Syllabus

(March 28, 2007)

GEOGRAPHY 312 (Old 320)

CANADA, The UNITED STATES, And ADJACENT AREAS

MW 9:00 A.M. - 11:50 A.M.

(Lefrak Hall 2166)

I. Introduction - What I hope you will take away from this

course:

A. An introduction to the physical geography of the North

American region and how it has developed since the last

ice age.

B. An introduction to the human/cultural geography of

North America from pre-European contact to the present.

C. An introduction to what is geography if this is your

first course in it (Geography 100 is our introductory

course but is not a pre-requisite for Geography 320).

II. Course `Outline':

A. The physiography.

B. The people.

C. Agriculture.

D. Industry.

E. Transport systems.

F. Government.

G. The cultural regions, and regionalism.

III. Course Requirements:

A. Two short papers. One dealing with a `physical' aspect

of Maryland the other with a `cultural' (or human)

aspect of Maryland. Each paper is to be a minimum of 5

full pages not counting cover pages, illustrations or

bibliography page. These papers will constitute 50% of

your class grade. They will be due Friday August the

3rd.

Each paper must use at least four college-level refer-

ence sources (peer-reviewed books or journal articles -

to be discussed in class) which must be cited (with

page numbers) within the body of your paper as well as

listed in a bibliography at the back. Material from

encyclopedias is not acceptable.

B. A final test covering the entire course. Students will

not be asked to identify any of the houses, art, etc.

shown as slides during the course. The final will con-

stitute the other half of the class grade.

- The handwriting on tests must be legible and the

grammar and spelling sufficiently good to be

easily read or the question(s) will not be

considered answered which will lead to a loss of

points -

C. There is one required textbook. It, and the suggested

readings, will be discussed in class. Some reading will

be required to write the class papers.

D. Both papers must be turned in and the final taken in

order to receive a passing grade. Because of the large

upward curve built into this class, letter grades are

used to determine the class grade.

1. All papers must have sufficiently good grammer and

spelling to be easily understood or they will not

be graded;

2 All Geography majors and minors and Environmental

Studies Majors receiving an A or A+ will be expec-

ted to resubmit a copy of their papers for review

by the Harper and Regional Writing Awards program;

3. All papers will be checked electronically for

plagiarism.

E. Attendance at lectures is mandatory. Missing five or

more classes without a University acceptable excuse

will result in the loss of one class grade.

F. Plus and minus class grades will reflect maximum or

minimum efforts for a particular grade. What constitut-

es these will be explained in writing on your papers

when they are returned. For the final the upper and

lower ends of the numeric range will be a plus or mi-

nus. For instance, a 90% will be an A-, a 99% an A+. As

an example, an A- on both papers and an A on the final

will result in a class grade of A-. Please remember E

above. A C (2.0) is needed to pass the class.

G. Academic honesty is necessary for the process of learn-

ing to function properly and any lack of it will be

punished in this class. Plagiarism, falsifying cita-

tions and cheating on the final are three examples of

academic dishonesty.

IV. Office hours: 12:00 - 1:00 MW.

My office is room 2121 in Lefrak Hall, the phone number is

301-405-4112, my home phone number is 301-681-7934 which is

local to the school. Please feel free to call me at home.

V. Attendance at lectures is mandatory.

VI. The final will be held on the last day of class.

VII. Required Text : Getis, Arthur, Judith Getis & I.E. Quas-

tler (2001). The United States And Cana-

da: The Land And The People. Wm. C.

Brown Publishers. ISBN: 007-235-6774

Recommended text: Conzen, Michael P. ed. (1990). The Ma-

king of the American Landscape. Rout-

ledge. ISBN: 0-415-91178-8

VIII.

Some suggested readings:

Alber, R., Adams, J.S. and Gould, P. (1971). Spatial

Organization: The Geographer's View of the World.

Butzer, K. W., guest ed. (1992). The Americas Before and

After 1492: Current Geographical Research. Association of

American Geographers; Vol. 82, No. 3.

Coffee, William J., and Richard G. Shearmur (1997). The

Growth and Location of High Order Services in the Canadian

Urban System, 1971-1991. Professional Geographer; Vol. 49,

No. 4.

Ewing, Gordon O. (1992). The Bases of Differences between

American and Canadian Cities. The Canadian Geographer; Vol.

36, No. 3.

Friedmann, J.R. and Alonso, W. (1964). Regional Development

and Planning: A Reader.

Glassie, Henry (1968). Pattern in the Material Folk Culture

of the Eastern United States.

Gorden, R.B. and Malone, P. M. (1994). The Texture of Indus-

try.

Guinness, P. and Bradshaw, M. (1984). North America: A Human

Geography.

Hart, John Fraser (1998). The Rural Landscape.

Hayter, Roger (1997). The Dynamics of Industrial Location.

Hunt, C.B. (1974). Natural Regions of the United States and

Canada.

McGaw, J.A., ed. (1994). Early American Technology.

Mitchell, R. and Groves, P., eds. (1998). North America: The

Historical Geography of a Changing Continent.

Servan-Schrieber, J.J. (1969). The American Challenge.

Watson, J.W. and O'Riordan, T. (1976). The American Environ-

ment: Perceptions and Policies.

The university has a nationally recognized Honor Code admin-

istered by the Student Honor Council. The Student Honor Council

proposed and the University Senate approved an Honor Pledge. It

reads:

"I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received

any unauthorized assistance on this assignment/examina-

tion."

Unless you are specifically advised to the contrary, the

Pledge statement should be handwritten and signed on the front

cover of all papers, projects, or other academic assignments

submitted for evaluation in this course. Students who fail to

write and sign the Pledge will be asked to confer with the in-

structor. For more information see page 21 of the normal schedule

of classes.

If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss ways

to deal with it in this class please contact me as soon as possi-

ble.

Allen B. Eney