Research on Space & Place: For Professors, Teachers, Classes, and Students

Some people who have been on this site have asked how they can contribute. Anyone can suggest entries or websites that ought to be here, of course. There’s another way, though. I would like to annotate many of the entries on these pages, but obviously there is far too much for me to do alone. BUT, this would make a great assignment or exercise for courses that deal with the notion of place or space in various disciplines. Students could produce their own annotated bibliographies, based on entries from this site (or others that ought to be included). I would be happy to add these annotations to my page, giving proper credit to both the student and the class of course. And, there is no reason that there couldn’t be more than one annotation for a given entry. This would enhance the usefulness of this site as a research page, and would be a significant contribution to a growing interdisciplinary area.

What’s an annotation? It is a short write-up (like, a few sentences or a paragraph) that outlines the important aspects of a paper or book. Researchers often use 3 by 5 cards (or their computer equivalent) as they read papers and books to make notes that would remind them of the significant aspects of what they read. Annotations for this site might include things like:

• What does the writer think place or space is?
• Does the writer use synonyms for place? What are they?
• Does the writer contrast place with anything else (e.g., space)?
• Why is place important, or not important, to this writer?
• What is the basic argument of the paper or book?
• Does this paper respond to someone else’s position, and if so, how?
• Who might find this paper or book useful?
• What does this paper or book do well? Where are its limitations?
• Are there applications of the argument that are worth mentioning?
• How is this significant to you, that is, how does it contribute to understanding or answering the question or issue that you are researching?
• Not all of these are required for an annotation. They are just examples of what might be included.

Since this is a public resource, I am hoping for high-quality annotations. This means that I will not include everything I receive. Teachers or professors are welcome to send the best annotations they receive, or alternately send them all and I will choose.

If you are a professor or teacher interested in doing this, or are a student who wants to try this (you could even suggest this to your professor as a project), please feel free to contact me.

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