Mapping – South Florida Algae Bloom Crisis

 Written Paper Assignment: The primary assignment in this course will be a written paper. This writing assignment will have a clear thesis, introduction, body, and conclusion. Explanations must be supported with examples using APA format. The essay will be graded using the Dialogues of Learning Written Communication Rubric. All papers will be submitted through TurnItIn for a plagiarism check. It is recommended that students submit their paper PRIOR to the due date in order to correct any issues involving citation or plagiarism. Students will complete a final project based on a topic of their choosing or one discussed in class. Students must prepare and design a project, similar to those found in academic journals. The report must include both a written technical section as well as a map section. The technical report will include the following: • A brief introduction Include your research question and hypothesis • Background research • Methods of analysis Here the student should specify: Sources of data Processing of the data (what was done to make it usable in Arc) Analysis of the data (what specific GIS methods were used.) • Results and discussion This should include at least 3 maps showing the results Also include any graphs or reports produced based on the work • Conclusion and recommendations Did the research satisfy the question? What else could be done? Next steps? The paper must be 12-15 pages in length; the student must fully address the issue chosen. The project will be evaluated based on the student’s ability to apply GIS methods to a real world problem. The student should show skills relevant to the class that could include the following: Creating a thematic map Drawing and editing features Geocoding addresses Spatial or attribute joins Geoprocessing: buffer, intersect, overlay, union Calculating attribute values Creating a report or graph Creating and combining raster surfaces Georeferencing Classification Map algebra (zonal statistics) Distance calculation including watershed Spatial interpolation