A Comparative Geographical Analysis of Two Communities in British Columbia

Purpose
The purpose of the assignment is to;
get you to become familiar with geographical concepts, develop essay writing skills, and develop research techniques for geographical analyses.

A Comparative Geographical Analysis of Two Communities in British Columbia

This is an individual and independent research to measure your understanding of the subject matter of this course. You must write a research essay on the comparative geography of two communities from the City of Vancouver, BC, listed below.

Arbutus Ridge Mount Pleasant
Downtown Oakridge
Dunbar-Southlands Renfrew-Collingwood
Fairview Riley Park
Grandview-Woodland Shaughnessy
Hastings-Sunrise South Cambie
Kensington-Cedar Cottage Strathcona
Kerrisdale Sunset
Killarney Victoria-Fraserview
Kitsilano West End
Marpole West Point Grey

Your essay should answer which is the better of the two to settle in and raise a new family in the future. Your research essay should cover at least three elements from the following list to secure maximum marks:

Physical geography
Population characteristics
Social and cultural patterns
Urban and settlement patterns
Transportation and communication patterns
Main economic sectors

Elements of a research essay

Research essays have several key elements. They include:

1. Research Topic – it must have at least a single objective to be investigated in a scientific manner
2. Data and datasets– these are the collected facts that allow examination to realize the objective, and can be primary (e.g. field collection), secondary or tertiary
3. Graphics – these include maps, charts and tables, and are important means of summarizing the data, and displaying patterns within datasets, both spatial and attribute
4. References - they provide evidence and support for your research Please adopt and be consistent with any of the three common styles – APA, MLA or Chicago provided at KPU Library’s website (https://libguides.kpu.ca/citations).

Structure of the Research Essay

The research essay must be:

word processed, double spaced 8 or less pages in length (inclusive of figures and references) saved as pdf (to upload to the course Moodle site)

An ideal research essay will consist of the following
1. Introduction - this section provides the reason for the research and defines its objectives 2. Method - this section describes how the research was conducted, and includes a discussion of the datasets and the methods used to analyze them
3. Results - this section details the findings of the analysis
4. Conclusion - this section assesses how well the objectives were met, and discusses the potential for future research

All essays must include at least one map and one other graphics (charts, tables, etc.).
These must be placed within the text of the essay, and not at the end as appendices.

Elements of a research essay

Time Management
Managing your time effectively is a very valuable and necessary skill to succeed both academically and in the work force. The research essay needs to show evidence of well thought out inquiry. The main stages and the suggested time budget for this research
essay are as follows:
Question formation and data search – weeks 1-2
Project outline – weeks 1-3
Data collection – weeks 2-5

Data analysis – weeks 2-6
Report writing – weeks 6-7
The course presentation provides details regarding the evaluation and academic conduct.

Purpose
The purpose of this checklist is to;
Get you to identify the elements of your research, organize the outline of your research, and identify the data sources, method and analysis you will employ in your research.

Define the Problem
General description
What is your research topic? e.g. I want choose between community ‘A’ and community ‘B’ to live and raise a family in the future.
Specific issues
What is your research question? e.g. I want to live in a community that satisfies my specific criteria of ‘x’, ‘y’ and ‘z’?
Temporal scope
What is the time frame/period for your study? e.g. I am going to use data from the last ‘x’ years to project into the future
Why is it appropriate for your research?
Spatial coverage
What is the type of community for your research? e.g. city centre, town centre, suburb?
Why is it appropriate for your research?

Method
Identify the data

What type of data will you need for your research? e.g. economic, demographic, social.
Where would you get them? Identify sources e.g. municipality strategic plans, crown corporation annual reports, business associations, published books or articles.

What time frame do they need to cover? e.g. annual reports over ‘x’ years to cover the planning and implementation phases
What format should the data be in? e.g. text, spreadsheets, maps

Identify the analysis
How do you plan to summarize the data? e.g. charts to show economic growth over time, table to summarize the pros and cons of a proposed large infrastructure project in the area
Why is it the appropriate method of summarizing/analyzing the collected data?

Results
Dentify the deliverables
What type of map(s) should you include in your report?
What type of charts?
What type of tables?
What did you hope to find initially and what did you actually find through your research? (Written Analysis)
What are the meanings/significances/implications of your results?

Limitations
What were the operational problems/limitations of your research? e.g. the data were aggregated rather than at the detailed level you required for the research, or they were not available for the current year
What were your solutions/workaround to resolve these shortcomings?

Conclusion
Key findings
Was your research question answered?
How can it be improved in the future?
Future avenue(s) for your research. What other criteria would you include if you redo your research in a few years’ time?

References
Do you have the complete references?
Are they in an appropriate referencing style?
Are they sufficient for your research?
Do the in-text references have their complete counterpart in the reference list?