Title of coursework:

Has Moira experienced counterurbanisation?

This page contains all the resources, handouts, photos and guidance materials you'll need for your Geography Coursework.

 --------------------------------------------- Background -----------------------------------------------

Your coursework is worth 20% of your GCSE exam. It is split into the following main sections:

  • Coursework planning
  • Data collection in Moira
Both of these are done at the end of June in Y11.
  • Coursework write up - This is done in Y12. You produce one piece of coursework based on the data we collect in Moira. It is broken down into a number of sections which we will work through one by one. You will get detailed guidance helping you complete each section and feedback from your teacher as you work your way through.

--------------------------------------- Pre-fieldwork materials ----------------------------------

Background Theory

This is the theory you need to know to understand what counterurbanisation is and how we might investigate it in Moira. You will need to refer to this also next year as we work on writing up the coursework. It would seem that it's quite important really! 

1. Coursework theory.doc 1. Coursework theory.doc
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You can get blank copies of the questionnaire and environmental survey here. 

Planning Resources

First of all, here's the CSI ppt we took a quick look at in class. Download it below as it will help you with your planning sheets below. 

csi.ppt csi.ppt
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Now here are the planning sheets you will need to fill in. These are part of your final coursework and will be marked. Make sure you fill them in well and keep your finalised copy carefully so you can find it again next year. 

Planning sheets.doc Planning sheets.doc
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Here are some guidelines on questionnaire design. Use these to complete the appropriate pages in your planning sheets. 

Designing Questionnaires.doc Designing Questionnaires.doc
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 ----------------------------- Coursework Write up guidelines ------------------------------

1. Introduction

Download the guidelines here. You'll find a series of photos you may want to include below. Check out this link too which contains some aerial photos of Moira. This link contains some historical images of the village. You can get a map of N. Ireland showing Moira's location from pages like this one.

2. Data Presentation

Download this information and produce your own version of this table. You can download the data you'll need for producing this table here. 

3. Data Analysis and Interpetation

Download the Counterurbanisation Pizza ppt and use it to help you complete each of the following sections. 

3.1 Changing morphology

3.2 Origins of residents

3.3 Characteristics of residents

For sections 3.2 and 3.3 you will have to draw graphs to present your data using the data found in the tables you downloaded for Section 2. You should always use the percentage values only - do not use percentage AND the actual numbers.

Note the following further points of guidance:

  • For each section, remember to use the following sub-headings: A. Analysis  B. Interpretation
  • The key questions to ask yourself are: WHAT (i.e. analysis) and SO WHAT (i.e. interpetation)
  • Remember to produce a title page for this section (3. Data Analysis and Interpretation).
  • For each graph, photo etc, make sure you add a figure number, a title and refer to it in your text.
  • Finally - remember you're presenting an argument - you're trying to convince me that Moira is "guilty" of counturbanisation. Is your argument persuasive?

4. Conclusions & Evaluations

4.1 Conclusions

The purpose here is like the final summing up in your court case 'against' Moira. This is your last chance to convince the jury that Moira is 'guiltly' of counterurbanisation. This is how you do it.

  • Write a short introduction outlining the purpose of this section i.e. to summarise all your findings.
  • Write three paragraphs, each with a sub-heading, corresponding to the three sub-sections in part 3 (see above). In each, summarise what you have written in Section 3, only this time you don't need to quote figures.
  • Write one more final paragraph stating your conclusion that, after you have considered all the aspects of Moira which you have investigated, you are convinced that Moira indeed has experienced counterurbanisation.
4.2 Evaluation
This has two parts and, as ever, each part should have a sub-heading. They are:
  • Evaluating what we did
In this section, you need to acknowledge the limitations of what you did. For example, you might want to discuss some of the following:
  • we conducted our questionnaires during the day time - this meant that many people were not in. This may have caused our data to be a bit distorted.
  • We only sampled 50 people (due to time constraints). This is a small sample size from the whole population of Moira and it might not have been representative.
  • We did not include a question in our questionnaire on why people chose to move to Moira. We assumed it was related to push and pull factors of counterurbanisation, but (due to time constraints) we didn't actually ask them.
  • Extending our project
If we were to do the project again, we could extend it in some of the following ways:
  • we could compare Moira with some other similar settlements such as Waringstown or Hillsborough to see if Moira is an exception or part of a broader trend.
  • We could compare Moira with a remote village in West Ulster to see how they differ. Are people moving in or out? Why?


Final checklist

Chek back here over Easter, where there will be a final checklist of all the elements you need to have in your coursework.

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