Physical Geography: Study for Success


Lizard Point has a number of quizzes that you can do and track your progress. Try it at the beginning of your studying and then every few days until your exam. This will help you to get a clear picture of your progress while also helping you identify areas that you need to do some more work on. Not everything will apply to you and your exam, so use your judgement to decide if it is useful or not. Apply effective studying methods. If some of the techniques are working for you better than others, then you might want to focus more time on those ones.

By finding the ones that work best for you, you can make studying an easier time. But always keep in mind the big picture of what you want to cover in your studying before the exam. Be sure to take a five-minute break every twenty minutes so that you don't exhaust yourself. If you can revise in shorter bursts your studying will be more effective and you will have time to do things that are more fun. In these short breaks stand up and move around a bit to release some tension and get your blood moving around more. Be wary of listening to music while you study.

This can come down to personal preference, but there is research which suggests that listening to music with vocals can lower concentration levels and is best to be avoided when studying. Researchers have, however, argued that listening to instrumental music, and in particular Mozart, has a beneficial impact on concentration levels. Create a study date.

Every now and then you might like to try studying in a small groups with some of your friends and classmates. This can have advantages and disadvantages, and will depend on how well you work together. Obviously if you end up just talking about other things you are not studying your geography, so you need some discipline. This might be easier for some than others, so if you are trying to work and your friend keeps chatting, try to steer them back on topic and then maybe study on your own in the future. One of the big advantages of studying a group is that you can test each other and see where you have gaps.

You can do this by using the flashcards you prepared. This also works with maps. Draw the outline of a country on a piece of paper and use it as a quiz question. Or say the name of the country and see who can draw it. You can test capital cities in this way too. You can keep score to make it more fun. If your exam has essay questions, it can be very helpful to do a few practice answers and go through them with a friend. Compare how you have approached the question and analyse which of you has best answered the question. Pick out the strengths and weaknesses of each of your approaches, but remember your friend might not be right.

You can ask your teacher if they will look at a practice answer. You could also ask a parent or older sibling. By being faithful and applying yourself to your studies, you'll be able to memorize important facts and do well on the exam. Keep your discipline and stick to your study plan. Remember that you reap what you sow. Ask someone to test you. By reviewing what you have studied with another person, you'll be able to see how much you know.

Ask them to jot down or underline the facts that you aren't familiar with. Also, be open to suggestions from them, as they could come up with good ways to help you memorize facts.

Review your notes and flashcards. Go over the information that you have studied, highlighting facts that you know as you go. Be sure that you thoroughly understand the notes.

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Hopefully you will have a good command of the terms on the flashcards by now. Although you might know them well, it may become easy to forget them if you have filled your head with other knowledge. While you should not spend all your time going over information that you know, you should not completely ignore them. You will keep it fresh in your mind this way. Make a list to guide you. Include the facts that you found easy to study, as well as the ones that you had difficulty with. You can use the list as a reference if you decide to ask a teacher for help.

After you have done the exam you can see where you lost marks and whether this matches up with areas you struggled with when you were studying. This experience can help you to study for future geography exams too. Geography is detailed so it is not easy to learn geography right before an exam. Study your notes and maps and read your textbook. You can also ask a classmate to highlight major study points for you. Next time, start studying earlier, so it will be a lot easier. Not Helpful 18 Helpful My final exam is coming up.

What can I do to remember what I read when I study? Be sure you understand the concepts you are studying. If you have a full understanding of what you read, it will help you to remember what you've studied. Not Helpful 13 Helpful As in the other natural sciences, advancing theory remains an overarching theme, and empirical verification continues to be a major criterion on which efficacy is judged. Physical geography has evolved into a number of overlapping subfields, although the three major subdivisions are biogeography, climatology, and geomorphology Gaile and Willmott, Those who identify more with one subfield than with the others, however, typically use the findings and perspectives from the others to inform their research and teaching.

