RYERSON UNIVERSITY
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies
GEO 530: Urban and Economic Geography Winter 2016
Instructor: Dr. Philip Coppack
Office:
Phone:
JOR 609
(416) 979-5000 ex.6174 (I don’t respond well to phone calls but…)
E-mail:
Website: pcoppack@ryerson.ca
(e-mails - within reason ( see below ) - I will answer!)
www.geography.ryerson.ca/coppack/geo530
Office hours: Tuesday and Wednesday, by chance or appointment.
Course Format: Lectures (3 hours/week): ENGLG21, 3pm-6pm Monday.
READ THIS NOW
YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR READING EVERYTHING IN THIS COURSE OUTLINE, IN THE
POWERPOINT SLIDES, IN THE RYERSON EMAILS I SEND, AND IN THE LECTURE MATERIAL I
PRESENT.
I WILL NOT RESPOND TO ANY EMAIL QUESTION WHERE THE ANSWER IS IN THIS MATERIAL.
BE SURE ANY EMAIL TO ME HAS EXACTLY THE FOLLOWING SUBJECT LINE OR THEY WILL END
UP IN JUNK MAIL:
GEOGRAPHY 530 STUDENT QUERY-2016
NOTE
THIS COURSE DOES NOT USE D2L EXCEPT FOR EMAIL PURPOSES.
THE WEBSITE ADDRESS FOR THIS COURSE IS: www.geography.ryerson.ca/coppack/geo530
Students are required to use their Ryerson email address for communication with the
instructor. It is the responsibility of students to check their Ryerson email and the course
website regularly.
The Faculty Course Survey will be conducted online March 25 - April 4.
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course explores the theory, concepts and methods underlying the spatial distribution of economic activities across the landscape. It pays particular attention to the spatial patterns that arise in the distribution of the principal economic sectors of the economy: the agricultural, manufacturing, and service sectors, and to the geographical economics of urban land use patterns, including residential, transportation, public services and office location. While the course follows a traditional spatial economic modeling approach to land use theory, alternative postmodern views such as Marxism, humanism and behaviorism will also be introduced and compared to the classical and neoclassical spatial economic approaches.
COURSE EVALUATION:
Paper proposal
Paper final draft
In-class multiple choice tests (5x10%)
20% (due dates see schedule below)
30% (due dates see schedule below)
50% (due dates see schedule below)
There is no final exam in this course so do not miss the tests.

NOTE: Tests will be run in the first 50 minutes of the class hour and will be comprised of 40 multiple choice questions. IF YOU MISS A TEST, THERE ARE NO REWRITES FOR THEM FOR ANY REASON. YOU WILL LOSE
THE GRADE FOR IT – NO EXCEPTIONS, OTHERWISE YOU WILL BE SWAMPED. Since there is no final exam it is imperative that you do not miss the tests.
REQUIRED TEXT – PowerPoint at www.geography.ryerson.ca/coppack/geo530
There is no assigned textbook for this course. The PowerPoint and their notes, and other handouts are very detailed and serve as a text for this course. Other readings are suggested below in the reading list.
Week
1
Jan 18
2
Jan 25
3
Feb 1
4
Feb 8
TENTATIVE LECTURE TOPICS SCHEDULE
Lectures
1. Introduction.
Course mechanics.
The Space Economy – definition and structure
Modeling: what it is and how it is used.
Landscapes: homogeneity, isotropy and reality(ies).
SPATIAL MACROECONOMIC BACKGROUND
2. Engines of Growth and Change: Demographics and Urbanisation.
Population growth, fertility, survival, dependency.
Population structure: transition and pyramids.
Renaissance, mercantilism, and revolution.
Cities as points of socio-economic transformation.
Urban growth versus urbanization.
Demographic transition, urbanization, and economic transformation.
3. Economic Change
Macroeconomic Eras – two flavours: revolutions and capital.
Globalisation since 1945.
Colonialisation and decolonialisation.
4. Finance, Cycles, Agglomeration and Scale.
Booms, busts, and the financial/banking system.
Economic cycles: Kondratieff, Keynes, inventory and product.
Internal scale economies.
External scale economies.
Assignments
Distribute proposal-paper assignment with course outline.
Quiz #1
Lectures 1,2
5
Feb 15
STUDY WEEK
6
Feb 22
ECONOMIC SECTOR MODELLING
5. Economic Base Theory, Economic Classifications, Data, Methods
The fundamental geographic structure of economies.
“Basic” and “non-basic” economic activities.
The B/NB ratio and the multiplier concept.
Classification systems
Economic indicators, indices, data, and sources.
Current and constant dollars.
Location quotients.
Shift-share analysis.
Gini coefficients, Lorenz and other curves.
Productivity, capacity utilisation, and input-output.
Relative and absolute change, rates and levels of change.
ECONOMIC SECTOR MODELS
Quiz #2
Lectures 3,4

