Physical Geography Dissertation Ideas That Will Make Your Paper Stand Out
Physical geography might seem a subject where it is virtually impossible to find a fresh topic. However, you still can find a new angle to look at the well-known issue from.
- Soil analysis in your local area.
- Reconstruction of post-glacial processes in your local area.
- Effects of a natural factor on a local ecosystem.
- Analyzing the efficiency of a piece of environmental legislature.
- Geophysical forensics.
Think local. The place where you live – or have lived at some point of your life – is unlikely to have been described in many student dissertations, yet it may have features that are worth exploring. Is there a spot where vegetation is different from places around? Or a rock with layers of strange colors? Find an explanation of this phenomenon, using the most recent methods of geographical investigation, such as GIS modelling. Compare your study to those conducted earlier, with other methods used.
Similarly, you can produce a great paper by reconstructing the post-glacial processes that shaped your local environment into what it is now. Compare your ecosystem to a well-explored one of a similar sort, e. g. a local crevice to the Grand Canyon. Point out the similarities and difficulties. Emphasize how your findings help create the general picture of post-glacial processes on the continent.
If you think that the effects of a natural disaster in your local area have been underexplored, your dissertation assignment is a chance to fill this gap. Examine the impact of recent floods on the quality of your drinking water, or the change in soils caused by heavy rainfalls.
Choose an environmental law enacted from ten to twenty years ago. In most cases, it is enough time for the first measurable results to be received. Compare the state of an environmental parameter that should have been influenced (e. g. the level of soil salinization or air pollution) today and at the time when the law was enacted to determine whether this piece of legislation has reached its aim or not. To keep your research manageable, restrict it to a particular area.
If you do not mind going a bit beyond the discipline’s framework, try a topic that spans geography and forensics. Examine how geophysical techniques can be used to discover bodies of victims depending on the type of local environment, e. g. a coast or a rocky formation. However, do not forget that your dissertation is in geography, so keep your focus on geographical issues or questions.