Communicating in Geography and the Environmental Sciences

by Hay, Iain

• ISBN13: 9780195517613
• ISBN10: 019551761X
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-09-28
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

An essential book for your entire degree: This textbook is a comprehensive source of information on presentation skills for all university students studying geography and the environmental sciences. It covers all of the communication forms required during a university degree: essays, research and laboratory reports, reviews, summaries, referencing, maps, tables, annotated bibliographies, figures, posters, examinations, and oral presentations. Identifies a standard for assessment: It equips students with the knowledge and skills that assessors are looking for and will enable them to prepare much better work. Student-friendly: This edition includes new material on creating figures and the advantages and disadvantages of different kinds of visual aids. The book also now offers indispensable advice to students about evaluating the credibility of web pages. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Iain Hay is Professor and Head of the School of Geography, Population and Environmental Management at Flinders University, Adelaide

Table of Contents

List of figures	p. ix
List of tables	p. xi
List of boxes	p. xii
Acknowledgments	p. xiv
Introductory comments	p. xv
...for student readers	p. xvii
...for lecturers	p. xix
Further reading	p. xx
Writing an essay	p. 1
Why write?	p. 1
How do I write a good essay?	p. 3
What are your essay markers looking for?	p. 4
Quality of argument	p. 4
Quality of evidence	p. 10
Use of supplementary material	p. 14
Written expression and presentation	p. 15
Sources/referencing	p. 18
Demonstrated level of individual scholarship	p. 22
References and further reading	p. 25
Writing a report	p. 28
Why write a report?	p. 29
What are report readers looking for?	p. 29
Report writing-general layout	p. 31
Preliminary material	p. 32
Introduction-why did you do this study?	p. 38
Literature review	p. 38
Materials and methods-how did you do this study?	p. 40
Results-what did you find out?	p. 42
Discussion and conclusion-what do the findings mean?	p. 45
Recommendations	p. 44
Appendices	p. 44
References	p. 45
Written expression and presentation	p. 45
Writing a laboratory report	p. 47
References and further reading	p. 50
Writing an annotated bibliography, summary, or review	p. 54
Preparing an annotated bibliography	p. 54
What is the purpose of an annotated bibliography?	p. 56
What is the reader of an annotated bibliography looking for?	p. 56
Writing a summary or precis	p. 57
What is the reader of a summary or precis looking for?	p. 58
Writing a review	p. 62
What are your review markers looking for?	p. 62
Description: what is the reviewed item about?	p. 65
Analysis: details of strengths and weaknesses	p. 68
Evaluation: contribution to the discipline	p. 71
Written expression, references, and presentation of the review	p. 72
Some examples of reviews	p. 72
References and further reading	p. 75
Writing a media release	p. 78
What is a media release and what are users of media releases looking for?	p. 79
Targeting your release	p. 80
Writing a media release	p. 81
Layout and presentation	p. 81
Structure	p. 81
Evidence and credibility	p. 82
Language	p. 83
Photographs and supplementary information	p. 84
Timing matters	p. 85
Media release format	p. 85
Sending the media release	p. 88
Being interviewed	p. 89
Following up	p. 90
Concluding comments	p. 91
References and further reading	p. 91
Preparing a poster	p. 93
Why prepare a poster?	p. 93
What are your poster markers looking for?	p. 96
Designing your poster	p. 99
Layout and research	p. 99
Guiding the reader through poster components	p. 99
Text	p. 102
Colour	p. 103
Tables, figures, and photos	p. 105
Acknowledging sources	p. 107
References and further reading	p. 108
Communicating with figures and tables	p. 110
Why communicate graphically?	p. 110
General guidelines for clear graphic communication	p. 111
Different types of graphic	p. 113
Scattergrams	p. 114
Line graphs	p. 115
Bar charts	p. 118
Histograms	p. 123
Population pyramids or age-sex pyramids	p. 128
Circle or pie charts	p. 129
Logarithmic graphs	p. 131
Tables	p. 134
Elements of a table	p. 135
References and further reading	p. 135
Making a map	p. 138
Elements of a map	p. 138
Different types of map	p. 141
Dot maps	p. 141
Proportional circle maps	p. 143
Choropleth maps	p. 147
Isoline maps	p. 149
References and further reading	p. 152
Preparing and delivering a talk	p. 154
Why are public-speaking skills important?	p. 154
Preparing to give a talk	p. 158
Establishing the context and goals	p. 158
Organising the material for presentation	p. 160
Structuring your talk	p. 160
Preparing your text and aids to delivery	p. 163
Rehearsing	p. 167
Final points of preparation	p. 168
Delivery	p. 169
Coping with questions	p. 172
References and further reading	p. 173
Coping with exams	p. 176
Why have exams?	p. 176
Types of exam	p. 177
Preparing for an exam	p. 178
Sitting exams: techniques for passing exams	p. 183
Multiple-choice exams	p. 187
Oral exams	p. 188
'Open book' exams	p. 190
'Take-home' exams	p. 191
Online exams	p. 192
References and further reading	p. 194
Referencing and language matters	p. 196
What are references? Why do we need them?	p. 197
The author-date (Harvard) system	p. 198
In-text references	p. 198
List of references	p. 201
The note system	p. 209
Bibliography	p. 216
Notes and note identifiers	p. 217
Plagiarism and academic dishonesty	p. 218
Sexism and racism in language	p. 220
Sexist language	p. 220
Racist language	p. 221
Some notes on punctuation	p. 222
References and further reading	p. 224
Glossary	p. 226
Index	p. 237
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