7
Feb 29
8
Mar 7
6. Agricultural, Resource Location, Urban Economics and Land Use.
Von Thunen and the concept of bid rent.
Models of urban structure - an overview.
Alonso and urban rent theory.
Peak value intersections.
The economics of urban slums.
The economics of urban sprawl.
Zimmerman's Axiom: resources aren't, they become – economics of resource commodities and location.
7. Manufacturing: from weight watching to getting satisfaction.
Maximization approaches: Weber and the weight loss hypothesis.
Optimization approaches: Losch and the pursuit of profit as a locational determinant.
Behavioral approaches: Smith and margins of profitability.
Proposal due
Quiz #3
Lectures 5,6
9
Mar 14
10
Mar 21
11
Mar 28
Decision making approaches: Simon and satisficing.
Model of industrial location change.
Industrialisation, Deindustrialisation, Industrial Restructuring. Concepts and definitions.
Measuring degree and type of change.
8. Retail and Services Location.
Christaller and central place theory: range, threshold, K patterns.
Distance decay and the economics of urban demand and supply.
Breakpoint and gravity models.
MOVEMENT
9. Interaction and Time, Space, and Time-Space
Arrow of time.
Time-space cubes, prisms and paths.
Discretionary and obligatory events.
Time-space convergence.
Proxemics and social distance.
Interaction
Interaction models: gravity & distance decay.
10. Transportation and Diffusion.
Networks.
Network analysis tools.
Transportation Economics.
Modes of transportation.
The cost of traffic jams.
Diffusion: what it is.
Modelling diffusion – Hagerstrand.
Return proposal
Quiz #4
Lectures 7,8
Final Paper
Due
NOTE: FRIDAY APRIL 1 IS THE LAST DATE TO DROP COURSES WITHOUT ACADEMIC PENALTY. IT IS
BETTER TO DROP A COURSE THAN TO FAIL A COURSE. REMEMBER: ‘F’ IS FOREVER.
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
12
April 4
13
April 11
11. Economic Growth & Regional Development:
Defining growth & development.
Heartland hinterland.
Development models.
Circular and cumulative causation.
The Canadian experience.
12. Course Wrap Up
Quiz #5
Lectures 9,10
Return paper

OTHER GOOD REFERENCES FOR THIS COURSE
Lloyd, Peter and Peter Dicken (1977) Location in Space: A Theoretical Approach to Economic Geography.
Harper Row.
Dicken, Peter (1986). Global Shift. Industrial Change in a Turbulent World. Harper Row.
Hayter, Roger and Jerry Patchell (2011). Economic Geography. An Institutional Approach. Oxford University
Press.
De Faust, and Sousa (19) World Space Economy.
DATA SOURCES
Stats Canada Yearbooks: http://www65.statcan.gc.ca/acyb01/acyb01_0000-eng.htm
Historical data on all aspects of Canadian social, demographic and economic life, from 1870 to 1964.
CANSIM:
Capital expenditures 1991-2013 (click Add/Remove tab and scroll down and change dates). http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/pick-Choisir?lang=eng&p2=33&id=0290009
Manufacturing sales 1990-2003 (click Add/Remove tab and scroll down and change dates). http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a05?lang=eng&id=3010005&pattern=3010005&searchTypeByValue=1& p2=35
Employment and labour stats 1976-2010 http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-210-x/2010000/t020-eng.htm
Portal to other manufacturing stats. http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/subject-sujet/result-resultat?pid=4005&id=-
4005&lang=eng&type=ARRAY&pageNum=1&more=0
Portal to other Employment and labour stats 1976-2010 http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-210-x/2010000/tablelist-listetableaux2-eng.htm
INTERNATIONAL SOURCES:
World Bank Indicators: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.IND.TOTL.KD
International Monetary Fund (IMF):
Homepage for data: http://www.imf.org/external/data.htm
Mapper (needs Flash): http://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/index.php
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD): http://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx
PRB (Population Reference Bureau): http://www.prb.org/DataFinder.aspx
World Health Organisation (WHO): http://apps.who.int/gho/data/?theme=main
Global Burden of Disease (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation): http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/gbd/publications/policy-report/global-burden-diseasegenerating-evidence-guiding-policy
GOOD WEBSITES http://laborsta.ilo.org/STP/guest http://www.ilo.org/public/english/support/lib/resource/subject/labourstat.htm
http://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/index.php
http://www.gapminder.org/data/

http://databank.worldbank.org/ddp/home.do?Step=3&id=4 http://www.principalglobalindicators.org/default.aspx
http://www.prb.org/DataFinder/Geography.aspx?loct=4 http://www.statcan.gc.ca/start-debut-eng.html

