Methodologies and Data Presentation

Students are not required to undertake primary research, but it is rare for an essay that is based entirely on the reading of published texts to score highly.

Many successful research topics are based on published data such as census or weather records.

Investigations carried out at a local scale also usually achieve highly:

• they demonstrate connections between the subject and local manifestations and instances

• their narrow focus discourages an over-reliance on published materials and encourages original research

• students become more involved when investigating in a familiar, accessible location.

Students should focus on individual research and avoid approaches involving group fieldwork data collection. They must not view the EE as simply an extended piece of fieldwork.

Information on the methodology of the investigation is essential. If students collect their own data, it must be of high quality. It is vital that the investigation is tailored closely to the research question and shows evidence of careful planning.

Illustrations and maps

It is essential that a geography EE be supported by appropriate illustrative graphical material, such as diagrams, maps, tables, images and graphs. Students must acknowledge the sources for each.

Maps

• Good essays usually have maps in the introduction to place the investigation in a clear spatial context.

• All maps should give an indication of orientation and scale, and include a legend or key.

• Students should clearly reference all maps used and give the source of any base maps they have not constructed themselves.

• The use of scanned maps or satellite images, or those that are downloaded in unaltered form, is rarely effective and provides little evidence of students’ map skills. However, students are encouraged to modify or adapt such images.

• Students are encouraged to include:

• sketch maps

• labelled or annotated diagrams

• maps they have constructed.

• If students draw maps using computer software, they should state the proprietary program used. Hand- drawn maps should be neat and clear, and employ standard map conventions.

Images or photographs

• Images or photographs should only be used if they are essential illustrative components of the essay, ie not just decoration.

• Students should explain the feature(s) an image or photograph is intended to illustrate. Each should be:

• oriented

• sourced

• labelled, annotated or captioned.

• Colour is frequently used in geographic illustrative materials, so it is important that an original colour version of the essay is submitted.