A Population Speech
The Context
Population geography, a sub-field of human geography is the study of populations, including characteristics such as age, gender, fertility, health, occupation, religion, and ethnicity, and how characteristics of a population are exhibited across a landscape — that is, in a spatial context. In this assignment we will explore changes that happen within populations, both natural trends (think, births and deaths) and movements (think, immigration and emigration).
One thing that makes the study of populations complex is that people are mobile. Sometimes this movement is gradual and welcomed (think skilled workers to a large city) and at times it is sudden and a source of contention (think refugees escaping persecution). Regardless of the mode of arrival or the reason or cause (push and/or pull), the topic of immigration permeates societies worldwide. It is discussed in the context of politics, economics, and culture, including race, ethnicity, language, religion, societal norms, labor, and so on. Between failed boat crossings, budget concerns, squatter settlements, protests and rallies, mainstream media outlets spend a great deal of time reporting on the debate; sometimes with compassion, using words like plight, fairness, and human rights, but often addressing it as a crisis, in need of urgent reform. And while the reporting can be biased, with errors and omissions, the attention is not without merit — migration can have a profound affect on both the landscape (physical and cultural environments) and the population, immigrant and native.
There are also implications of the natural changes that take place in a population, growth, stagnation, and decline. In your lesson, you were presented with not only three of the most common perspectives adopted by those who are concerned with populations, but also the experiences of several countries, some grappling with growth, others bracing for decline. As with migration, we again see that natural trends can have a profound affect on the landscape and population affected.
Lastly, populations have characteristics, including language and religion, as well as levels and variations of economic and political development. And, of course, as you have learned, these characteristics within and between populations can lead to conflict.
As a budding geographer and academic, capable of consulting peer-reviewed journal articles and also thinking critically about the issues reported by mainstream media outlets, you have a unique and informed perspective, supported by research, to report. You can (and are encouraged to) share your knowledge and perspective with your peers.
The Question
Begin by looking through articles available online through credible news and media outlets. Use this exercise to learn about issues and discover what countries, organizations, parties, and so on, that have an interest in population (trends and changes) are talking about. Also, think about which articles most interest you and take a moment to read two or three. [Note: these are not necessarily current articles that we expect you to use in your response, rather they are meant to give you a starting point for your own research.]
(1) You will begin this assignment by selecting a current (published in the past year or two, so in or after January 2015) academic journal article written about population matters. You can select an article that addresses this topic in a general sense (that is, it is directly addressing immigration trends or religious observance, for example) or a specific topic related to one aspect of population change, perhaps “Michigan and Immigration and Islam” or “Russia and population and death” will be your search terms. You may also want to start broad, and narrow your focus once you have an idea of the types of topics that are researched.
Finding a Peer Reviewed Academic Journal Article
The University library allows you to search for and access many full-text, peer reviewed journal articles, and more specifically, geography-related indexes to help you narrow down your search: Other E-Resources in Geography. Further, you may want to do a little exploring and first read about the research interests of MSU’s physical geographers before starting an indexed search. It is often easiest if you have a more specific topic in mind. Further try sorting your search results, listing the newest, or most recently published, articles first.
Here is an easy way to get started. From the library homepage and click on Electronic Resources under Quick Links. Now, from the list of Commonly Used E-Resources on the right, select ProQuest (All databases). You can really use most any one of these resources, but for the sake of simplicity, ProQuest is a good place to start. Now, in the search bar, type “Europe and Immigration.” Again, this is just a place to begin your search. Click both boxes below the search bar (Full text and Peer reviewed) and then the magnifying glass to populate your search. Once articles appear, you can start to narrow in on a recently published article (in or after 2015) on a topic that interests you. Once you have located and saved or printed a full-text, academic journal article, you are ready to move on to the next step of this assignment.
(2) Once you have selected an article, you need to select an organization or group of people that would be a suitable audience to present the article’s findings to. Consider the following questions to help you decide who would be most interested in hearing a presentation on your topic.
1. What journal was the article I selected published in? (This may provide the answer to the next question.)
2. Is the article political, economic, or social in nature?
When you have answers to those two questions, do a little searching online for organizations. There are many lists and some articles contain the names of groups involved, for example, an article about a recent rally or protest may include the name of the group that organized or participated in the event. Here are some other ideas:
Nationalist organizations (wikipedia includes a list by country)
Humanitarian organizations
Trade or professional organizations
Religious groups
Media outlets
Academic institutions
Government departments
For a list of non-governmental organizations in worldwide, visit the Worldwide NGO directory (WANGO).
For a list of U.S. governmental departments and agencies, click A-Z Index of U.S. Government Departments and Agencies.
(3) Write a speech or presentation, based on the information and findings in your article, to the group you selected. In your speech, be sure to connect the population topic you are speaking on (can be extremely specific or more general and broad) to the cultural landscape. In other words, think about how your topic, the population trend/characteristics or group that is your focus, might affect the human landscape, for better or worse.