NB: Use the Research Process Flowchart and Proposal Example Table at the end of this document.
Purpose and Structure:
The purpose of the course assignment is twofold. The first is to allow you to explore a topic of your choice in Economic Geography. The second is to allow you practice in proper academic proposal and paper writing.
Both of these goals will weigh equally in your final grade for the paper.
The assignment has two parts. First, you must write a proposal for a major paper following the various guidelines provided below. READ THEM CAREFULLY AND FOLLOW THEM DILIGENTLY. Second, you must write the paper itself, integrating feedback from the proposal stage, as well as the proposal itself, rewritten to incorporate feedback to become the introduction to your paper. The proposal will be re-evaluated as part of the paper so its grade will change as well.
NOTE: THIS IS THE HARDEST ASSIGNMENT YOU WILL EVER DO BECAUSE:
1. IT LOOKS EASY.
2. IT REQUIRES THAT YOU READ AND FOLLOW THIS ENTIRE DOCUMENT THOROUGHLY.
3. YOU HAVE TO STAY FOCUSSED ON A SMALL TOPIC.
4. EACH SECTION MUST SPIRAL DOWN TIGHTLY FROM THE PREVIOUS SECTIONS.
5. IT IS THE PROCESS THAT IS IMPORTANT NOT THE TOPIC YOU CHOOSE.
Length and Grade:
The proposal is worth 20% of the course grade and should not exceed THREE typewritten pages. The paper is worth 30% of the course grade and should not exceed SIX typewritten pages INCLUDING THE REPAIRED
ORIGINAL PROPOSAL AS THE FIRST THREE PAGES. Both items must follow the Research Process Flowchart
and the Proposal Example Table. These two documents are found on the website in the TEXT folder. You must also follow the Writing Guidelines below and you should also pay attention to the Marking
Guidelines, also found below. The paper should execute the proposal, and incorporate any comments offered on it.
THE ORIGINAL UNREPAIRED PROPOSAL, WITH MY COMMENTS, IS TO BE ATTACHED AS AN APPENDIX TO
YOUR PAPER. IF IT IS NOT THERE YOU WILL LOSE 10% OF YOUR FINAL PAPER GRADE IMMEDIATELY.
PART #1: The Proposal
NB: Use the Research Process Flowchart and Proposal Example Table at the end of this document.
A proposal is a statement about what you intend to do in your research paper and why. It should be comprised of the following five sections, presented in the following order, with each section focusing more and more tightly on the nature of the problem to be solved and the way in which you intend to solve it. Be sure to READ the examples given in the hand-out below to guide you and the examples of past student efforts, good and poor. The sections are:
1. Context:
The context provides the broadest framework for your topic. For example, global economic changes such as off shore shifts in industrial location to third world countries with cheaper labour have led to industrial

change in developed countries. The context will include, (1) a statement of the topic as per the previous sentence, (2) the area/region/nation to be examined, (3) the time period or pre- post- date to be used, (4) the general variables/relationships expected under examination.
2. Research Question:
The research question derives from your context and identifies the specific problem that needs to be investigated. It does so by identifying three components: (1) the general topic under investigation (e.g. industrial change); (2) a specific aspect of interest in that general area (e.g. which industries have deindustrialised); (3) precisely what problem you are going to examine (e.g. how can de-industrialisation be measured for industries in a given area, say Southern Ontario, thus identifying which if any have indeed deindustrialised?).
Note that the final product of the Research Question step is a question!
3. Objectives:
Objectives focus the research question you identified above. Objectives are a set of precise statements about what you hope to achieve in your study and always include two things: variables and relationships.
They should be short, simple and do-able. Don't bite off more than you can chew (this is ‘usual big problem
#1 – UBP#1’). Continuing the example above, two objectives derived from (2) and (3) above might be:
1. To examine employment change in 20 SIC (or NAICS) groups for Southern Ontario, for 1970,
1980, 1990 2000 and 2010 (pre- and post- offshore relocations).
2. To examine capital investment in the same 20 SIC groups, for the same time period and location.
The objectives would make sense because you would have already outlined some of the structural features of de-industrialisation (such as declining employment and disinvestment -- see the Lecture Notes Chapter on this), and time lines in the problem statement.
Note that the final product of the Objectives step is/are a variable(s) (e.g. employment change and
capital investment by SIC) and their relationship (e.g. expected direction of change over time).
4. Testable Expectations:
Testable expectations focus the specific objectives you have developed (that is, the variable(s) and the relationship(s)) into precise characteristics you expect to find and can actually and practically test. Testable expectations can be formal "hard" statistical statements, as in the null (H0) and alternate (H1.) hypotheses used in inferential statistical analysis, or they can be verbal "softer" expectations. If you use the word
“hypothesis” be sure you execute a thorough inferential statistical study – otherwise do not use this word or words like null or alternate hypotheses or “significant”. It is highly unlikely that you will be executing such a study so stick with the testable expectations approach. Testable expectations would be, for the example we are using:
1. That employment (a variable) should decline (a relationship) over the period and in the location in question, in those industries that are actually de-industrialising.

