The point of this essay is for you to carefully observe and systematically describe some piece of the Syracuse or Central New York landscape. In

The point of this essay is for you to carefully observe and systematically describe some piece of
the Syracuse or Central New York landscape. In “The Beholding Eye: Ten Versions of the Same
Scene,” geographer D.W. Meinig (1979,1) presents a dictionary definition of the landscape: a
“stretch of country as seen from a single point.”
Meinig, D. W. "The Beholding Eye: Ten Versions of the Same Scene." In The Interpretation of
Ordinary Landscapes: Geographical Essays, edited by D. W. Meinig and John Brinckerhoff
Jackson. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979.
For this essay:
1. Carefully read Meinig’s (1979) “The Beholding Eye.”
2. Select a point on the Syracuse University Campus, in the City of Syracuse, or in the
surrounding region from which you can see “a stretch of country” (or city or suburb).
3. Go to that point and carefully examine the landscape in front of you.
4. Write a 750-word minimum essay describing what you see in terms of one of the ten
ways of seeing the landscape that Meinig (1979) outlines. The essay must follow the
format and requirements laid out below. The essay must be comprised of:
a. A description of the point you are viewing from and in general what you can see:
where it is that you are standing, what direction are you looking, what can you see
in the near, middle, and far distance.
b. A description of the way of seeing you will use to interpret the landscape (e.g.
“nature,” or “artifact” or “ideology” or “history” or “place” or whichever other of
the ten you chose) discussing in particular what it means to see the landscape this
way. You must draw directly on (and appropriately cite) Meinig (1979), and you
may (but do not have to) draw on other sources (appropriately cited) if you wish,
in making this description.
c. A new description of the landscape in front of you in terms of the way of seeing
you have adopted, explaining how the landscape is (for example) “habitat,” or
“history,” or “system” (or whichever one of the one way of seeing your have
chosen).

Format requirements:
1. The paper must be 750 words or more.
2. The paper must be stapled.
3. The paper must have a title.
4. The pages must be numbered.
5. The paper must include your name and discussion section number or day and time.
6. The paper must be double spaced.
7. The paper must use a standard font of no smaller than 11 pt and no larger than 12 pt.
8. The paper must be properly cited. All quotations, paraphrases, and references to others’
ideas must be cited using the author-date system – e.g. (Meinig 1979) – and include a
page number if they are of specific quotations or paraphrases of specific passages – e.g.
(Meinig 1979, 5).
9. The paper must contain a bibliography, even if there is only one entry in it. The
bibliography must take exactly the same format as the bibliography in this assignment.
10. A draft must be ready for next week’s discussion sections and the paper must be turned in
at the beginning of class on Wednesday, September, 19 th .
Before you turn your essay in:
1. Assure you have met each of the ten submission requirements.
2. Read your essay out-loud to a friend: make sure they can “see” in their minds-eye what
you describe. Make sure that what you say on the page makes clear sense to this friend
of yours.
3. Proofread. Double check for incomplete sentences, for run-ons, for verb-subject
agreement, for spelling, and for proper citation.
Grading and expectations:
An “A” essay will:
 Have a draft ready for next week’s discussion section for peer review (worth 20 per cent
the assignment grade).
 Clearly and compellingly describe where you are standing and what you can see from
there (point 4a above) such that your reader can get a good clear picture of where you are
and of the view in her/his mind’s eye, even if he/she has never been there before.
 Clearly, carefully, and fully explain the “way of seeing” the landscape you have chosen
and what it means (point 4b above) (e.g. “landscape as system,” “landscape as
aesthetics,” “landscape as wealth,” or whichever you have chosen) and the sources upon
which you have developed that meaning.
 Clearly and compellingly described anew the landscape seen from your standing place in
terms of the way of seeing you have chosen (point 4c above). Again your goal is to get
your reader to get an image in her/his mind’s eye of the landscape you are describing
as… (e.g. as a habitat or as a problem, or whichever you have chosen).

Answer review

MLA

850 Words