This can be attributed to physical geographers' integrative and cross-cutting traditions of investigation, as well as to their shared natural science perspective Mather and Sdasyuk, Boundaries between the subfields, in turn, are somewhat blurred. Biogeographers, for example, often consider the spatial dynamics 3 of climate, soils, and topography when they investigate the changing distributions of plants and animals, whereas climatologists frequently take into account the influences that landscape heterogeneity and change exert on climate.

Geomorphologists also account for climatic forcing and vegetation dynamics on erosional and depositional process. The term spatial dynamics refers to the movement, translocation of, or change in phenomena both natural and human over geographic space. The study of spatial dynamics focuses on the natural, social, economic, cultural, and historical factors that control or condition these movements and translocations. Each subfield, however, will be summarized separately here in deference to tradition. Biogeography is the study of the distributions of organisms at various spatial and temporal scales, as well as the processes that produce these distribution patterns.

Biogeography lies at the intersection of several different fields and is practiced by both geographers and biologists. In American and British geography departments, biogeography is closely allied with ecology. Geographers specializing in biogeography investigate spatial patterns and dynamics of individual plant and animal taxa and the communities and ecosystems in which they occur, in relation to both natural and anthropogenic processes.

This research is carried out at local to regional spatial scales. This research also focuses on historic changes in the spatial characteristics of taxa or communities as reconstructed, for example, from land survey records, photographs, age structures of populations, and other archival or field evidence. Biogeographers also reconstruct prehistoric and prehuman plant and animal communities using paleoecological techniques such as pollen analysis of lake sediments or faunal analysis of midden or cave deposits.

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This research has made important contributions to understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of biotic communities as influenced by historic and prehistoric human activity as well as by natural variability and change. Geographic climatologists are interested primarily in describing and explaining the spatial and temporal variability of the heat and moisture states of the Earth's surface, especially its land surfaces. Their approaches are quite varied, including 1 numerical modeling of energy and mass fluxes from the land surface to the atmosphere; 2 in situ measurements of mass and energy fluxes, especially in human-modified environments; 3 description and evaluation of climatically relevant characteristics of the land surface, often through the use of satellite observations; and 4 the statistical decomposition and categorization of weather data.

Geographic climatologists have made numerous contributions to our understanding of urban and regional climatic systems, and they are beginning to examine macroscale climatic change as well. They have also examined the statistical relationships among weather, climate, and sociological data.

Such analyses have suggested some intriguing associations, for example, between urban growth and warming Oke, and the seasonal heating cycle and crime frequency Harries et al. Geomorphological research in geography emphasizes the analysis and prediction of Earth surface processes and forms.

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Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations. By combining the general principles of good studying, with some specific steps to improve you geographical knowledge and help you remember terms and information, you can give yourself the best chance to get a good grade in your exam. As you progress in your study of geography, you'll extend this investigation to include topography, natural resources, and of course, human civilizations — countries, cities and towns. Society and Space, was founded by geographers. Throughout most of the twentieth century, geomorphological research has focused on examining stability in the landscape and the equilibrium between the forces of erosion and construction.

The Earth's surface is constantly being altered under the combined influences of human and natural factors. The work of moving ice, blowing wind, breaking waves, collapse and movement from the force of gravity, and especially flowing water sculptures a surface that is constantly being renewed through volcanic and tectonic activity.

Throughout most of the twentieth century, geomorphological research has focused on examining stability in the landscape and the equilibrium between the forces of erosion and construction. In the past two decades, however, emphasis has shifted toward efforts to characterize change and the dynamic behavior of surface systems. Whatever the emphasis, the method of analysis invariably involves the definition of flows of mass and energy through the surface system, and an evaluation or measurement of forces and resistance at work. This analysis is significant because if geomorphologists are to predict short-term, rapid changes such as landslides, floods, or coastal erosion in storms or long-term, rapid changes such as erosion caused by land management or strip mining , the natural rates of change must first be understood.