2. That employment share (another variable) in the region (as compared to the nation, say) in those same industries should also decline (another relationship).
3. That capital investment (yet another variable) should also decline (yet another relationship) in those same industries over the same period in the region.
These testable expectations would make sense because you would know from your context the variables, the time period, and the relationship you are looking for: that decreasing employment with decreasing investment for Ontario since 1973 characterises de-industrialisation. You could just as easily test for which type of change is occurring rather than asking whether a specific type of change is happening. Note also that you do not have to use formal hypotheses – in fact unless you are going to use inferential statistical
methods don’t use the term “hypothesis” at all. Use the term “testable expectation”.
Note that the final product of the Testable Expectations step are a set of specific measurable variables and the relationship you would expect from your research question for a pre- post-date or period and place (e.g. between 1980 and 2012 employment will decrease relatively as capital investment by SIC
increases relatively).
4. Methodology:
The methodology outlines the precise steps you intend to take to test the testable elements be they hypotheses or testable elements. You may think of a methodology as defining the relationships your testable elements propose to exhibit. This section includes type, method and techniques to be used, and how they will tell you what you want to know. That is, you would outline what you mean by change: absolute or relative? What methods will you use to determine the type of change you’re looking for: trend lines or descriptive (relational or comparative means) statistics? What specific techniques: standard or moving average trend lines? They can be as simple as descriptive percentage comparisons, or as complex as multivariate factor analyses. Don't use techniques that are overkill for your data or problem.
In our example we will use simple trend lines of percentage change in share of employment and capital investment by industry group over the period and will expect relative decrease/increase – that is, both lines may increase but employment will increase more slowly. We will deal with this in the Methods and
Data lecture.
5. Data:
Data are the fuel that drives your methodology. You should think of data as three things: (1) variables (the column in a spreadsheet – e.g. employment in a given SIC), (2) cases (the rows, e.g. S. Ontario, cities in S.
Ontario) and (3) the actual numbers that quantify specific cases of the variables (the cells e.g. employment in a given industry in S. Ontario or a given city). This is the kind of thing we dealt with in our Geography
Statistics course and thus it should be obvious that imprecise, inappropriate, or simply wrong data will give you either no results or - worse - erroneous conclusions about your testable elements. The objectives and testable elements dictate the type of data you will need - in our example, employment and capital investment numbers for the SIC industry groups for Southern Ontario, for the years in question. The methodology indicates the level and precision of the data required -- ordinal, interval, or ratio – and whether it can be plotted as a trend line. The final question to ask yourself is whether the data are
available for the time and place you need and if so, from where? It's more than likely that the data you need won't be available, or at least not be available at the scale or level of accuracy that you need to make definitive statements about your testable elements. SO BE SURE THAT YOUR DATA IS AVAILABLE BEFORE
EMBARKING TOO FAR INTO A RESEARCH PROBLEM.

In our example getting employment data is not a problem. But you will likely find that capital investment data by SIC for Southern Ontario for the years in question is unavailable. Is there any other data that would do the job? Are there any surrogate measures? In our case we may be able to use value added.
More on these things in the Methods and Data lecture.
6. Writing the Proposal:
The writing of a proposal is an exercise in problem formulation and developing the methods of solving it without an actual solution to the problem being presented. YOU WILL BE MARKED RIGOROUSLY ON HOW
YOU EXECUTE THE PROCESS AND NOT ON THE COMPLEXITY OF YOUR TOPIC. It is one of the most important tasks you will learn here and need in the workplace as a research analyst. In fact, your most important goal throughout your four years here is to become expert problem solvers, the first step of which involves
problem recognition and research question formulation.
Step #2: The Paper
The paper itself should be a translation of the proposal into action. In fact, the corrected proposal should become the introductory first three pages of the paper. THE ORIGINAL UNCORRECTED PROPOSAL, WITH MY
COMMENTS, IS TO BE ATTACHED AS AN APPENDIX TO YOUR PAPER. FAILURE TO DO SO WILL RESULT I AN
IMMEDIATE AND UNRECOVERABLE LOSS OF 10% OF YOUR PAPER GRADE. As a point of interest, in a graduate (or even undergraduate) research paper or thesis, the proposal becomes Chapters 1 through 3.
DUE TO THE TIGHT DEADLINES THERE WILL BE NO EXTENSIONS ON THE DUE DATE FOR THE PROPOSAL.
That is, you will hand in something by the due date and take the grading consequences of it.
The grade for the paper will reflect two things. The first is if you have taken my commentary from the proposal and used it. The second is the quality of the new stuff in the paper. The grade does not get broken out this way but is taken into account. That is, just because you get a good grade on the proposal does not mean that the first part of the paper will get a good grade unless you accommodate my comments and follow through into the paper with them. Likewise, a poor proposal can redeem itself here with a good rewrite and execution. YOUR ORIGINAL PROPOSAL GRADE COULD IMPROVE IF THE CORRECTIONS ARE
DONE AND EXECUTED PROPERLY, BUT AN EXCELLENT RESULTS SECTION WILL NOT GET AN EXCELLENT
PAPER GRADE IF THE PROPOSAL REMAINS ONLY ADEQUATE.

