Economic Geography of Contraband Trade in Colonial Honduras

Writing Assignment, GEOG 4403 Economic Geography, Winter 2026 Due Date: before 11:59 pm, Monday, March 2, 2026 Graduating Seniors before 11:00 am, Monday, March 2, 2026 1. Read the article about the Contraband Trade in colonial Honduras posted on Canvas under the module Paper: Readings & Instructions. Write an analytical review of this article as it regards Economic Geography. The review is not a criticism of the authors viewpoints, nor a criticism of any political entity (see the note under section 2). The review is to examine the economic geography that is brought up in this article and apply what you have learned about economic geography to explain what the author of the article is discussing. Contraband trade, while illegal, has been and continues to be, a large part of the world economy throughout history and space. 2. Write a review of the article with at least 1,100 words; 1,100 WORD MINIMUM. Most people write somewhere around 265 words per page, so this is especially little considering this is a 400-level course. READ AND FOLLOW ALL DIRECTIONS IN THE WRITING ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS BELOW. Your writing assignment is to review the article by discussing the authors’ main points, what the author sees as the main issues of Economic Geography with contraband trade in colonial Honduras and how it fits into what you have learned about Economic Geography. A simple summary of the article would earn a “D” by showing a lack of analytical thinking. Try to be thoughtful and creative in your review. THE REVIEW IS NOT A SIMPLE CRITICISM of the authors viewpoints, projects, or supposed Economic ideals. That is NOT what Analytical Review means. You do not have the proper training or educational credentials to do those things. An Analytical Review examines the geographic viewpoint from that of Economic Geography of this contraband trade in a thoughtful way, using analytical thinking skills to show that you are incorporating what you learned from the lectures throughout the course. A simple summary of the article will likely earn a D by showing a lack of analytical thinking. A review that incorporates analytical thinking to show you are incorporating some learning from the lectures into the article will likely earn a C especially if it is at or just above the minimum word count, while a review that also shows organization that is original to you and that thoughtfully incorporates learning from the lectures will likely earn a B. A grade of an A will show analytical thinking, all of the above, and may include some research from other experts on contraband trade. 3. USE THE TIMES NEW ROMAN FONT in Size 12 IN YOUR PAPER. It is much easier to read than other fonts, especially when it comes to grading lots of papers. This font is Times New Roman. Font size 12 is required. Do not use bold, underline, or all capital letters, just regular Times New Roman size 12 font. DOUBLE SPACE! PUT PAGE NUMBERS IN THE TOP RIGHT CORNER OF EACH PAGE. Just the page number, do not add your name, course number or anything else. LENGTH a minimum of 1,100 words (not counting title and your name) for the review. If you write less, you will score much less. If you write only 650 words, you only wrote 50% of the assignment, so grading will never go over 50%, and will probably be much less because it is too little to have written anything of consequence, and hence would not earn anything close to 50% of the total possible points. FAILURE TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS WILL RESULT IN A LARGE LOSS OF POINTS 2 HONOR CODE Cheating and plagiarism are serious offenses and will be dealt with severely. Honor Code violations will result in a Failing Grade for the Entire Course DO NOT CHEAT. You have been warned. NO CITATIONS WITHIN THE BODY OF YOUR PAPER IS PLAGIARISM NO CITATIONS, YOU GET A ZERO AND FAIL THE ENTIRE COURSE. USE CITATIONS THEY ARE YOUR FRIENDS ! ! ! – Dont know how to use citations? Read Number 5 below, and then ask for help! 3. All papers must be turned in through TurnItIn.com hard copies (printed copies) and papers in email are not acceptable, will not be read or opened, and will be thrown out and deleted. I have had three computer viruses from students sending papers through email not going to happen again! Only those papers turned in through TurnItIn.com on Canvas will be graded. Students are responsible for loading a viable electronic paper to TurnItIn.com If TurnItIn.com cannot read your paper, you will receive a zero. I will let you know if there is a problem, but you will need to upload another copy of the paper immediately. TurnItIn.com will check for plagiarism. Read the section on plagiarism in the syllabus. 