The third domain focuses on the geographic study of interrelated economic, social, political, and cultural processes. Geographers have sought a synthetic understanding of such processes through attention to two types of questions: Much of the early geographical work in this area emphasized locational decision making; spatial patterns and their evolution were explained largely in terms of the rational spatial choices of individual actors e.

Beginning with Harvey , a new cohort of scholars began raising questions about the ways in which social structures condition individual behavior and, more recently, about the importance of political and cultural factors in social change Jackson and Penrose, This has matured as an influential body of work founded in social theory, which has devoted considerable effort to understanding how space and place mediate the interrelations between individual actions and evolving economic, political, social, and cultural patterns and arrangements and how spatial configurations are themselves constructed through such processes e.

Indeed, one of the principal journals for interdisciplinary research in social theory, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, was founded by geographers. The nature and impact of research that has sought to bridge the gap between social theory and conceptualizations of space and place are evident in recent studies of both the evolution of places and the interconnections among places.

Geographers who study societal processes in place have tended to focus on micro- or mesoscales.

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Research on cities has been a particularly influential area of research, showing how the internal spatial structure of urban areas depends on the operation of land markets, industrial and residential location decisions, population composition, forms of urban governance, cultural norms, and the various influences of social groups differentiated along lines of race, class, and gender.

The impoverishment of central cities has been traced to economic, social, political, and cultural forces accelerating suburbanization and intraurban social polarization. Studies of urban and rural landscapes examine how the material environment reflects, and shapes, cultural and social developments, in work ranging from interpretations of the social meanings embedded in urban architecture to analyses of the impacts of highway systems on land uses and neighborhoods Knox, Researchers have also focused on the living conditions and economic prospects of different social and ethnic groups in particular cities, towns, and neighborhoods, with particular attention recently to how patterns of discrimination and employment access have influenced the activity patterns and residential choices of urban women e.

Researchers have also attempted to understand the economic, social, and political forces reinforcing the segregation of poor communities, as well as the persistence of segregation between certain racial and ethnic groups, irrespective of their socioeconomic status.

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A geographical perspective on such issues ensures that groups are not treated as undifferentiated wholes. By focusing attention on disadvantaged communities in inner cities, for example, geographers have offered significant evidence of what happens when jobs and wealthier members of a community leave to take advantage of better opportunities elsewhere Urban Geography, Geographical work on place is not limited to studies of contemporary phenomena.

Geographers long have been concerned with the evolving character of places and regions, and geographers concerned with historical developments and processes have made important contributions to our understanding of places past and present. These contributions range from sweeping interpretations of the historical evolution of major regions e. Studies along these lines go beyond traditional historical analysis to show how the geographical situation and character of places influence not only how those places develop but larger social and ideological formations as well.

Studies of the social consequences of linkages between places focus on a variety of scales. One body of research addresses spatial cognition and individual decision making and the impact of individual action on aggregate patterns. Geographers who study migration and residential choice behavior seek to account for the individual actions underlying the changing social structure of cities or shifting interurban populations. Research along these lines has provided a framework for modeling the geographical structure of interaction among places, resulting inter alia in the development of operational models of movement and settlement that are now widely used by urban and regional planners throughout Europe Golledge and Timmermans, Geographers also have contributed to the refinement of location theories that reflect actual private and public decision making.

Initially, much of this research looked at locational issues at particular moments in time. Work by Morrill on political redistricting, for example, provided insights into the many ways in which administrative boundary drawing reflects and shapes political ideas and practices. More recent work has focused on the evolution of industrial complexes and settlement systems.

This work has combined the insights of location theory with studies of individual and institutional behavior in space Macmillan, At the interurban and regional scales, geographers have studied nationwide shifts in the location and agglomeration of industries and interurban migration patterns.

These studies have revealed important factors shaping the growth prospects of cities and regions. An interest in the relationship between individual behavior and broader-scale societal structures prompted geographers to consider how individual decisions are influenced by, and affect, societal structures and institutions e.