General Writing Guidelines For My Courses A.K.A. Writing Irritations To Avoid At All Costs!
Mechanics:
* DO NOT use those horrid plastic slipcovers with the stiff spines for your essays. Use a simple, cheap, effective staple in the corner as per the template direction. If the essay is supposed to contain your field work and/or surveys, try and staple everything securely together with the essay on top. Failing that, staple the essay and appendices, spring clip the field work, and rubber band everything securely.
Be sure your name is on each package.
* TYPED papers only are acceptable. Do not submit a hand written paper or it will be returned to you unmarked for typing, with the subsequent late penalties applying. USE SPELL CHECK AND GRAMMAR
CHECK BUT REMEMBER THEY ARE NOT ALWAYS CORRECT OR IN CONTEXT.
* MARGINS are to be MS Office default only, and TYPEFACE should be 12 point Times New Roman or
Calibri only. Do not get innovative with this. A whole essay in Italics or script or Broadway is extraordinarily tiresome and annoying to read.
* PAPER should be white bond only. Don’t hand in those awful sky scenes or wrinkled paper designs the bookstore is selling. Again they are tiresome in the extreme to read, expensive and completely unnecessary: they don’t improve your writing, believe it or not.
*
*
SPACING should be 1.5 – no more, no less. PAGE NUMBERS should be bottom centre on every page of narrative and not on the title page.
* HEADINGS/SUB-HEADINGS should be used to organise your paper, but do not get into those ridiculous sub-sub-sub-headings ad nauseum.
* FIGURE/TABLE references should be stated as (Figure 1, Table 1 etc) and put into the sentence where you first refer to the item. Do not waste space writing “see Figure so and so.”
* SURNAMES AND CHRISTIAN NAMES should appear as they do in your official registration records and hence on my grade recording sheets. ALWAYS put your student ID number on your work.
Style and grammar:
* AMOUNT, LEVEL, QUANTITY, and NUMBER: get them correct. People are not an amount, they are a number, milk is an amount – gallons of milk are a number. As a loose rule, if the object(s) come in discrete units they are a number or a quantity; otherwise they are an amount or level.
* LESS AND FEWER: get them correct too. The rules are pretty much the same as with amount, level, quantity, and number above. For example, there are fewer people in the pool but there is less water.
There would be less wine in a glass but fewer bottles in the wine cellar – both unfortunate.
JARGON: Avoid it like the plague. I don’t care what the arguments are for it, it creates confusion and obfuscation and unnecessary complications for all who are not privy to it.
* WHEREAS should not be used to start a sentence, unless you intend to finish it. This is a sentence.
Whereas this is not. But joining the two with a comma would have worked (though the sentence wouldn’t make any sense).

* NEVERNEVERNEVERNEVERNEVER use the word “prove”. It is not possible to prove anything, only to disprove it. If you don’t believe this, then read Carl Popper and Thomas Kuhn.
* ITS, IT’S & ITS’: This is one of the most common and annoying grammatical errors in student essays and signage in general. It’s = it is; its = the possessive of the pronoun “it” – The dog wagged its tail; its’
= nothing at all in English.
* A LOT & CAN NOT: These are two more of the most annoying and common grammatical errors, and they really annoy me. A lot is not a word, it is two very poor words “a lot”; use many, several, much.
Can not is not two words it is one word “cannot”, the negative of “can”. INDEPTH is another of these
“let’s make two words into one” aggravations – it is “in depth”.
* SEXIST, RACIST, or HOMOPHOBIC language is not condoned in society as a whole, in Ryerson, or in my classes.
Marking Rubrics and Templates
Below are:
A marking rubric.
The grade recording template that will be returned with your marked paper.
A front page template that you must use.
The grading material gives you an idea of how papers get marked and what constitutes the various grades that you receive in this course, and more generally in university. In university, grades are not what you may think they are so read this material carefully.
An average grade in university is a ‘C’ not a ‘B’. What you think your paper is worth and what you get for it are usually not highly related. Putting a great deal of work into your paper is no guarantee you’ll get a good grade; however, doing little or no work is usually the path to a poor grade. When we mark papers we do not go out of our way to give you what you might consider to be a poor grade. Remember – you wrote the paper and earned the grade and what gets evaluated is what you wrote not what I read. Two things you should note about grades. First, it is virtually impossible in an essay type assignment to allocate numeric grades. So even though you may see numbers, it is the letter equivalent of the range that approximates what the paper was worth. Second, trying to negotiate for a couple of extra grade points will have no effect on your overall grade for the course. These are assigned as letter grades only. And rarely, when an essay is marked, are we out by more than a sign.

