Discuss the basic and relevant background of your topic. You must conclude with the thesis statement that you will be attempting to support/refute in the rest of the paper. 

The Paper Itself!

Layout: The paper must be word-processed and must use headings such as in this guide. Failure to use headings for sections and failure to organize material under those headings will result in loss of marks   1. Introduction: Not more than 750 words. In the introduction, you should provide the necessary background on your chosen topic. Discuss the basic and relevant background of your topic. You must conclude with the thesis statement that you will be attempting to support/refute in the rest of the paper.

2. What does the ‘science or data’ say that supports your thesis? In this section, you will examine the literature and use scientific and/or geographic knowledge and principles that will support your thesis. In order to do this, you will need to find and discuss five original peer-reviewed research papers published in scientific journals. You will need to report the data that supports your thesis statement and discuss how each of these papers supports your thesis statement (approximately 1500 words).

3. What does the same ‘science or data’ say that refutes your thesis? In this section, you will examine the same five papers that you used to support your thesis and discuss and interpret their findings such that they refute, disprove or throw into doubt your original thesis statement (approximately 1500 words).

4. Conclusions: Summarize your findings in 500 words or less. Restate your original thesis statement give a final interpretation about its veracity based on what you have written throughout the paper. Length of the paper should be about 4,000 words, not including references, tables and figures. You are encouraged to use figures and tables that will assist in supporting your two arguments. Make sure they are clear, neat and have a proper legend, attribution, and fully informative caption.

5. References: All facts and data must be referenced by author and date (see below). The references should be typed on a separate page(s) and include the following: Authors. Date of article. Full title of article or book. Journal title in full, Volume number; Page numbers (Year of publication for books). References to books should include the editors’ names (if any) as well as the chapter authors (if any), publisher, place (city, state, country) and date of publication. This should be done consistently. You should have no need for footnotes.