Examples of this would be the influence that Muslim immigrants have on a specific city in France, or the social impact of the large Syrian refugee population on a local population in a neighboring host country, like Jordan. This does not have to be the focus of your speech, but the interactions between the population and the human landscape associated with your topic need to be addressed in some way.
*Tip*
You must draw a connection between people and the environment. Whether you are talking about growth, decline, movement, demographics, you must consider how the environment–natural or built–will be affected.
Some notes about writing a speech
As the speaker, you can choose what you want to accomplish with your speech. You may want to persuade your audience to change their mindset or typical way of thinking, convince them to act in a certain way or do something specific, or rally them up by supporting their beliefs and/or cause.
All speeches have a purpose that will fall into one (or more) of the following categories:
Informational
Persuasion
Demonstration
Entertainment/Special Occasion
Inspiration
In the time it takes you to read this sentence, the earth’s population has increased by twelve people; read it again and you have another twelve. Where did that come from? Well, speeches also need a powerful opening line so be sure not to fall flat in the first statement you make. Check out some popular TED talks to get the creative juices flowing.
Last, but not least, you need to use at least two additional articles from other credible sources (preferably current, though older articles may provide context) to lend support to what you are talking about. Refer to events that have happened or are happening, the current state of the topic or situation, people involved, and so on. For example, if a recent New York Times article reported on violence against or the arrest of a woman wearing a headscarf in France, you might want to mention that if your speech is on the assimilation of European Muslims. Or, if you are speaking on demographic change in the Netherlands at “The Labour Market in Times of Population Ageing and Decline” conference, you may want to mention the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment and its Deputy Prime Minister, LodewijkAsscher, or State Secretary, Jetta Klijnsma.
*Tip*
In the Writing Assignment folder there is an optional preparatory assignment on reading difficult texts. This assignment is not required but completing it, or at the very least, reading through it, may help you as you enter the word of academic writing. While you are perfectly capable of extracting the information you need from an academic journal article, but keep in mind that they can be difficult to understand for many reasons. Consider writing says/does statements (see preparatory assignment for more on this) and making notes in the margins of the paper to help decipher some of your text’s more complicated passages.
Resources for speech writing
– Tips From the Pros (Scholastic)
– Five Tips for Writing a Great Speech (DailyWritingTips)
– Writing a Great Campaign Speech (The Heartland Institute)
– How to Write A (Good) Political Speech (The Accidental Communicator)
Technicalities
Crafting a short paper is often harder than a long paper! Papers should be between 600 and 800 words. At the very beginning of your speech, please type your word count in parentheses, for example: (Word count: 699). The speech should be written using tight clear and concise prose that demonstrates the main point or points you wish to convey using a number of different themes or components of being globally aware.
Outside sources are important for the development of a thoughtful response, and all outside sources (including the online lessons) must have an accompanying citation. Be sure to include a works cited page that is consistent with the citation style used to write your paper. You will turn your document in for grading by uploading it to the Writing Assignment (TurnItIn) Drop Box. We use TurnItIn to scan all documents to detect unoriginal (that is, potentially plagiarized) content–you have access to this report.
Plagiarism, in any form, will not be tolerated and will result in a ZERO for the paper (see syllabus for details about plagiarism). (NOTE: If you receive a zero for plagiarism, you cannot drop that assignment grade if applicable.)
*Tip*
The preferred citation style is the most recent edition of the Chicago Manual of Style (author-date). Please see the citation format document in this folder for guidance, or you can use Google to answer your questions about the Chicago Manual of Style format (for example, Google “Chicago Manual of Style, website citation”). Consider generating a citation for your academic journal article in the index you use to select your article–many have this option available.
We also recommend that you use your online lessons as source for your assignment response. Please provide an appropriate in-text citation (for example: Lesson X, page X). Remember that the point of these writing assignments is to get you to make connections or linkages from the lesson content to your own life. It would, therefore, be beneficial to you to keep this in mind as you draft your response.
Information found in Wikipedia can be helpful when working on papers, but because everyone can edit it (that is, it is a wiki), information can be faulty. Therefore, you should not rely on Wikipedia as a source when doing research for a paper. Instead use it as a starting point, then look elsewhere; this will help confirm and substantiate material you may have first read on Wikipedia. If you use Wikipedia as a source for a paper in this course, you will be downgraded.
Be sure to use correct spelling and grammar, and fully answer the question to gain maximum points on this assignment. Papers are worth 25 points each and will be graded based on how well you answer the question and meet the criteria provided for you on the Grading Rubric (found in the Writing Assignments folder). Writing quality, however, is extremely important and will weigh significantly in determining your grade.
LATE submissions will NOT be accepted for full credit (see the course syllabus for the late submission policy).