Talk:Five themes of geography

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 20 August 2021 and 11 December 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Estan5.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 21:29, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Created
I just created this article over the course of 3 hours using information from my History textbook. Enjoy it. ~  Flame vip  e  r  22:40, 8 February 2007 (UTC) Relative Is Also A Close But Good Responce To Where The Place Is Like Characteristics Around It.

GA failed
Good job on creating the article in such a short period. I had a similar textbook listing the same exact themes, so I understand the information. However, this is not Good Article quality since it fails several criteria:
 * 1) It is well written - This article looks okay as to how it is written, however, I don't know if you've just copied down word for word the definitions in the textbook or compiled the information. By the way, the only words that should be using bold font in this article should be Five Themes of Geography, which should be in the intro sentence as you are describing what the article is about. Everything else should be regular font.
 * 2) It is factually accurate and verifiable - You have one textbook as a reference, but you have no inline citations for your information, so again, I don't know what you may or may not have copied or written yourself. I recommend getting more sources and include inline citations after any statement that may be questioned for verifiability.
 * 3) It is broad in its coverage - You cover the five themes well enough, but you should delve deeper into the topic. Are these themes accepted by all geographers/textbooks/universities? Or is this just one topic described by this one textbook only. You could also include more information on how these themes are applied to geography, not just the definition.
 * 4) It follows the neutral point of view policy - This looks NPOV, so good job on that.
 * 5) It is stable - I don't see any problems with stability, nor foresee any in the future.
 * 6) It contains images, where possible, to illustrate the topic - The images are well utilized in the article as providing examples for the themes. Perhaps you could add a few more images to represent all of the themes.

For the above reasons, I will not pass this article as a Good Article, so it has failed its GAC at this time. However once the above problems are fixed, and you find more sources, I suggest trying to nominate it again in the future. --Nehrams2020 22:35, 9 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm graduating from UWG this May with a double major in history and human geography, so this is something that's well within my academic field. I'm going to expand and improve the page but I don't have a basic geography textbook handy at the moment.  This information is accurate, though, and I know that the textbook Human Geography In Action covers it.  I just don't have a copy on hand to provide a citation and before I add one, I'd like to double-check the article against a geography text.

--Moonsword 01:33, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Region definition
The definition of "region" seems vague. By this definition, Japan and Jamaica could be considered a region, because they are both islands with names starting with J. It seems to me that the definition is intended to refer to contiguous, adjacent, or proximate locations. However, as I am no expert on geography, I won't edit this page, but leave the suggestion for more learned minds to evaluate. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.39.191.81 (talk) 00:08, 15 February 2007 (UTC).


 * In geograpy, the definition of region is vague. The real problem with it is that the current (i.e., before I started editing :p ) definition is missing a word.  Specifically, it's missing the word "spatial".  Geography itself has a tremendous emphasis on spatial relationships. Moonsword 01:33, 15 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I have attempted to expand this section with information off the top of my head. Hopefully I can continue to expand this entire article whenever I have some free time and access to my books back home. -Matt- 18:20, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Please read WP:CITE; you can't just add stuff "off the top of your head". --Mel Etitis ( Talk ) 23:03, 24 April 2007 (UTC)


 * OK. I placed my info up again this time with a reference at the bottom so maybe the citation police wont go and delete things just for the heck of it anymore. In the future it's a lot easier to just ask for citation rather than go delete happy.-Matt- 00:37, 25 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Please see WP:CIVIL. Also, in the future, it might be a lot easier to just provide the citation rather than forcing someone to ask for it.  Remember the responisibility is on you--the person who provides the information--to source it, not others.  Metros232 00:40, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Need to expand upon some of the definitions
In the discussion above, the reviewer states that the five themes are covered well enough, but I strongly disagree. Here is what I would change (I won't, because I don't feel like looking up the citations):

1. Under "Location," you have a specific sub-section for "Relative Location," but do not have a specific sub-section for "Absolute Location." This should certainly be added. The most commonly used example (and arguably the most important) is the use of latitude/longitude to describe an absolute location.

2. Under "Human-Environment Interaction," it is unclear that the writer(s) understand what they are discussing. While they use some of the common jargon ("adapt to, modify, depend on"), they do not give examples of each of the ways that humans interact with the environment. Examples given are as follows:

a. bridges (an example of humans modifying the environment); b. dams (another example of humans modifying the environment); c. the mining industry (an example of humans both modifying and depending upon the environment); and d. any structures built by or destroyed by humans (another example of modifying the environment.

The point of HEI is that it is an "interaction" - it goes both ways. There is no example of how the environment affects us -- that is, how we adapt to the environment. Like I said, the jargon is there, but when the theme is explained, the evidence of understanding is absent. Simple examples of humans adapting to their environment could be the following:

a. we tend to surf more off the coast of California than in Iowa; we have more farmers than surfers in Iowa. That is, our behavior is shaped by our surrounding environment. b. in the summer, at least in Michigan, many people wear shorts; in the winter, when it's well-below freezing, we bundle up in our heavy winter jackets and boots. We change our behavior because of (we adapt to) the environment.

3. Lastly, I think the discussion under "Movement" is awkward. It sounds as if "railroad" is an example of movement, whereas the previous forms of transportation (which took longer and were more difficult) were not. It sounds as if the theme of "movement" itself is the advancement of transportation, rather than the act of transportation. I think the first paragraph sounds fine, but the second paragraph, while attempting to add depth, seems to me to add confusion.

Benjamin.laframboise (talk) 03:16, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Delete this if you want, just please...
What would the Space Needle be under, Location or Place...? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.165.102.76 (talk) 22:49, 15 September 2008 (UTC)

This page needs some TLC
When I arrived it looked like this. I tried to put it back together but I think I have largely failed, and I am tired. I will return and try a fix, but if you are a whizz at Five themes of geography please make this make sense. --Alchemist Jack (talk) 21:14, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

Regions
This article lacks a section for regions.Zyxw59 (talk) 19:49, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

Yuck
This page was very much out of shape. I've improved it significantly, I think, and removed the cleanup/copy-editing templates. Let me know if you notice anything. (npcserver) (talk) 03:29, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Geo
Movement 213.55.79.194 (talk) 15:25, 21 May 2022 (UTC)

Explain 5 themes of geography
Them 102.89.32.150 (talk) 08:05, 16 May 2023 (UTC)