GCSE Geographical Investigation – Chapter ONE – INTRODUCTION

Remember you are aiming to present an investigation of 2,500 words.
Here is an approximate guideline to help you to plan :-
INTRODUCTION                                                              750      words
METHOD                                                                        500      words
DATA PRESENTATION AND DATA INTERPRETATION    1,000     words
CONCLUSION AND EVALUATION                                   750      words

Click on the link to see a project written in 2002 'Spheres of influence of two Supermarkets' - pdf document.

CHAPTER ONE

• Start with an aim, hypothesis, question or issue.
• Select a geographical topic to investigate related to the syllabus.
• Explain in your own words the theory behind the hypothesis
• Present a range of geographical terms linked to your chosen area of theory and your hypothesis. 
• Present a summary table of geographical terms complete with explanations. You can use a geography dictionary for this.
• Locate the study area. Use www.pupilvision.com/schoolmap/map.htm to access UK, West Midlands, Birmingham and local street maps.
• Write a brief explanation of the location maps.
• Now explain, in your own words, how you expect the theory you have chosen from the syllabus to operate in the location you have chosen.
• This section can be supplemented by quotes from textbooks that support your expectations eg

 I expect shoppers to shop at their nearest supermarket because people will wish to spend the minimum time and money travelling to shop. Bowen & Pallister (1999) write  ‘Most people do not travel great distances to buy a newspaper or food but they are prepared to travel further to purchase clothes, jewellery or furniture, which are more costly and bought less often’

Goods sold at the supermarket are low order or convenience goods that are low value therefore…..

•   In the example text above the writer has supported his expectation by using geographical theory expressed buy an author. The writer is developing an argument based on theory. If the writer had copied the italic text without acknowledging the source it would be scored through and they would gain no credit.
• A good tip is to write specialist terms in bold, as in the example above.
• In this section you have shown understanding of the theory you have chosen by explanation, in your own words , how the theory operates.
• Look at this supplementary page of analysis on supermarket shopping patterns from www.igd.com.
• Another page of analysis from the Scottish parliament.
• The discussion of the theory leads to an expectation. This can be written in the form of a single hypothesis or two hypotheses. Summarise your introduction with the hypothesis which is the central point of your investigation.
• Click here to see an example of a pupil first chapter. You will need Acrobat Reader to access this file.