On Becoming A Professional Geographer

Peter Gould, a prominent, award-­winning geographer who admits to having a low threshold for boredom, offers a collection of essays that reflect his eclectic research and provocative thinking. The topics range widely and include the diffusion of AIDS, mental maps, development themes in Africa, postmodernism, and the practices of teaching and writing. Becoming a Geographer expands on Gould's influential ideas and contributions to the field. Gould values the kind of independent thought and scholarship now often frowned upon by university administrators. He has written eighteen books and more than one hundred sixty articles that have appeared in more than seventy-six different journals dur­ing his forty-year career in research and higher education—his "lifetime sabbatical"—much of it spent teaching at Penn State. A witty, graceful, engaging writer, Could situates geography in a wider social context. In this book, he brings a fresh perspective to developments in the field including the quan­titative and mathematical revolution in geog­raphy in the 1960s and 1970s. He writes with directness and clarity about the use and mis­use of mathematics in illuminating social and geographical reality. His thoughts are especially valuable for what geography offers the world of learning and its capacity to help resolve urgent prob­lems of the day.

There are many ‘how-to’ books on writing for academics; none of these, however, relate specifically to the discipline of geography. In this book, the author identifies the principle modes of academic writing that graduate students and early-career faculty will encounter – specifically focusing on those forms expected of geographers, that is, those modes that are reviewed by academic peers. This book is readily accessible to senior undergraduate and graduate students and early-career faculty who may feel intimidated by the process of writing. This volume is not strictly a ‘how-to’ or ‘step-by-step’ manual for writing an article or book; rather, through the use of real, concrete examples from published and unpublished works, the author de-mystifies the process of different types of scholarly pieces geographers have to write with the specific needs and challenges of the discipline in mind. Although chapters are thematic-based, e.g., stand-alone chapters on book reviews, articles, and books, the manuscript is structured around the concept of story-telling, for it is the author’s contention that all writing, whether a ‘scientific’ study or more humanist essay, is a form of story-telling.

"Personal and anecdotal, the book serves as an informal documentary of the past fifty years, when Columbus grew to become the largest city in Ohio. Famous for his tours of the city, Hunker includes itineraries for two tours - one in 1956, one in 1999 - which he uses to compare the city then and now.".

Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible to scholars, students, researchers, and general readers. Rich with historical and cultural value, these works are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. The books offered through Minnesota Archive Editions are produced in limited quantities according to customer demand and are available through select distribution partners.

The complex interactions between human and physical systems confronting social scientists and policymakers pose unique conceptual, methodological, and practical complications when ‘doing research’. Graduate students in a broad range of related fields need to learn how to tackle the discipline-specific issues of space, place, and scale as they propose and perform research in the spatial sciences. This practical textbook and overview blends plenty of concrete examples of spatial research and case studies to familiarize readers with the research process as it demystifies and exemplifies how to really do it. The appendix contains both completed and in-progress proposals for MA and PhD theses and dissertations. Emphasizing research as a learning and experiential process while providing students with the encouragement and skills needed for success in proposal writing, "Research Design and Proposal Writing in Spatial Science" can serve as a textbook for graduate-level research-design courses, as well as for undergraduate-level project-based spatial science courses. Keywords: proposal writing, grant writing, research, geography, spatial science

Studying PGCE Geography at M-Level is for PGCE students and practising teachers engaged in professional development and working towards achieving M-Level status. It aims to support teachers to develop the research and writing skills associated with working at this level.