GES 102 ** Introduction to Human Geography **

Fall 2014
Instructor: David Lansing, PhD
2:30-3:45 pm
Office: Sondheim Hall 211-C
appointment
Email: [email protected]
2971
Class location:
Lecture Hall I

Section 200 meeting time: Tue/Thur

Office hours: Tues 1-2pm, Thurs 4-5pm; or by
Office phone: 410-455-

Teaching Assistant: Samuel Dupree

Office: Sondheim Hall 004
Office Hours: Tuesday 10-11:30am; Wednesday 11:30-1

You wake up in the morning and make yourself a cup of Colombian coffee. You then
complete your homework on a computer made in South Korea using software
written in India. Afterwards, you decide to have lunch at a Thai restaurant and on
the way home, you stop for a newspaper sold at a store run by a kind family from El
Salvador. The front-page stories say that CO2 emissions in Mexico City may cause
flooding in Tuvalu, that currency devaluation in the Philippines might mean cheaper
clothes in Baltimore and that the levels of poverty in Zimbabwe have dramatically
increased in the last five years. At the end of the day you take your shoes off (made
in China) and sit down on your couch made in Sweden and drift to sleep dreaming of
a beach in Australia. Although you might have not realized it, you have had a very
global day. But what do all these places have to do with one another? How is it
that all of these things have become part of your daily life? Where is Tuvalu
anyway?!?!
This course will introduce the economic, political, cultural and social trends that lead
to processes such as globalization, migration, environmental change, etc. Moreover,
it will present methods and concepts to help you trace and explain the geographic
processes that drive changes around the world today. By the end of the course, you
will be familiar with these methods, concepts and techniques and you will have a
good geographic understanding of major trends worldwide.
Required texts. There are two required books for the course, which are available at
the UMBC bookstore.
Paul L. Knox and Sallie A. Marston, Places and Regions in Global Context:
Human Geography. Fifth edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson-PrenticeHall, 2009.
Marks, R. 2007. The Origins of the Modern World. Rowan and Littlefield,
Lanham, Maryland.
The Knox and Marston book is particularly expensive, I highly suggest you order an
older edition online (they can be found for $5-$20). Any of the older editions for this
book are fine.
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Evaluation. Student performance will be evaluated on the basis of exams, quizzes,

and assignments. All point values will be posted in Blackboard when grading is
complete, so students will be able to keep track of their own grades. Final letter
grades will follow the usual scale: A = 90-100%; B = 80-89%; C = 70-79%; D = 6069%; F<60%. Attendance and civility may also play a role in determining grades
please see below.
Reading Quizzes
There will be twelve online reading quizzes. Each quiz will be 3-5 questions each.
Quizzes will cover the assigned readings for that week, and must be completed
online by 2pm (start of class) Thursday. Weeks marked with * in the course
schedule (see below) are weeks with a reading quiz. In general, you have a reading
quiz any week there is not an exam or assignment due. You may only take a reading
quiz once. Each reading quiz is worth 2.5% of your final grade. There will be twelve
quizzes, and I will drop the lowest two scores, so ten total quizzes will count toward
your grade.
Lecture Quizzes
Lecture quizzes are meant as study prods: they ask you to start reviewing material
well before the exam date. They are administered through Blackboard and are
based on the material covered since the previous exam. Quiz questions are similar
to exam questions; in fact, half of the questions in each quiz bank will re-appear in
similar form on the exam. The quizzes will be available on Blackboard about one
week prior to the exam; you must complete at least one version of the quiz by 24
hours prior to the start of each exam, which will usually be on a Friday at 11am. You
may take the quiz as many times as you like, and there is no time limit. After the
quiz period is over I will make sure your highest quiz grade is the one incorporated
into the grade book. Each time you take a quiz you will receive five questions. Those
questions are drawn randomly from a bank of twenty questions total. I HIGHLY
encourage you to take the quizzes early and often. No one may take quizzes
after the deadline, no exceptions.

