How do you know if you want to be a geographer?

If you are curious about places, geography will channel this interest into a rigorous study of the makeup of places and what makes them tick. You like to study maps, so the geographer's first inclination is to put information on a map in order to see how it looks spatially. In case you prefer the window seat on airplanes, geography is just for you, because geography tries to explain the constantly-changing patterns of human activity and natural phenomena on the landscape.

If you are interested in foreign areas, you will be able to specialize in a particular part of the world such as Latin America, Europe, Asia, or Africa. If you like to work outside, you will obtain the basic data from field investigation in environments that range from wilderness areas to cities. As scientists, geographers are naturally curious about how the world is arranged. They ask lots of questions about why things are located the way they are and then they try to answer those questions. So if you are a problem solver, you will be particularly interested in geography.

If you are not good at seeing connections among seemingly unrelated processes, you won’t be able to work in the sphere of geography, because one of geography's strengths is its ability to integrate ideas about human behavior, social institutions, and the natural environment.

If you can adapt to rapid technological change, you will find out that Geographical Information Systems (GIS) have revolutionized the way geographers collect, store, analyze, and present spatial information.

Unless you think big, you won’t understand how places interact with each other, and how they are influenced by larger, more global forces. If you are interested in connections between people and the environment, you will see the world as the human habitat, one that we have transformed and that has transformed us.

To sum it up, if the information above is right about you, then to be a geographer is about you.

Task 8. Complete the sentence to make it true about you. The sample will help you.

If I am curious about the places, I will be a geographer. – I will be a geographer because I am curious about the places.

I will be a geographer, because ….

1. 2. 3. 4.

Task 9. Read and learn the new words by heart.

Major	/’meidzə/	профилирующая дисциплина
Technique	/tek’ni:k/	техника, метод
Perspective	/pəs’pektiv/	перспектива
Considerably	/kən’sidərəbli/	значительно
Issue	/’i∫u:/	вопрос, суть, проблема
Sprawl	/spro:l/	разрастание
To designate	/’dezigneit/	назначить, обозначить
Literacy	/’litərəsi/	грамотность

Task10. Read the text and answer the questions:

1. What does geography provide for students?

2. Why are geographers called environmental problem solvers?

3. What are the advantages of studying geography?