MARKING GUIDELINES
To be considered excellent a paper must have received an excellent rating in all three categories.
NOTE that in university a “satisfactory” paper will get a ‘C’ NOT a ‘B’. And if you expect an ‘A’ grade, write an ‘A’ paper.
MATERIAL ORGANISATION
EXCELLENT (‘A’ range – you have excelled)
STYLE
Clear and penetrating ideas.
Mature grasp of the subject.
Accurate and plentiful documentation.
Focused on problem to be solved and linked to larger context.
Clear focus with original thesis.
Clear and purposeful development.
Rich in detail and rigorous in reasoning.
Smooth transitions, clearly connecting elements of the paper.
Diction clear and concise.
Concern for reader and delight in the language.
Appropriate tone and pointed emphasis.
Mastery of the mechanics of the language.
GOOD (‘B’ range – you have exceeded expectations)
Clear and interesting ideas.
Good grasp of subject, with some omissions.
Accurate documentation.
Focused on problem to be solved.
Clear and specific focus.
Clear and adequate development.
Sufficient but limited details.
Sound reasoning.
Adequate transitions connecting elements of the paper.
Diction appropriate and accurate.
Varied and appropriate sentences.
Tone generally appropriate and emphasis apparent rather than pointed.
Good grasp of language mechanics. suspect sources.
SATISFACTORY (‘C’ range – you have met expectations)
Clear ideas.
Grasp of subject but assimilation of ideas incomplete.
Accurate documentation but limited in number and variety of sources.
Wanders occasionally from focus of problem.
Thesis clear but simple and/or insufficient.
Barely sufficient details and occasionally faulty reasoning.
Some awkward transitions or gaps in the structure of the paper.
Diction limited or word flowery.
Similar sentence lengths.
Tone and/or emphasis not always appropriate.
Adequate grasp of language mechanics.
POOR (‘D’ range – you have not met expectations)
Confused thoughts.
Little or no documentation and of inferior quality or
Unfocussed and not addressing the research problem.
No focus.
Insufficient detail to make the case.
Faulty reasoning.
No apparent structure and awkward transitions.
Awkward and faulty use of language.
Poor grasp of language mechanics.
Inappropriate tone.

BASIS OF EVALUATION
Some or all of the items within each element may apply to your paper.
Name: ___________________________________________
IDEA/RESEARCH QUESTION
Includes originality and creativity of research idea, or execution of pre-set topic; staying on topic and answering the question set; pertinence and connection to course content; links to course concepts; feasibility; quality and quantity, detail and pertinence of literature review .
DATA COLLECTED/WORK DONE
Includes quality and quantity of data, whether it is primary or secondary, amount of field work involved, creativity shown in acquiring data, difficulty of acquisition, precision of use, accuracy of data, rigour and objectivity shown, pertinence to problem statement/research question.
EXECUTION
Includes thoroughness of work plan, connection to problem statement, goals, objectives, testable expectations, methodology and data collection; amount, pertinence and understanding of software/statistics used; maintaining focus and answering the question posed; precision in the use of data collected in answering the question.
GRAMMAR/LANGUAGE MECHANICS
Includes English grammar and style skills in using the language; use of good essay form; clarity of communication; brevity, organization; requested referencing style; grammar: punctuation, spelling, gender neutral, non-racist language; no plagiarism or recycling.
PRESENTATION
Includes organization of paper, keeping to requested length, number, quality, sourcing and pertinence of maps, figures and tables; using specified margins and page number styles; using conventional typefaces and paper stock; staples not slip covered; your “official” name and ID # on the cover; my name clearly on the cover; title clearly on the cover.
Grammar Shorthand Used:
INC: Incomplete sentence.
RUN: Run-on sentence.
GR: grammar sloppy or incorrect.
SP: Spelling error.
SSP: Single sentence paragraphs – don’t use them.
NW: no such word/poor use of word.
P: Should be new paragraph.
UC: Unclear statement of idea.
PLL: Paraphrase of someone else’s idea.
REF: Unacceptable form of referencing.
WW: wasted words – sentence states the obvious or nothing at all.
PUN: Punctuation poor.
?: Huh?
COL: Don’t use colloquialisms.
MS: Margins/spacing unacceptable.
TP: Typeface and/or paper stock unconventional and irritating.
GRADE weight 20%
GRADE weight 30%
GRADE weight 30%
GRADE weight 15%
GRADE weight 5%
FINAL
GRADE
Out of
100%

