The State Of Texas
Biography of a Place in the State of Texas. TWO assignments:
1. (ONE PAGE) Find an interesting news article about Texas, or any place in Texas (i.e. Houston, Borderlands, etc.). Write a summary paper about the article and how the issues presented can impact the Geography of Texas. Include a URL or PDF of the news article that you read with your summary.
2. (TWO PAGES) The final paper will be ‘biography of place’ in the state of Texas. You will choose the place of your interest and focus on issues that define it.
This place can be at any scale that you wish (a neighbourhood, city, region, or even the whole state). The papers should be a broad view of that place through a geographic lens covering its history, culture, climate, topography, politics, economy, etc. What challenges does that place face? How does that place impact the state? What issues surrounding that place are changing it? How did that place come to be?
Examples
· How has the social landscape of East Austin been defined through Environmental Hazards?
· What are the demographic disparities associated with the proposed US-Mexico border fence?
· Environmental Justice issues of Superfund sites in Houston, Texas
· Fracking and the oil/gas boom in The Eagle Ford Shale, South Texas
· A flood history of Buffalo Bayou, hazards, and mitigation
· Urban Sprawl and the Automobile in the Metroplex
· Effects of climatic change on Edwards aquifer
· The Galveston seawall and Hurricane hazards mitigation
· Anything you are interested in….
Requirements
The paper should be grounded in peer-reviewed literature. Citations should be in APA format. Papers should also be very visual with many maps, diagrams, and images to illustrate the topic. Care should be taken in the presentation of the paper, add document elements like a cover sheet, page numbers, headings, etc. For more information on The State Of Texas check on this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas
