This is an important part of your project as it introduces the whole thing to an examiner. If this part is done correctly the rest of your project should just slot into place.

Checklist for your introduction

	Tick when done
State the aim/hypothesis
Describe what the hypothesis means
Say which town you are studying and why
Say which two areas you are studying and why
Show where you are studying on a series of maps
Describe the methods you are going to use to test the hypothesis and say why they are good and relevant methods
Mention the geographical theory – Burgess & Hoyt and include a diagram
Predict what you expect to find

Your introduction is setting out what you are trying to do and how you are going to do it. A sign of a good introduction is if the examiner reading your introduction could go away and do the project themselves based solely on your introduction.

You should start off by stating what the hypothesis is. You should highlight this by putting it in a box or using a larger font or different colour font.

You should then explain in your own words what the hypothesis means.

You need to say why the two areas fit the hypothesis, i.e. one is near the town centre and one is on the outskirts of your chosen town.

You will then need to set the location for your coursework and describe it to the reader. This is where you need to use maps. You should show on a map where the two areas are, where your local town is in relation to the northeast and in relation to the whole of the UK. Use www.multimap.com

You need to give a brief description of your local town with some general background information.

METHODOLOGY

In this section you are describing the methods you used and WHY you used them. Saying why will give you extra marks.

You need to describe how you picked the sample points and why you picked them in this way. Did you spread your sample points out or bunch them together and why?

You will then need to write out the six questions that you are going to tackle and describe how you will tackle each question. Then say WHY you picked this method. An example is given below.

E.G. I expect there to be more traffic in the inner city than in the suburbs.

I will tackle this question by constructing a traffic survey sheet. I will then do a traffic survey for ten minutes at each sample point and note down all the traffic that goes past the sample point.

I feel this is the best way to tackle this question, as I will be able to record each vehicle as it goes past me at each sample point. Therefore I know I can rely on the data as it is my own and I am not relying on other people’s opinions as to the traffic.

You need to describe in detail what you will do when you go out to each sample point. You should state the obvious and write in clear full sentences describing exactly what you intend to do and why.

GEOGRAPHICAL THEORY

You should now describe in a bit of detail what the Burgess and Hoyt models are. You should include diagrams and you should predict which model you think your local town will most look like. When you write your conclusion you will pick this part up again and say which model your local town did actually look like.

Use the GCSE Bitesize web site to get a diagram and information on this.

bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/

Follow the links below

Geography – Cities – Urban Structure – Revise – Sample Question