TYPE ALL ENTRIES BELOW AND DO NOT ALTER THIS TEMPLATE!
USE THE SURNAME AND FIRST NAME USED BY RYERSON.
SURNAME:
FIRST NAME:
STUDENT NUMBER:
COURSE: GEO 530
SECTION NUMBER:
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Philip Coppack, JOR 609
ESSAY TOPIC AREA:
ESSAY TITLE:
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Ryerson and the Department of Geography Course Policies
Electronics in Class
All cell phones must be turned off when lectures are in progress. Laptops can be used only to access the course materials during the class.
Department Late Policy
The Department of Geography has a late assignment policy which specifies a minimum penalty of 2% per calendar day, as outlined in the Department of Geography Student Handbook .
Missed Assignments, Term Tests and/or Final Examination
NOTE: FOR THIS COURSE THERE WILL BE NO MAKE UPS FOR THE IN TERM QUIZZES.
If a student misses an assignment, test or exam, make-up assignments, tests and/or exam will be arranged according to Ryerson's
Undergraduate Course Management Policy . The requirement for medical documentation/notification for missed work, or other issues as set out in the Undergraduate Academic Consideration and Appeals Policy .
If an assignment, test or exam is missed for medical reasons, the student must inform the instructor via email in advance when they will be missing an assignment, test or exam for medical reasons. A Ryerson Medical Certificate and the Academic
Consideration Form must be supplied to the students' program office within 3 working days of missed or affected classes, assignments, tests or examinations to receive consideration.
If an assignment, test or exam is missed for compassionate reasons, the student must contact the instructor via email in advance when they will be missing an assignment, test or exam. It is advisable that the student provides relevant and appropriate documentation to the program office when possible, along with the Academic Consideration Form . For more information, consult the Undergraduate Academic Consideration and Appeals Policy .
Accommodation of Students with Disabilities
Students who require academic accommodation services and support should contact the Access Centre and refer to Academic
Accommodations of Students with Disabilities Policy . If academic accommodations for tests and exams are required, it is the student's responsibility to book at least 7 business days prior to the date of writing any test or exam. Late test/exam bookings are no longer accepted. For more information, refer to the Access Centre Test/Exam Booking Procedure website.
Accommodation of Student Religious, Aboriginal and Spiritual Observance
Requests for accommodation of observance can be made formally to the course instructor. The student must submit a clear explanation of the observance and requested accommodation along with a copy of the Accommodation of Student Religious,
Aboriginal and Spiritual Observance form . Instructors will confirm accommodations, in writing, within 5 days of receiving the request. Refer to Accommodation of Student Religious, Aboriginal and Spiritual Observance Policy for more information.
Academic Integrity
It is the student's responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Academic Conduct and understand what plagiarism means. According to the University, plagiarism means claiming the words, ideas, artistry, drawings, images or data of another person as if they were your own.
There are many different types of plagiarism, including:
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Copying and pasting material from a website
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Making minor changes to an author's words or style and then presenting the material as your own
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Taking text from published authors, your friend's paper, or work you've already handed in
Using a direct quotation but leaving out the quotation marks
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Paraphrasing too closely to the original
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Failing to cite sources or citing them incorrectly such that the work cannot be properly found
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Working with another student on a project but failing to put both names on the final product
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Having someone else re-write or heavily edit your paper
Just remember, if you are found guilty of academic misconduct in a course:
 the minimum penalty you will receive is a mark of zero on the test, exam, paper, project or assignment in question

 a “Disciplinary Notice (DN)” will be placed on your academic record and official transcript where it will remain until you graduate.
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The professor might also decide to fail you in the course.
 If you already have a DN on your record you will be placed on “Disciplinary Suspension (DS)”.
 The University also has the right to place you on Disciplinary Withdrawal or to expel you from the University.
For more information about plagiarism, please refer to the Office of Academic Integrity website.
Plagiarism Detection Service
Turnitin will not be used in this course, but if you can find your essay on the web, so can I.
Student Email Policy
According to the Establishment And Use Of Ryerson Student E-Mail Accounts For Official University Communication Policy , students are required to use their Ryerson email address for communication with the instructor. It is the responsibility of students to check their Ryerson email and the course website regularly.
Student Code of Non-Academic Conduct
It is the student's responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Non-Academic Conduct and conduct themselves in a manner consistent with generally accepted standards of behaviour, University regulations and policies.

