Paper Guidelines for a Geography Essay

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"Deleted year guideline was issued" Paper Guidelines for Geography

Purpose of the Paper:

In the paper that you are required to submit to your TA, we want you to take a position and then develop and present a coherent argument on one of the topics that have been debated in class. For the paper, the topic choice can be any one of the six debates that we will have this Spring semester.

a) The legacy of Kosovo

b) The war in Chechnya

c) The geopolitics of Caspian sea oil exports.

d) The war in Afghanistan

e) AIDS in Africa

f) The Israeli-Palestinian conflict

You are required to take one of the five perspectives on the debate of your choice, gather information to support your case, argue it fluently with supporting evidence, and package it well. You do not have to choose one of the positions that you argued in oral debate but it must be one of the many options available.

Paper Mechanics:

The paper must be between 4 and 6 typed pages (11 pt or 12 pt fonts). It should have a cover sheet with your name, social security number, recitation section (time/day) and TA name. You can attach any supporting evidence (maps, charts, graphs, tables, etc) but you must refer to them in the text – no dangling appendages. The attachments will not count towards the page text limit. The paper is due in the recitation section meeting in the week of 22 April.

Paper Content:

In the paper, you should clearly indicate what position you are arguing. Think of this exercise as preparing a report for an international body like the United Nations or the International Court of Justice and therefore, make your best case. In the paper, you should

a) state clearly the key issues,

b) marshal evidence to make your points (historical, legal, economic, territorial, security, etc),

c) counter other arguments, and

d) state your preferred outcome for the dispute.

Paper Sources:

You should use the relevant reserve reading as an important source, as well as the web pages that represent your point of view. (They are available on the "debate materials" link on the course webpage).

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