Choosing Sources

News sources: Useful for identifying and reading up on recent events and for gathering opinion. See News Resources for local, national and international news sources and/or try Alternative News Sources.

Reports and documents: "Grey literature" -- material which might not be formally published, such as reports and other documents from NGOs or other institutions -- can be a good source of information on specific planning decisions. You can sometimes find these via a search engine; you might also try the Canadian Electronic Library.

Books: Try a keyword search in the SFU Library Catalogue. You may luck out and find a whole book written on your topic! More likely, you'll find a book with a relevant chapter, or a reference book (dictionary, encyclopedia, yearbook, etc.) with on-target entries. Certainly, you'll find subject headings that will help you refine your search, here and in other sources.

Theses: Has a master's or doctoral student already done a lot of research on your topic? Try using theses indexes to find out: Theses Canada or Dissertations and Theses Abstracts and Index.

Journal Articles: Use indexes to find published research on particular circumstances and approaches. Try GEOBASE, Web of Science, etc. See the Subject list of databases for Human Geography for other ideas.

Formulating your Search

Begin by imagining your dream source, the book, journal article or report that would meet all your needs for this assignment. Write down the title of this perfect source.(eg. A gendered approach to national parks planning in Canada's High Arctic: case study and analysis) Very frequently, the "perfect source" is elusive. It may not exist, or it may be inaccessible (unpublished? expensive? time-consuming to request?) or it may be exactly what you're being asked to create. However, imagining the title of the perfect source is a first step in identifying other sources that may be of use to you:

Underline the key concepts in your title and use these as keywords. (eg. gender approach, national parks, planning, arctic)
Before and during your search, generate synonyms or similar terms (eg. gender perspective, parks, management, north). Keep adding to this as you discover new possibilities.
join your key concepts together using AND -- most databases, including the library catalogue, use this search structure. Use quotation marks to bind words together as a phrase eg. "national park" or "high arctic".

Refining your Search

Too few sources found?

If you are not finding enough information (and you've already checked your spelling) broaden your search to find more sources by using these techniques:

Truncate your search term to find all variations of a term, e.g. instead of forests search for forest* (retrieves forest, forests, forestry, forestries, etc.)
Search for synonyms and variant spellings of your topic, or terms for similar or related concepts, e.g. resource planning or resource management.
Search for broader or more general terms, e.g. instead of British Columbia search for Canada, or the even broader North America

Too many sources found?

If you are finding too much information, limit your search to find fewer sources by including another concept in your search. Often the second concept is what you want to know about the first concept, e.g. reading and instructional methods.

If you still have too many results then include a third or even fourth concept in your search, e.g. reading and instructional methods and adult education.

See if there's a way to sort your results, or limit to specific collections, publication types, or date-ranges.

A Few More Sources

If you feel like browsing, you may find some interesting articles in these journals:

You might also wish to experiment with Google Scholar as a way to locate journal articles and other documents.

The Assignments

Group Presentation

Each group will analyze a selected resource planning decision where a particular planning approach has been applied in a Canadian context. Your presentation should be 20 minutes long and give an overview of the planning decision and include your own evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the approach used in your case. Feel free to be creative! After your presentation, you will lead the tutorial in a discussion on the topic. You should be prepared to stimulate discussion in case your colleagues are hesitant to respond. This is a group assignment and you should work together and solve problems as a group.

Term Paper

The term paper gives you the opportunity to research a current resource conflict of your interest from the perspective of a planner. This could be any topic that gets you thinking about the underlying causes of conflicts, circumstances and adequate planning approaches. In contrast to the group presentation you are not evaluating a particular planning process; rather you are researching your own case. Choose from one of the two options:

Option 1: Investigate the major factor(s) that appear(s) to underlie (or give rise to or cause) general conflict, or a specific case of conflict, between stakeholders in the selected scenario. Undertake an in-depth investigation of your chosen factor and prepare an argument in support or against the opinion that this factor largely contributes to conflict and will continue to do so.

Option 2: Identify one resource management approach or technique that could be employed to reduce general conflict, or a specific case of conflict, between stakeholders. Describe your chosen approach/technique in general terms, and then explain in more specific terms how it could be applied to reduce conflict and enable the sustainable resource management in respect to your case study.

Outline: a one page proposal outlining your topic summarizing your argument and identifying at least three references is due July 10th.

Paper: Your essay should be about 8 to 10 pages in length, not including references, typed, double-spaced, and properly referenced and formatted. Tables, maps, and/or figures are encouraged. Your essay should begin with an introduction that clearly sets out the aim of the paper and the paper's structure. Similarly, the paper should end with a conclusion which restates your argument. You may also wish to include your own ideas on the topic by way of identifying any gaps in the literature. It is fundamental to critical writing and thinking that you make the basis of your criticism transparent and support your aruments effectively. Please draw on at least 8 academic references. Papers must be handed in no later than July 31st.

Class presentation: at the end of the term each student will give a short 5 min. presentation of her or his case study researched in the term paper.

GEOG 445: Resource Planning

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