Studying Geography
Pass Your Courses!
Make sure you do well in the introductory courses. If a major or honours student should happen to fail one of these two courses, they will have to make up the course before proceeding to upper year courses. This will cause major difficulties in your programme.
Attendance/Sickness
Attend all lectures and hand assignments in on time. Classes are not optional. Under University regulations, lectures are a required part of your programme (Calendar, page 51). Students are responsible for all material covered in lectures and field trips, even if you were not in attendance. Medical reasons are the exception to this rule. If you are sick, you must contact Health Services (822-9696) immediately. Any examinations, tests or essay deadlines that will be missed require a doctor's note, approved by Health Services. If you are ill, remember that there is a full-time doctor on staff at the Health Clinic, Mackinnon Hall.
Handing Assignments In
All assignments should be handed to the professor, at the start of class, on the day the paper is due. If you are handing in a late paper, have another professor sign, date and place the paper on your professor's desk. Putting papers under your prof's door is risky. In all cases, ALWAYS KEEP A PERSONAL COPY of all papers and assignments. Departmental regulations state that all late papers lose 5 percent per day, including week-ends and holidays. Papers will not be accepted after those papers handed in on the due date have been returned to the rest of the class. One final note on late papers. Don't place yourself in greater difficulties by missing the class in which the paper is due. A late paper is still going to be late by the end of that day, but now you've missed the material from a further class.
Examinations
Almost every course in Geography uses mid-term and final examinations as part of the evaluation scheme. Naturally these examinations put a significant level of stress on you. If you believe that you suffer from some sort of exam anxiety, you should take advantage of the many self-help courses offerred by the Counseling Services Department on campus.
Understanding the Appeals Process
You may have cause to question the grade you have received on a given piece of work. By and large, the professors in the Geography Department mark all of the work completed for their courses. Certainly every test and examination is marked by the course instructor: You have every right to have feedback on your work. This is usually in the form of written comments on the paper - and sometimes a personal discussion with each student.
If, after reading the comments on your paper and listening to the professor's comments when returning the papers, you still feel that you have not been graded properly...
- Make arrangements to see him/her on a one-to-one basis, outside of class time. You will not gain anything by confronting the professor during the class, circulating petitions or storming off to see the Dean.
- Be sure that you re-read the paper or exam in question. Be sure of yourself and be prepared to DISCUSS the paper, not whine about the grade. Be prepared to let the professor explain his/her position - and even to have a chance to re-read the paper.
- Bishop's has an established appeals process, found on page 53 of the Calendar. You should always start with your professor. Most issues are solved at this level. If you still have a problem, follow the appeals process carefully, consulting the calendar and the Departmental Chairperson and Handbook. Every student has the right to consult the University Ombudsperson, located in the Student Union Building (822-9699).
Facilities
Departmental facilities, located in the Johnson Building, are for the use of Bishop's University students involved with specific courses of study. Materials are not to be removed from the various rooms and other student projects, such as other course essays and resumes, are not to be produced on Departmental computers and printers. The facilities of the Department will be open during normal daytime class hours on weekdays. The facilities may be used at other times only with a faculty member's permission and supervision.
Occasionally, the Department employs student assistants for both the Map Library and the Computer Room. Qualified students interested in such an experience should contact the Department Chair for details.
Environmental Studies Laboratory (J150)
The laboratory, field and experimental equipment are available to departmental students outside of regularly scheduled classes and labs being held in this room. This room has a number of interesting maps and related bulletin boards for students to see. This room is home for the techniques course and other lab-related courses.
Map Library and Seminar Room(J153)
This is the Department's own map collection, in addition to the University Map Collection held in the main library. Many of these maps are the property of individual professors, so permission to remove them should be granted by the Chairman. The Map Library also holds a number of documents on land inventories, resource and satellite information, and a general reference shelf. A number of readings for senior courses are placed in this room, so students should feel free to use the room for reading and discussion. Senior-level seminars are held in this room.
Geography Computer Laboratory (J151)
The computer facility houses several stand-alone PCs, used in the G.I.S. course and other techniques-based courses. The Departmental terminals are also connected to the Cole Computer Lab. facility, the University's central computer system. ESG students may use the computers for papers and assignments, subject to the regulations posted in the computer lab. No person shall copy any of the files or programs found on Departmental computers. Game playing is not permitted. Students must respect the posted regulations of the Computer Lab.
Plagiarism
SPELLING OUT THE MEANING OF PLAGIARISM:
Academic dishonesty is a serious matter and all cases are referred to the Dean of Social Sciences. The University defines plagiarism (page 43 in Calendar) as..."representing the work of another as one's own". Avoid the situation in which you feel that cutting corners is the only way out. To use material without identifying its source or to re-submit a thinly-veiled modification of the previous work is NOT acceptable; it is one form of plagiarism.
Plagiarism occurs when you...
- directly copy written work without acknowledgement;
- closely paraphrase (alter words but not meaning) the equivalent of a short paragraph or more without acknowledgement;
- borrow, without acknowledgement, any ideas in a clear and recognizable form in such a way as to present them as your own thoughts; where such ideas, if they were your own, would contribute to the merit of the work submitted.
THEREFORE:
- The same, or substantially the same, work may NOT be submitted as assignments in two or more courses. Minor modifications and amendments, such as changes of phraseology in an essay or paper, do not constitute a significant and acceptable reworking of the paper.
- Work written by someone other than oneself and submitted as one's own work is a form of plagiarism and will be penalised as such.
- To use the ideas of others without acknowledgement is plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious academic offence, and may result in a failure for a course component, a failure of the course, suspension or explusion from the University.
Website Links
Environmental Links:
http://www.thegreenpages.ca/esac/ Environmental Studies Association of Canada
http://www.ec.gc.ca/ Environment Canada (See "related sites" page for further links)
http://www.sierraclub.ca/ Sierra Club of Canada
http://www.webdirectory.com/ Environmental Organization Web Directory
http://www.ejobs.org/ Environmental Jobs (Canadian and other)
Geography Links:
http://geography.about.com General Information about Geography
http://geowww.uibk.ac.at/geolinks/ Geography Departments Worldwide
http://www.uwindsor.ca/cag/ Canadian Association of Geographers
http://www.aag.org/ Association of American Geographers
http://www.rcgs.org/ The Royal Canadian Geographical Society
