Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics

LSGI1D03 Living on a Dynamic Earth

Assignment - Semester 1 2019-20

Task

Submit a 2,500-word essay. The task has two key parts:

1. Read the text “Origin and Evolution of Earth: Research Questions for a Changing Planet” and discuss
the relative importance of the ten research questions for the development of human history and
humanity.

2. Choose one of the questions and present a more detailed overview of the research that has occurred
since 2008, the publication year of the text. You are asked to compare the difference between the
research discussed in the book and the new research they’ve found and summarize the new
developments since 2008.

Weighting: 50% of subject assessment (10% by ELC, 40% by Subject Leader)

Schedule

DEADLINES DETAILS

1 Submission of first  Submit the 1st draft (700 words) to ELC via the LSGI1D03 English Writing
draft to ELC:
and Reading Requirement Link on Learn@PolyU. Note: Make sure you
submit to the EWR Bb link and NOT the main subject link.

 The 1st draft will develop Part 1 – Summary of the research questions and if
space allows you can start developing Part 2. It should have the basic
structure with major section headings and subheadings.

2 Submission of  Submit the 2nd draft (1,500 words) with a reflection to ELC via the same link
second draft to
ELC: as the 1st draft on Learn@PolyU. Note: Make sure you submit to the EWR
Bb link and NOT the main subject link.

 The 2nd draft will address the feedback given for the 1st draft and further
develop Part 2. You should do additional reading to find support and
evidence for your opinions.

You should revise both drafts according to the feedback given by ELC.

You are strongly encouraged to book a writing consultation session with your ELC teacher to give you
further guidance on your essay (face-to-face) from a reader’s perspective. Refer to the teaching plan for
details.

Submit the final version of your essay to Turnitin via the main subject link (NOT the ERW Bb link) to
generate the similarity report. You can do this more than once but keep in mind the 2nd and subsequent

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 submissions will take 24 hours to process the report.

3 25 Nov 23:59,  Submit SOFT copies to

Week 13 Turnitin via the main subject link

Guidelines for essay writing

 Basic structure of the essay should include these sections: introduction, body, conclusion, and
references. Headings and subheadings should be used to define structure within each major section.

 The introduction should:

a. Provide background information of the assignment;

b. Give the reader a clear overview of the content and structure of your essay.

 The body should firstly present the importance of each research question and, secondly, choose ONE
research question and provide an overview of the research that has occurred since 2008. Your
writing should be carefully considered and be persuasive in nature. You will need to support your
writing with evidence taken from the literature. A useful method is to look for which authors from the
relevant chapter of the text are most commonly cited and find their recent publications. All reference
material must be in English.

 The conclusion should summarise your ideas.

 The references section should list all the sources you have referred to such as journal articles and
books by following the APA format. At least 5 sources should be included. Web-based materials
found via Google, Yahoo, or Bing (etc.) searches should be avoided. Web pages must not
constitute more than 1/3 of the items in the reference list. You should use Google Scholar or PolyU
OneSearch to identify sources to support your writing. All reference list items must be cited in the
essay and all sources cited must appear in the reference list. Refer to the following websites for
details of the APA style:

http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/Referencing/APA.aspx

http://www.apastyle.org/learn/index.aspx

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

Marking penalties

Then the following penalties will be applied if necessary:

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 1. Late essay submission

2. Over or under word limit (2,500 words) by more than 100 words

3. Plagiarism as evidenced by the Turnitin report or other methods: Note that not submitting a Turnitin
report may also attract this penalty.

4. Referencing and citations

a. Incorrect use of referencing and citations

b. More than 30% internet sources

c. Formatting errors

Subject Leader