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Studies have tackled issues ranging from human reproduction and migration decisions to recreation and political protest. Researchers have shown how movement decisions depend on social and political barriers, the distribution of economic and political resources and broader-scale processes of societal restructuring. They have examined how the increased mobility of jobs and investment opportunities have affected local development strategies and the distribution of public resources between firms and households.

Indeed, there is new interest in theorizing the geographical scales at which different processes are constituted and the relationship between societal processes operating at different scales Smith, ; Leitner and Delaney, Geographers recognize that social differences from place to place reflect not only differ-. Research has shown, for example, that the changing growth prospects of American cities and regions cannot adequately be understood without taking into account the changing position of the United States in the global system and the impact of this change on national political and economic trends Peet, ; Smith and Feagin, Geographic research also has focused explicitly on the spatial manifestations of institutional behavior, notably that of large multilocational firms; national, state, and local governments; and labor unions.

Research on multilocational firms has examined their spatial organization, their use of geographical strategies of branch-plant location and marketing in order to expand into or maintain geographically defined markets, and the way their actions affect the development possibilities of different places Scott, b; Dicken, Research into state institutions has focused on such issues as territorial integration and fragmentation; evolving differences in the responsibilities and powers exercised by state institutions at different geographical scales; and political and economic rivalries between territories, including their impact on political boundaries and on geopolitical spheres of influence.

Observed shifts in the location of political influence and responsibility away from traditional national territories to both local states and supranational institutions demonstrate the importance of studying political institutions across a range of geographical scales Taylor, The importance of spatial representation as a third dimension of geography's perspectives see Figure 3.

Research emphasizing spatial representation complements, underpins, and sometimes drives research in other branches of geography and follows directly from the thesis that location matters. Geographers involved in spatial representation research use concepts and methods from many other disciplines and interact with colleagues in those fields, including computer science, statistics, mathematics, geodesy, civil engineering, cognitive science, formal logic, cognitive psychology, semiotics, and linguistics.

The goals of this research are to produce a unified approach to spatial representation and to devise practical tools for representing the complexities of the world and for facilitating the synthesis of diverse kinds of information and diverse perspectives. How geographers represent geographic space, what spatial information is represented, and what space means in an age of advanced computer and telecommunications technology are critical to geography and to society. Research linking cartographic theory with philosophies of science and social theory has demonstrated that the way problems are framed, and the tools that are used to structure and manipulate data, can facilitate investigation of particular categories of prob-.

By dictating what matters, representations help shape what scientists think and how they interpret their data Sack, ; Harley, ; Wood, Geographic approaches to spatial representation are closely linked to a set of core spatial concepts including location, region, distribution, spatial interaction, scale, and change that implicity constrain and shape how geographers represent what they observe. In effect, these concepts become a priori assumptions underlying geographic perspectives and shaping decisions by geographers about how to represent their data and what they choose to represent.

Geographers approach spatial representation in a number of ways to study space and place at a variety of scales. Tangible representations of geographic space may be visual, verbal, mathematical, digital, cognitive, or some combination of these. Reliance on representation is of particular importance when geographic research addresses intangible phenomena e. Tangible representations and links among them also provide a framework within which synthesis can take place. Geographers also study cognitive spatial representations—for example, mental models of geographic environments—in an effort to understand how knowledge of the environment influences peoples' behavior in that environment and make use of this knowledge of cognitive representation in developing approaches to other forms of representation.

Visual representation of geographic space through maps was a cornerstone of geographic inquiry long before its formal recognition as an academic area of research, yet conventional maps are not the only visual form used in geographic research. This continuum can be defined by a dimension scale, which ranges from atomic to cosmological, and abstractness level, which ranges from images to line drawings. Due to the centrality of geographic maps as a means for spatial representation, however, concepts developed for mapping have had an impact on all forms of spatial representation.

