In this class, there are two assignments that will require you to complete scholarly research: your Critical Thinking Journal and your Annotated Bibliography.
In your Critical Thinking Journal, you are to compose three 600-800 word journal entries that closely examine three different sites in Vancouver. Choose 3 small sites to study (e.g. a playground, shop, public square, school, café, living room, temple, theatre, park) in Metro Vancouver. Smaller sites are better than larger ones. For example, a neighbourhood is too large to analyse in a few hundred words; instead, focus on one small part of the neighbourhood.
For each journal entry you must also do some outside research using at least one scholarly source. You must use a total of at least 3 academic/scholarly sources (one for each journal entry). There is no requirement that you take your academic sources come from geography journals; however, doing so will likely deepen your geographical analysis.
You are expected to interact with scholarly resources that can come from a number of scholarly journals. These resources can come in many forms. For the scholarly resources, you will be looking at books, ebooks, or scholarly journal articles. Popular resources include newspapers, magazines, films and movies, television shows, podcasts, and many of the free resources you find online. For all the sources you find, think critically about the information presented and how that information will help your analysis. A well researched paper draws from a number of different sources, so read widely and deeply.
The following options in this guide will suggest techniques, databases, or online resources that may help you with your research. If you are having trouble researching your topic, feel free to Ask A Librarian for help.
