Summary of Project Information (Spring 2021)

Data Sources

Here is a list of data sources you can use for your projects. In general, there are a lot of open source, compiled datasets available globally so be creative in your Google searches and you'll find something relevant.

Preliminary Project Proposal

Upload to Stellar a one or two paragraph project idea. You need not have a fully formulated project. At this point, we just want you to give us some indication of your possible areas of interest so we can help you zero in on specific questions and datasets that will make it manageable. Tell us a general area of interest, one or two possible questions that you would like to explore, and any data sets (beyond those we've already used in class) that you anticipate needing.

First Draft Project Proposal

Upload to Stellar a one or two page project proposal which details the question you would like to explore, why you think this question is important or interesting as well as the data or methods your propose to answer the question.

Project Title & Abstract

Upload to Stellar the current draft of your final project title & brief abstract by the end of lab on Monday, May 6. The abstract should be brief, 1 paragraph - maximum of 1/2 page - and drawn from the earlier project proposal (or subsequent revisions). In this case, the abstract should briefly state the question/problem, the methodology (that is, the data you used and the methods such as thematic maps, buffer/overlay, etc. that you used to explore the question/problem), and some hint of the general results/conclusion (which will not yet be finished).

Project Presentation

Ten minutes MAXIMUM!

Use the Web or PowerPoint or Acrobat Reader for visual aids. The presentation (as a PDF, webpage, or Powerpoint, etc.) should include the talk outline, tables and maps (as JPEGs or PNGs), your results/conclusion outline, and a brief indication of any surprises, problems, newly-learned techniques. Due to strict time constraints, presentations should be planned for 10 minutes and will be cut off after 12 minutes; it will be timed. This will allow time to show only a few maps and tables of results, in addition to your introductory material and conclusions.  Use bullet points rather than long paragraph and includ some remarks about any new techniques or data analysis insights/surprises that your encountered . Be concise!

Project Writeup

The project writeup should track the presentation with at most 3 pages of text (if single-spaced, 12 point font, on a letter-sized page) in addition to the maps/graphics. In general, think of the presentation as an outline and the writeup will fill in a paragraph or two of text for each of the items in the outline. Turning in a text-expanded copy of the PowerPoint presentation is okay as long as the electronic document is adequate as a readable, standalone report. In addition to your writeup, please also upload to Stellar the Powerpoint (or PDFs) that you used for your presentation so we have them available when we read your write-ups and comment on your presentation.

Project Content and Writeup Deadline

The project is intended to require about as much time as one of the homework sets. The purpose of the project is to undertake a small but open-ended project using one or more of the new technologies that you have learned this semester. Each project should involve some combination of the following:

• involve learning new aspects of an application beyond what we used in class/homework. For example, use more of ArcGIS to further explore the spatial patterns and visualization tools.
• involve moving datasets across machines and/or applications. For example, finding datasets on the web and then parsing, address-matching, or otherwise linking them to ArcGIS maps so you can do some spatial analysis.
• address a substantive issue or question that requires some problem formulation and some open-ended exploration and analysis.

As explained in the class syllabus, the project writeup is due Wednesday, May 19th. But, every year, students request an extension. That's okay as long as you turn it in by 5 PM on Friday, May 21, 2021, but you will lose 5 points per day (after Friday 5 PM, with the weekend counting as one day). No project write-ups will be accepted after 12:00 noon on Tuesday, May 25. We need time to grade them and we don't want this class to interfere with your preparation for other finals. If you are unlikely to meet this deadline, you should talk to us as early as possible about getting an Incomplete for the class and scheduling post-semester completion.

Tips on Project Presentation and Writeup - by Cherie Abbanat

Here are powerpoint slides prepared by Cherie Abbanat, DUSP writing specialist, "Creating Your 11.188/11.520 Presentation and Report."

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