In sum: Reading Quizzes = one attempt

Lecture Quizzes = unlimited attempts
Exams
There will be three exams, covering material from lecture and readings. Exams plus
exam quizzes are worth 60% of your final grade (20% each exam and quiz set; see
below). Exams are based on material presented in class as well as your readings and consist of multiple-choice, matching, and true-false questions. The exams are
not cumulative except in the sense that new material always builds on old material.
Grade Breakdown
Exams and exam quizzes
60%
Readings Quizzes
25%
Writing Assignments
15%
2

Here is a further breakdown:

Item
% value
Dates
Quiz 1
2
Sept. 22-Oct. 1 @ 11:00 am (on Blackboard)
Exam 1
18
Thursday, Oct. 2 (in class)
Quiz 2
2
Oct. 27 Nov. 5th @ 2:30 pm (on Blackboard)
Exam 2
18
Tuesday Nov. 6 (in class)
Quiz 3
2
Dec. 1 Dec. 10 @ 2:30 pm (on Blackboard)
Exam 3
18
Thursday, Dec. 11 @1pm (in class)
Assignment 1
5
Thurs., Oct. 9
Assignment 2
10
Thurs., Nov. 6
10 Reading Quizzes
25
Most Thursdays (see schedule)
TOTAL
100

Lecture, attendance, and civility policies. To aid in understanding, I recommend that

you: (1) ask questions during class or at my office hours; (2) participate when
opportunities arise; (3) keep up with reading the book, which will reinforce course
concepts many students tell me that they understand lectures best when they
read the book BEFORE coming to class; (4) review your notes on a regular basis
many people find it helpful to copy their notes over each day or thereabouts
definitely while the material is fresh in your mind; and (5) study with friends.
Over the course of the semester, I will show some films and film clips. Material from
these is fair game for exams. I will distribute a hand-out in class listing questions
that will help you glean important, testable material from entire films.
If you miss class, there is no need to explain the reason to me. I know that even the
most dedicated students occasionally fall ill or encounter emergencies. You are,
however, still responsible for the material covered in the classes that are missed. In
short, I have a very liberal attendance policy. You are an adult and should be treated
as such. The flip side is you have to take responsibility for your decisions. In other
words, you are responsible for material presented in class whether you are there or
not.
Despite my fairly relaxed attendance policy, I am quite strict with regard to exams.
Exams may be made up only for illness, and only if you have a signed
doctors note. Other emergencies will be considered on a case-by-case basis, but
will need proper documentation, may be denied. If you are approved, and need to
make up an exam, then you may do it on the scheduled exam make up day, which
for this semester is December 10th.
Exam and quiz policies. Exam grades will be posted in Blackboard as soon as
grading is complete, usually within 2-3 days. Exam question packets will not be
returned, but any student may visit my office hours (or make an appointment if you
are not available then) to review the questions and go over the correct answers.
There will be no make-ups for quizzes; the point of quizzes is to get you to
study more than a day before the exam, and you will have ample opportunity to
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take them. I will not accept excuses such as last-minute technical difficulties or
other emergencies so plan ahead and take those quizzes early! If you have a
legitimate excuse for missing an exam (documented illness, documented family
emergency, documented athletic event, or religious observance), please present it
to me, with documentation, as soon as possible before the exam if possible.
Students may not re-take exams.
Please make every effort to arrive on time for exams. Students who arrive late
may only take the exam if no other student has finished and left already.
Such latecomers will not receive any extra time.
It is the responsibility of individual students to bring a pencil and eraser to exams,
and to fill out their name and test form number accurately on Scantron sheets.
During exams, students should spread out as much as possible. I may ask individual
students to change seats. Students must remove and put away brimmed hatsno
sombreros, stovepipe hats, tam-o-shanters, or even a ball capand turn off and put
away any electronic devices.
Assignments: You will be given two assignments to complete throughout the
semester. Once assigned, they will be due approximately two weeks later (see
schedule for exact due dates). These assignments will be graded by the class
teaching assistant. You should contact the TA if you have questions about the
assignment, or want assistance with it. All of the assignments require a certain
amount of research and writing, and thus you should familiarize yourself with
UMBCs stance on academic integrity, and commonly accepted definitions of
plagiarism.
Academic integrity. I take academic honesty very seriously and will investigate any
suspicious activities associated with course exams, quizzes, and assignments.
Instances of copying another students work, sharing ones own work, or using
cheat-sheets or other aids during an exam are grave offenses, and I will pursue
strict penalties as per UMBCs code of academic integrity. The Blackboard quizzes
are study aids and I fully expect and allow that many students will do them with
open notes and textbooks (although you might benefit more from putting away your
books and notes!). However, I will consider it dishonest conduct if a student
discusses quiz content or answers with another student(s), or accepts quiz answers
from a classmate. In addition, assignments should be cited properly and instances
of plagiarism will be taken very seriously.
The following is an excerpt of UMBCs academic integrity code, quoted from
<http://www.umbc.edu/provost/integrity/faculty.html> :
By enrolling in this course, each student assumes the responsibilities of an active
participant in UMBC's scholarly community in which everyone's academic work and
behavior are held to the highest standards of honesty. Cheating, fabrication,
plagiarism, and helping others to commit these acts are all forms of academic
dishonesty, and they are wrong. Academic misconduct could result in disciplinary
action that may include, but is not limited to, suspension or dismissal. To read the
full Student Academic Conduct Policy, consult the UMBC Student Handbook, the
Faculty Handbook, or the UMBC Policies section of the UMBC Directory.
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Other Class Protocols

