 will write one essay; the Honors section will write two essays. The essays should be written in five-paragraph format:

• Paragraph 1: an introduction with a clear thesis (topic sentence). This paragraph should include three essential points, and set the structure for the rest of the essay
• Paragraph 2: start with your strongest point, and give evidence to support it  
• Paragraph 3: make another essential point, again giving evidence to support it  
• Paragraph 4: next, present your second strongest point, and give important facts to support it  
• Paragraph 5: sum things up with a strong conclusion, where you summarize (don’t just repeat) the essence of your essay, tying it all together

Students will print their essays and turn them in at the beginning of class on Friday, December 14. Late papers will be docked one letter grade for each day they are late.

Here are your prompts:

Option A: Choose three nations from three different parts of the world. Discuss the challenges they face regarding population and migration, using information we learned during our studies (perhaps including CIA World Factbook data, population pyramids, Net Migration Rates, possible overpopulation or underpopulation). Also, analyze what each nation's leaders need to do to deal with these challenges.

Option B:  Consider our studies of immigration, push and pull forces, quotas, asylum, legal and illegal immigrants, civil rights and human rights, and the current state of our nation. Then, thoughtfully answer these questions: What are the different ways in which United States immigration policy has evolved over the last 100 years? What are the positive and negative effects of these policies? What immigration policies would you recommend the US implement right now, and what would be the effects (both positive and negative) of your policies?

Option C: Consider our studies of fertility (which include data on CBR and TFR) and mortality (CDR, Infant Mortality Rate, Life Expectancy, and Rate of Natural Increase). Describe the four (or five) stages of the Demographic Transition, beginning with the Industrial Revolution, proceeding to the present day, and projecting into the future. Be sure to discuss individual countries as you describe the different stages.


Students will have a chance to fine-tune their essays in class through a peer-review process. The Honors class will do this on Wed, Dec 12; sections 101 and 102 will do this on Thu, Dec 13. All three classes will review for the objective part of the semester exam on Fri, Dec 14.

The essay(s) will count for 25% of your exam grade; the objective portion will be 75%.

Also, as you requested, here is the link to the podcast we listened to in class on immigrants seeking asylum.

In addition, here is a link to a video on sanctuary cities.

Also, I promised Section 102 I would post the last three slides of the "Why Do Migrants Face Challenges?" PowerPoint. So here they are!

•Immigration Concerns in Europe

–Population growth in Europe is fueled by immigration from other regions of the world, a trend disliked by many Europeans.

•Biggest fear is that the host country’s culture will be lost, because immigrants:

–adhere to different religions

–speak different languages

–practice different food and other cultural habits

•Hostility to immigrants has become a central plank of some political parties in many European countries.

–Immigrants blamed for crime, unemployment rates, and high welfare costs.

–

•Europeans as Emigrants

–Inhospitable climate for immigrants in Europe is especially ironic.

•Europe was the source of most of the world’s emigrants, during the nineteenth century.

•Most Europeans fear losing their cultural heritage to that of new immigrants, while:

–Indo-European languages are now spoken by half of the world, as a result of European emigrants.

–Christianity has the world’s largest number of adherents.

–European art, music, literature, philosophy, and ethics have diffused throughout the world.

•Characteristics of Migrants

–Ravenstein noted:

•Most long-distance migrants are male.

•Most long-distance migrants are adult individuals rather than families with children.

•Most long-distance migrants are young adults seeking work rather than children or elderly people.

in-class work for Tuesday, December 4

I will not be in class today. Here is the work Section 101 and the Honors section will do in class.

• Read and take notes on pages 84-85 in the handout. 
• This part is titled "Changing U. S. Immigration." 
• Enter these notes in your blog. 

Thank you for your cooperation with your substitute teacher. I hope to see you tomorrow.