This role as a model and catalyst for visual representation throughout the sciences is clear in Hall's recent popular account of mapping as a research tool used throughout science, as well as the recognition by computer scientists that maps are a fundamental source of many concepts used in scientific visualization Collins, An active field of geographic research on spatial representation involves formalizing the ''language" for visual geographic representation.

Another important field of research involves improved depiction of the Earth's surface. A notable example is the recent advance in matching computational techniques for terrain shading with digital elevation databases covering the conterminous United States see Sidebar 3. The conventional map is one of many visual representations of space used by geographers and other scientists. As one of a continuum of spatial representations, maps occupy a "fuzzy" category defined by an "abstractness level" horizontal axis and a "scale dimension" vertical axis. After MacEachren , Figure 4.

A range of methods display your knowledge and understanding and develop and demonstrate your competence in subject-specific and key skills. Physical Geography modules are assessed by either coursework only or a mixture of coursework and examination. Coursework includes practical portfolios, essays, project reports, field notebooks, individual and group oral presentations and poster presentations. We have highly experienced and knowledgeable staff who take pride in the quality of their teaching.

All staff are research active which means that they keep up-to-date with current developments in their areas of interest and pass this knowledge on. The Geosciences building features a large lecture theatre, small group teaching rooms, physical geography and environmental science laboratories, a geology laboratory, a geo-engineering laboratory, geo-information laboratories and a large social area.

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Buy Physical Geography: Study for Success: Read Books Reviews - Amazon. com. The branch of geography that most students will study at some point in their high school or college career is physical geography. The study of physical.

Introducing Physical Geographies provides an overview of physical geography which looks at basic concepts and their development. Issues such as climatic change, water quality, flooding, biodiversity loss and human vulnerability to natural hazards will be considered.

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Through case studies, the physical processes underlying the issues will be explained together with an evaluation of management responses. The module focuses on the handling, analysis and communication of spatial and graphical data. You will select two of the following modules. The module outlines conceptual and theoretical approaches to the study of human geography. Attention focuses on the role of time, space and scale in human geography. In addition, the module introduces students to current debates, concerns and issues within the discipline.

You will be guided through the research process, using local fieldwork activities to gain experience of practising and evaluating the effectiveness of a range of qualitative research methods. In addition, key themes and case studies in cultural, urban and environmental geography will be used to exemplify different ways in which human geography can be researched.

Language modules, delivered at the Edge Hill Language Centre, are available to study as an integral part of this degree. The module also extensively covers the use of Geographical Information Systems as one of the most important tool to process and analyse geographical data. The module will outline important concepts for understanding the relationships between processes and landforms. The varying nature and properties of soils, and the soil processes which give rise to soil formation and development are then considered.

If you studied a Language module in Year 1, you may wish to study a further Language module in Year 2. This would form an integral part of your degree in place of one of the optional modules above.

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The impact of management strategies and climate change on fluvial and coastal landscapes will also be explored. A number of examples will be drawn from research in the North West of England and other areas of the UK. The module studies the flora and fauna that have adapted to and formed these environments. Natural Hazards identifies the nature of geohazards and the relationships between hazards and risk to people. The module investigates the distribution, causes and management of a range of major geohazards.

It will enable you to demonstrate your ability to research and evaluate information on geohazards both on an individual basis and in a group scenario. You will examine the evidence for change, consider potential causes, and analyse the spatial and temporal responses. The module explores the major changes of the Late Glacial, Holocene and recent periods and examines the relative contibutions of forcing factors, such as climatic variability and anthropogenic activity. In addition, the module critically considers the techniques and methodologies used in the reconstrcution of environmental change.

Module content will include remote sensing basics — the remote sensing process, the nature of imagery and image processing procedures, as well as the application of remote sensing to different environmental and social issues. These include deforestation, agricultural production and urban growth. You will develop advanced technological skills which will enhance your employability.