Students often plagiarize material without realizing that they are in the wrong, and
we want you to be fully-armed and aware of what to do and what not to do when
writing a paper. As a rule of thumb, if you use someone elses words or
thoughts without referencing that person, you are plagiarizing. Thus,
improper citation or lack of citation is plagiarism. Dont do it; proper citation
is easy, and indicative of effort spent researching your topic.
Collegiality in the classroom requires that you are punctual to class and attentive.
Late arrivals, talking, sleeping, text messaging/IMing, and ringing cell phones are
disruptive to the learning environment, and inconsiderate to your Instructor and
fellow students.
Please turn off your cell phone (or at a minimum, its ringer) before every class
session.
If you distract fellow students or the Instructor, even if you are only text
messaging/IMing, you will be asked to leave the room. In addition, use of a laptop
for anything other than taking notes is similarly distracting and will require me to
ask you to leave the room. I hate doing this. Please dont make me.
Student Disabilities
(From: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/sss/documents/838)
UMBC is committed to eliminating discriminatory obstacles that maydisadvantage
students based on disability. Student Support Services (SSS) is the UMBC
department designated to: receive and maintain confidential files of disabilityrelated documentation, certify eligibility for services, determine reasonable
accommodations, develop with each student plans for the provision of such
accommodations, and serve as a liaison between faculty members and students
regardingdisability-related issues.
If you have a disability and want to request accommodations, contact SSS
in Math/Psych Room 213 or Sherman Hall, Room 345 (or call410-455-2459 or 410455-3250). SSS will require you to provide appropriate documentation of disability
and complete a Request for Services form available at http://sss.umbc.edu. If you
require accommodations for this class, make an appointment to meet withme to
discuss your SSS-approved accommodations.

Schedule of topics and readings. The lecture schedule (but not the exam dates) may shift somewhat;
please check Blackboard frequently for announcements about such changes.
Dates
Week 1
(Aug. 28)

Topics and exams/assignments

Introduction to human geography

Readings
None

Week 2*
(Sept. 2,4)

Globalization
Tools of the Geographer

Marks Introduction

Week 3*
(Sept. 9, 11)

Historical geographies of the world-system

Marks Ch. 1&2

Week 4*
(Sept. 16, 18)

Colonialism/Industrial Revolution

Marks Ch. 3&4

Week 5*
Ch.3
(Sept. 23,25)

Population Geography

Week 6
(Sept. 30, Oct. 2)

Population Geography
EXAM 1 (Thurs. Oct. 2 in class)

Week 7*
(Oct. 7,9)

Urban Geography
Assignment #1 Due, Thursday Oct. 9 in class

K&M Ch. 11

Week 8*
(Oct. 14,16)

Geography of Food

K&M Ch. 8

Week 9*
(Oct. 21, 23)

Economic Geography

K&M Ch. 7

Week 10*
(Oct. 28, 30)

Economic Geography

Marks Ch. 5&6

Week 11*
(Nov. 4,6)

Cultural Geography
Assignment #2 Due, Thursday Nov. 6

K&M Ch. 5

Week 12
(Nov. 11,13)

Nature-Society Geography
EXAM 2 (Tuesday, Nov. 11 in class)

K&M Ch. 4

Week 13*
(Nov. 18, 20)
blackboard)

Nature-Society Geography

Mann
(Reading is on

Week 14
(Nov. 25)

Political Geography

K&M Ch. 9

Week 15*
(Dec. 2, 4)
blackboard)
Week 16*
(Dec. 9,11)

Political Geography

Conover
(Reading is on

Future Geography

Marks Conclusion

Final Exam week

EXAM 3

K&M

K&M Ch. 3

Thursday, Dec. 11, 1-3pm

Weeks marked with a * have a reading quiz due by 2pm on Thursday of that week.