CONTEXT
Logical background out of which your research question arises. The reason why you have a research question in the first place.
RESEARCH QUESTION
An explicit statement of what you will examine, usually in the form of a question, arising out of the context and from which you develop your objectives.
Indicate relationship
Are you looking for a relationship between variables or differences between
OBJECTIVES
Breaks the research question down into parts to be examined and states (1) relationship(s) to be expected and (2) the variables to be used.
TESTABLE ELEMENTS
These range from hypotheses to opinions depending on the nature of the problem being explored. Regardless, they must state explicitly what type of change (relationships/differences) can be expected across which variables.
Indicate variables
What variables/data will you need – do they indicate what you need to indicate?
HARDER ANALYSIS  ----------------------------------------------------------------- SOFTER ANALYSIS
Hypotheses Testable Generalisations Expert Opinions e.g. inferential statistics e.g. descriptive statistics e.g. expert systems
Specify relationships Specify variables/data required
METHODOLOGY
What methods will you use to analyse the relationships outlined in the testable generalisations?
You must outline the type of relations/difference you expect, the method you will use to find it, and the technique you will employ.
TYPE?
- Change?
- relative?
- absolute?
- Differences?
- in space?
- in time?
- between
METHODS?
- Statistics?
- inferential?
- description?
- Comparisons??
- Trends?
- Correlation?
_ Differences?
TECHNIQUES?
- Chi square?
- t Test?
- Pearson’s?
- Comparisons??
- ANOVA
- Graphs?
- GIS
DATA REQUIRED
What type of qualitative and quantitative data, variables (attributes), and information will you need to analyse the patter outlined in the testable generalisations? Where will you get it? What level of accuracy, precision, fidelity can you expect?
TYPE??
- Quantitative?
- Qualitative?
- Dollars?
- constant?
- absolute?
People?
- surveys
INTEGRITY?
- Accuracy?
- Fidelity?
- Precision
- Availability?
- Compatibility?
- Reliability?
- Source?

GEOGRAPHY 530
PROPOSAL EXAMPLE: GLOBALISATION AND INDUSTRIAL CHANGE
This is table is designed to guide you in writing a proposal. The example outlined in the table concerns globalisation processes and the way in which they stimulate industrial
change in developed countries. Note that other consequences, etc could also be postulated, thus leading to topics other than industrial change. Likewise, globalisation processes may only lead to changes in industries in developed countries if there is a global dimension to that industry. For example, the Food industry in Canada is, for the most part, one that is NOT affected by globalisation processes since we do not import a significant amount of the food we consume from third world countries. In the table below the symbol  means decrease, and the symbol  means increase. This table should be used in conjunction with the Research Proposal Framework outlined on the reverse side.
CONTEXT COMPRISED OF…
BACKGROUND
(leads to…) 
Globalisation has at least two related processes
(see below)
1. Shift to offshore production for elements of the
CONSEQUENCES
(leads to…) 
OUTCOMES (leads to…) 
Industrial change… Models of
Fewer and/or larger plants… change…
Fewer establishments with more employees each.
RESEARCH
QUESTION
(leads to…) 
What model(s) has/have occurred?
Has this happened?
And/or
What has
OBJECTIVES (leads to…) 
To look at the # of establishments and their size in terms of employees per
TESTABLE
ELEMENTS
(needs…) 
 in # of establishments
 in # of employees per
METHODOLOGY
(needs…) 
Choose a timeline and plot graphs of data: # of establishments employees per
DATA
Get data on number of establishments and # of product concerned…
AND/OR (see below)
2. Increased
AND/OR (see below)
Need for increased happened? plant. establishment establishment. employees from #31-203. competition from newly industrializing nations, mainly due to their lower labour costs. production efficiency in industrialized nations, usually through replacing labour with capital….
IRS happens and has specific attributes:
 employment
 capital investment
 productivity
 product shipped
Has this happened?
What has happened?
To look at employment, capital investment and productivity with view to ascertaining whether IRS has taken place.
 in employment
 in productivity
 in value of product shipped
Choose a timeline, create productivity indices and plot graphs of data: productivity, value of product shipped and # of employees Convert dollar values to constant dollars.
Get data on # of employees, value of product shipped and wages from
#31-203.
AND/OR (see below)
The industry that cannot capitalize, dies…
AND/OR (see below)
DIN happens and has certain attributes:
 employment
 capital investment
 productivity
 product shipped
Has this happened?
What has happened?
To look at employment, productivity and capital investment with view to ascertaining whether DIN has taken place.
 in employment
 in productivity
 in value of product shipped
Choose a timeline, create productivity indices and plot graphs of data: productivity, value of product shipped and # of employees Convert to constant dollars.
Get data on # of employees, value of product shipped and wages from
#31-203.