4. NO QUOTATIONS ARE PERMITTED IN YOUR PAPERS. Learn to paraphrase correctly No quotations are permitted in the paper, regardless of how short the quote is Do not use any quotations in your paper When writing, use your own words and do not use quotations For every quotation, there will be 50 point deduction after the Paper is graded. FAILURE TO DO CITATIONS CORRECTLY MAY RESULT IN A FAILING GRADE FOR THE ENTIRE COURSE HOW TO DO CITATIONS CORRECTLY FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS FAILURE TO DO CITATIONS AS STATED IN THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW WILL RESULT IN A GRADE OF F FOR YOUR PAER. 5. CITATIONS USE THEM! When citing (but not quoting!) from the articles you may simply put the authors last name and page number in parentheses at the end of the section where the citation belongs. 5a. – You are REQUIRED to cite at least 6 different and relevant Video Lectures to show that you are applying what you learned in the course to this article. You will have to think anlytically about Economic Geography, the material from the articles, and the material from the Video Lectures. 5b. – HOW TO CITE VIDEO LECTURES site Video Lectures by the Week and Lecture Number, For example: (Week 4, Lec 11) for the eleventh Video Lecture in the course during the fourth week of class. WARNING JUST THROWING RANDOM VIDEO LECTURE REFERENCES INTO YOUR PAPER WILL COUNT AGAINST YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT THINKING ANALYTICALLY AND ARE SIMPLY TRYING TO GET THE VIDEO LECTURE CITATIONS INTO THE PAPER WITHOUT ANY THOUGHT OR WORK. Bad references would be something like Geography is an important issue in contraband trade (Week 1, Lecture 2). You CANNOT use any material from the first 2 weeks of Video Lectures. 3 Do Not simply put a random Video Lecture reference in that has nothing to do with what you are writing about in your paper. Example: DO NOT cite Week 6, Lecture 14 if you are not discussing feudalism in Europe. 5c. – Reference the Author of the article by only their last name and page number. Use the real page number from the articles, not the page number on the PDF file. NEVER use the authors first name, nor the complete title of the articles within the text of your paper. 5d. NEVER, EVER THINK ABOUT USING THE AUTHORS FULL NAME and/or FULL TITLE OF THE ARTICLE IN THE TEXT OF YOUR PAPER. That is only done when someone needs to cheat to try to artificially boost the word count. NEVER write things such as In Professor Jonathan Smiths article Economic Geography is Terribly Important: Let Us Study It! published by the Association of American Geographers . . . This will definitely show that you are deliberately trying to artificially boost your word count. You also NEVER need to reference what universities or other institutions they are affiliated with. I already know about them, so DO NOT even think about putting that stuff in your paper. Doing this kind of thing will result in a 30 point deduction on your paper. BIBLIOGRAPHY if you use sources other than the assigned article, you are required to have a bibliography. If you do not use other sources, then you do not need a bibliography. If you do use other sources you are required to use MLA style of citations within the text of the paper and in your bibliography. 6. BANNED SOURCES using any of these banned sources may result in a zero grade use university-level sources if you plan to use outside sources. Textbooks Notes from other classes Notes from this class that are not relevant to what you are writing about Notes from this class that are blatantly over-simplistic (such as saying this article is Economic Geography citing a lecture on Intro Economic Geography you can do much better than that!) Notes from the first week of class Childrens books Webpages Encyclopedias Poor sources for a Senior-Level university course, like National Geographic Magazine 7. Deadline: before 11:59 pm, Monday, March 2, 2026, Ruston Time according to Canvas Papers may be turned in early NO LATE PAPERS ACCEPTED the quarter ends for this course at the above deadline There is no make-up or excused late papers. If you cannot turn the paper in on the assigned due date, then turn it in early! Graduating Seniors, Winter 2026 Due Date before 11:00 am, Monday, March 2, 2026