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GLOSSARY PASSWORD 350 PAGE CALENDAR ECON NEWS EXERCISES


Building your Regional Resource System

(faculty.washington.edu/krumme/350/exercises/resourcesystem.html)

Objectives: This quarter-long assignment (exercise #2+) has two main objectives, namely, to give you opportunities to

  1. learn Library and Information Resource Skills related to Geog.350
  2. familiarize yourself with the county/ metropolitan area and topic to which to will apply a couple of analytical tools covered by this class.
  3. assemble (in one location) all class related resources which you come across during the course of this quarter as part of the materials and documents which you carry away from this class.

You will find further help and suggestions in the following pages:

  1. What is a Resource System?

  2. Search for Resources

Specific Instructions for Fall 2002 (Revised):

  1. The "evolution" of your Resource Page should (as a minimum) follow the following steps and due-dates:
    1. Select a metropolitan area (with one or more counties) within the Puget Sound area AND a topical area of interests (focus)
    2. Stage: (Due: November 7) Continue your quarter-long "Regional Resource System" by:
      1. Writing a 100 word statement as to the economic facets you might be interested in investigating in your region; (This component is to be expanded to a 300 word (minimum) statement (by the end of the quarter) in which the significance of your topical interests is given at least as much weight as the general nature of your county's economy; see below for more).

      2. Finding six references pertaining to your region (one of them a data resource)
      3. Finding six references pertaining to your regional economic interests (at least two of them should be research articles)
      4. Note:
        1. Write brief annotations for at least 5 of your references (suggestion: 2 sentences each, one relating to the content of the item, the second relating to your particular interest in this item)
        2. Identify in brackets how you have found this reference (for example, which library bibliographic data base you have used)
        3. Provide a complete citation for your resource (Be guided by the way in which major journals in geography or economics provide citations for their sources)
        4. Consult theElectronic Survival Guide as to the evaluation and appopriate citation of Internet sources.
        5. You may add as many directories, search engines or bibliographic data bases to your Resource Page as you wish. While they are no doubt very important for the search process, they are not the outcome of your search and therefore will not count as part of the minimum number of required citations.
          1. How to Evaluate the Quality of an Internet Source
          2. How to cite an Internet source

      This second (Week #6) stage of your evolving resource page should comply with the following 'minimum requirements':
      1. a title (in addition to the subtitle: "Resource Page"
      2. At least 12 source-references (see above)
      3. Should have appropriate subheadings (differentiating between subgroups of source references)
        [for example]
        1. My topical area of interests
        2. My Region: qualitative background (incl. academic sources)
        3. My Region: Data Sources
        Each of your subgroups should be introduced by a couple of sentences.
      4. Complete citations.

    3. (and final) Stage: (due: at the end of week #10) After completion of the second phase, i.e. after the sixth week, we want to expand and enhance our Resource Page with special emphasis on
      1. Evaluation of the quality of the resource (book, article, report), including credibility
      2. Conceptualization and grouping of (developing appropriate categories for) different types of resources, i.e. use subheadings on your Resource Page [You may want to consult this page!]
      3. Annotation of ALL references or resources listed (An annotation should here consist of at least one sentence describing the content and one sentence identifying the relevance within the context of your resource page) Should you come up with more than 30 references, the minimally required references -- 10 in each category -- have to be annotated.
      4. References from different bibliographic categories
      5. Complete and full citations for both, paper and Internet publications!
      6. Use of different search methods and bibliographic data bases
      7. Your final resource page should contain at least 30 references (there is no upper limit), including
        1. at least 10 references to books, articles or reports related to general or specific class content, preferably resources which you have made use of during this quarter
        2. at least 10 references to resources pertaining to your region,
        3. at least 10 references to resources (including academic research) related to and helpful for your topical interests
      8. Your final Resource Page should be introduced by an at least 100-150 word introduction which may include facets (insights gained, difficulties encountered) of your search, an account of the actual or potential use of the resources as well as a brief discussion of your topical interests (see above)

Themes or Topics:

While the primary purpose of this exercise is to develop your resource skills, you may want to narrow down your objectives further. Thus the theme of your search for resources should not just be related to the broad class content and class objectives, but should additionally focus on the (Washington State) region you have selected and the particular topical focus which you associate with this region. For example you could place yourself in the role of a "consultant" or "regional economic analyst" and anticipate the preparation of either a "regional economic IMPACT analysis" or a "MARKET AREA analysis" (which itself is, of course, NOT part of your class assignments). Please use Malecki's Technology & Economic Development and your knowledge of your selected metropolitan area for identifying and delineating your topical focus.

You will find further help and suggestions in the following pages:

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2002 [econgeog@u.washington.edu]