For this assignment you will analyse a news article using concepts from Human Geography. You may
choose any news media article (eg. a news item in a newspaper rather than a blog, editorial or
op
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An example of an “A-” response is posted on D2L. Use that sample to get an idea of what is expected.
Do not assume that everything in the sample is perfect – for example, the fact that the sample is less
than the required word length does not mean you should make yours too short as well!
Possible sources for news articles (not an exhaustive list):
The Globe & Mail
CBC
The National Post
Winnipeg Free Press
BBC
The Independent
Al Jazeera
The Guardian
The Tyee
Calgary Herald
The New York Times
La Presse
Toronto Star
The Washington Post
Vancouver Sun
The Times of India
China Daily
Wall Street Journal
ORIGINALITY & AUTHENTICITY
You must submit an original work. An original work is one that has been written by you, that has not
(and will not be) submitted as part of the requirements for any other course, and does not copy
directly from other sources. Any submission of work that is not your own is plagiarism.
In order to assist you in understanding expectations for academic honesty and to provide practice in
summarizing, paraphrasing, quoting, and citing sources appropriately, I will be using Turnitin.
Turnitin is a text-matching software that screens assignments for potential plagiarism and verifies
the accurate citation of all sources used in the assignment.
You may submit your assignment to Turnitin in advance to check your work before final submission.
I will not review early submissions. I will only read and mark the final submission. More details will
be provided in class.
AVOIDING PLAGIARISM
Anytime you use another person’s ideas, expressions, information, line of thinking or argument
without acknowledging them you are committing plagiarism! You must acknowledge all sources of
information, data, and ideas (not only direct quotations) and provide in-text references or
footnotes. All sources must be listed under the heading of “Works Cited” or “References” at the end
of the paper. Yes, that’s right – you need to include both in-text references AND a bibliography.
You must cite your sources correctly using MLA, APA or other recognized style.
You must cite lecture notes. Use the following example as a guide:
Francis, J. 2017. Cartographies. Geography 1110: Introduction to Human Geography. 15 Sept 2017.
Langara College, Vancouver BC, Canada.
FAILURE TO ACKNOWLEDGE ALL YOUR SOURCES CONSTITUTES PLAGIARISM. PROVIDING
INCOMPLETE REFERENCES WILL RESULT IN A GRADE PENALTY.
Although you are not required to use any scholarly sources for this assignment, doing so will almost
certainly deepen your analysis. If you’d like to use scholarly sources, use the Langara Library website
to access online data bases such as Academic Search Premier or JSTOR to find suitable journal
articles.
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Do not cite Wikipedia! You may read it for background information but it is not an acceptable source
for an academic paper.
SUSPECTED PLAGIARISM
All cases of suspected plagiarism will be reported to the Dean of Student Services. To guard against
plagiarism, I reserve the right to inspect notes and drafts and to examine students orally on the final
version of their papers. Therefore, keep your notes and drafts! You may also be asked to answer
some written questions on your paper.
Please become familiar with Langara’s Code of Academic Conduct. You are responsible for making
yourself aware of plagiarism guidelines. Plagiarism may lead to a failing grade on the assignment or
on the entire course, or suspension or expulsion from Langara College. If in doubt, cite!
SUBMITTING YOUR PAPER
Papers are due by 11:59pm on Oct 9. Submit your assignment to the Media Assignment folder in
D2L. When you upload your paper to Brightspace, it will automatically be submitted to Turnitin.
Late Policy
Papers that are submitted on time will receive extensive comments and a grade. Papers submitted
within 7 days of the due date will receive a grade but no comments. Papers submitted more than 7
days after the due date will be penalized 3% per day and will receive a grade but no comments.
Example:
Your assignment is due on November 6 at 11:59pm. If you submit your paper on or before
November 6 at 11:59pm, you will receive extensive comments and a grade. If you submit your paper
between November 7 at 12am and November 13 at 11:59pm, you will receive a grade without any
comments. If you submit your paper on November 14, you will be penalized 3% and you will receive
a grade with no comments. If you submit your paper on November 16, you will be penalized 9% and
you will receive a grade with no comments, and so on. Extensions will only be granted under
exceptional circumstances and documentation will be required.
TIPS
 Begin with something interesting to engage the reader’s attention; do not begin with “This
article…” as that would be boring and grammatically incorrect.
 Pay attention to grammar, spelling, sentence structure, and punctuation; proofread
carefully.
 It’s fine to use “I” but do not use “we” or “our” (just say specifically who you mean).
 Use active rather than passive voice.
 Write as if for a general audience, rather than drawing attention to the fact that this paper is
written for a class assignment.
 When you have a nearly final draft, read your paper out loud to yourself