part 1:

Choose ONE of the following two topics for your Discussion this week. (Remember, your initial post is due Wednesday and your 2 replies are due Sunday).

Topic 1. NASWA Geography in the News

For this discussion, find a recent news article (within the past 12 months) that describes the latest developments in a conflict, issue, or other major event in this North Africa and SW Asia realm. Provide a brief summary of the conflict/issue/event that your article describes, and your own analysis of how this issue might affect the realm, and might be resolved. Be sure that the topic of the news article has some connection with the geographical issues and concepts we’re discussing, and be sure to highlight these connections in your discussion.

–OR–

Topic 2. Your Project!

Please share how your project is going! Specifically, discuss culture and diffusion – TWO of the four main elements you’re examining for your project. These are good concepts and an important foundation for understanding how a cultural landscape develops. Feel free to solicit ideas and feedback for your final presentation/project! The outline is due the end of this week (Week 5). Make sure to include any source attributions (normal rules for Discussions).

Remember, paraphrase the information in articles you use –> to be in your own words to avoid plagiarism.

reply to:

• Mackenzie Garrick posted Mar 3, 2026 2:04 PM
• Hello everyone,
• For this assignment, I chose an article by the Wall Street Journal discussing the strikes on major energy facilities. The recent Middle East conflict has begun to directly impact the regions energy infrastructure, disrupting global markets by damaging oil and gas facilities. Drone attacks and missles linked to Iran have forced shutdowns at major energy hubs like Saudi Aramcos refinery and Ras Laffans Industrial Citys liquified natural gas production. This gas production accounts for almost 20% of global gas supplies, and led to shutdowns of oil/gas fields in Kurdistan and Israel. Additionally the vital Strait of Hormuz has been bottlenecked and ships are halting due to safety concerns, which results in gas and oil prices spiking. This obviously affects everyone, creating economic strain on importers and pressuring exporting countries to rethink diversifying resources and security for the production sites. If this is prolonged, it can cause investments in alternate routes for supply, such as pipelines and reserves. Global powers like the major energy consumers will have strong incentives to negotiate security for these areas, or even a ceasefire, but events this large are hard to resolve or even negotiate safer terms. Like the maritime routes, you can always set up naval security arrangements, but whats to say security won’t be controlled by one side, causing trouble for others. My best idea to resolving this issue would be to negotiate safety from further strikes and cooperation agreements from all sides immediately, hopefully resulting in a temporary ceasefire or no targeting pledge for energy infrastructure so they can stabilize markets quickly, as this affects so many countries in the region, especially Iran and Saudi Arabia.
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W5: NASWA

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• Daniel Barnes posted Mar 3, 2026 10:58 PM
• Good evening, class
• For this week I choose to discuss topic one.
• A major escalation in the conflicts in Southwest Asia began just this past week, involving Hezbollah (an proxy group of Iran) in Lebanon. This escalation was triggered by joint U.S. and Israel strikes on Iran. These strikes lead to the reported death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, prompting Hezbollah to launch missiles into northern Israel. Israel responded airstrikes across southern Lebanon, causing civilian casualties and mass displacements. At the same time strikes inside Iran targeted key infrastructure and suspected nuclear sites. These events sparked global concern and rising oil prices highlighting how events within a specific region can have far reaching effects. Iran has sense retaliated with strikes on U.S. embassies in Riyadh and Kuwait city, raising fears of a wider regional war.
• This conflict has far reaching implications with more countries entering the conflict by the day. The region is now active war zone. The Strait of Hormuz, is a critical oil transport route, is now at risk of disruption, which already triggered global energy price fluctuations. Additionally, the displacement of civilians is reshaping human geography, with thousands fleeing.
• The escalation threatens regional stability and global economic security. A potential resolution would require a immediate ceasefire and negations mediated by neutral actors, along with diplomatic pressure on external supporters to prevent future escalation. However with Iran seeking to get revenge for the attacks and the U.S. and Israel not showing any signs of letting up it is likely that more and more countries will get involved. President Trump has indicated that someone in the Iranian government showed interest in potential negations. Time will only tell if a quick resolution could turn the temperature down in the region but if we go by the history of the region even if the current hostilities end it is only a matter of time before another strike occurs and the cycle continues.

Part 2:

Instructions

Assignment 2: The Outline Due Week 5

Project Overview:

• This is part of a 3-PART SERIES OF ASSIGNMENTS on the SAME topic. Assignment #1 – the Bibliography (submitted Week 3). Assignment #2 – the Outline – is due Week 5. Assignment #3 – the Final Presentation – is due Week 7. You’re building this project throughout all three Assignments, using the same or similar topic.
• For this project, you’ll choose a topic and then research how four geographic concepts are related to and affect your topic. Instead of presenting your research as a traditional paper, you’ll use PowerPoint to create a narrated presentation. Your presentation will be structured like a paper, including a title, introduction to the topic, main body, summary and conclusions, and references. Creative use of properly cited graphics and photos from the Internet relevant to your topic is required.
• First, choose a topic! Topics must be a food item, cuisine, invention, or idea with a SUPER CLEAR REGION OF ORIGIN. Do some investigation of the 4 required elements (see below) before you settle on one topic. If you’re not sure if your desired topic is appropriate, please feel free to ask!
• Your topic must be analyzed through these 4 required elements to determine how each of these geographic concepts affects or is related to your topic: 1. Regions 2. Cultural Landscape 3. Diffusion 4. Distance decay. The first two concepts are covered in the first chapter of your textbook. Diffusion is covered in Chapter 8, Section 2. Distance decay refers to the fact that influence and interaction between locations decreases as the distance between them increases. As such, it has a significant influence on how things change as they diffuse away from their point of origin. Be sure to address these specific geographic terms and concepts in your work. You don’t need to address them in this order, but you do need to address all of them. You may use “subsets” of these definitions (e.g., contagious diffusion) if such subsets exist. Be sure to refer to your text and other reliable resources to ensure you completely understand these concepts. You should be detailed in your treatment of these concepts – for instance, you should explain both how and why your choice varies by region, and how and why it has been affected by distance decay. Remember that geography, as an academic discipline, seeks to explain why things vary from place to place, not just describe how they do.

Assignment #2 Objective: Organize your thoughts and the main points of your research for your final presentation in outline format.

Assignment Instructions: To help you complete Assignment 3: The Presentation, you will first submit an outline to organize your thoughts and main points. Your outline should be formatted a specific way and must contain the following elements as described below.

To prepare for this assignment, I recommend that you do the following:

• Read these directions carefully.
• Read the grading criteria below. The grading criteria is a detailed evaluation that I will use to assess your performance. It also will help you understand what is expected of you as you prepare your assignment.
• Use the 1:1 Chat with Prof discussion to ask me questions!

Be sure to add your name to your outline.

The outline format: Your outline must be formatted as described. Please note that this format will be assessed in your grade:

• Use an alphanumeric sequence
• Sections should be indented and aligned
• Follow the suggested order of the required elements
• Use brief and bulleted but detailed and descriptive phrases.

The required elements: Your outline should contain the following elements in this order:

I. The Introduction: This section previews your topic and the details you will cover in the body of your presentation. It should be very brief, but include:

A. The food, cuisine, invention or idea that you are going to discuss.

B. Why you chose this topic.

C. A preview of the regions where your topic has developed and then diffused to.

II. The Body (Content Sections): In the body, you must address how the four geographic concepts mentioned in the presentation instructions (regions, cultural landscapes, diffusion, and distance decay) relate to your topic.

A. Regions: Discuss the origin region or regions of your topic, with specific attention to the geographic qualities of the region that influenced the development of your topic.

B. Cultural Landscape: Discuss how the landscape in the region(s) described above have been shaped by the culture that gave rise to your topic, and how your topic might be reflected in that landscape.

C. Diffusion: Discuss how your topic has diffused from its origin. Where has it diffused to? What factors led to its diffusion there? What kind of diffusion has it experienced?

D. Distance Decay: Discuss how your topic has changed as it has diffused away from the region(s) of its origin. Explain these changes with reference to the geographic qualities of the regions it has diffused to.

III. The Conclusion Section: this section should contain four to six points that sum up the main points from the body of the outline.

1. Start your conclusion with one sentence summarizing some basic information about your topic.
2. Continue with a brief summary (1-2 sentences) about the important characteristics of its origin region(s).
3. Include a brief note about relevant cultural landscapes.
4. Include a brief summary (1-2 sentences) about the diffusion of your topic and the distance decay it experienced.
5. Wrap up the conclusion section with a closing note that provides brief information about why this topic was of interest to you, and a fact about your topic you found interesting.

IV. Reference section: This is not just the reference page; rather, referencing should occur throughout the outline as it will in your presentation. Therefore, your outline should include both a separate reference page containing a minimum of five scholarly sources listed in proper APA reference list format AND internal citations throughout the outline where appropriate. Please be sure to see the resources below for assistance regarding in-text citations and reference list formatting, and/or ask me if you have any additional questions.

Please make note of the following tips and tricks:

• I understand that this is a rough draft and, as your research and writing continue over the next few weeks, details may be added or changed. Although you do not have to resubmit it to me, I recommend that you update this outline to help you best complete the Final Presentation.
• Write your outline so that it has detailed bullets that you can easily then flesh out into sentences for the narration of your Final Presentation.
• After your outline is complete, I recommend that you next draft your introductory and conclusion sections for your presentation. This will ensure that all the main points of the outline are incorporated in these two framing sections of your final presentation.
• Please note that less than 10% of your outline or presentation should be direct quotes.
• All internal citation references should be listed on the reference page, and vice versa.

Additional Resources:

• You can use MS Word’s Outline Function to help create your outline.
• Also, please see the resources below at The Owl at Purdue site for more information on how to develop an outline:
• For more information on how to format in-text citations and references lists, the links below:

Evaluation: Please review the Outline Grading Criteria that describes how your outline will be graded.

Submission Instructions:

1. You must submit your Outline as a “Microsoft Word” document (rather than a Word Pad, Works, etc. document) AND title your file name as FirstInitialLastname_Assign2.doc.
2. Browse for the file you want to submit by clicking Add a File. You can attach files from your local computer or storage device, a personal locker, or a group locker. Enter any comments you want to submit with the file. Click Submit.

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