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• You should check out the official specification for exact details of GG6. http://www.wjec.co.uk/geography.html

• Normally students follow the Individual investigation route [GG6a], which gives you freedom of choice in the topic and is a personal project. The notes below were prepared for students undertaking an individual investigation which is assessed internally and moderated by WJEC. However, there is an alternative known as the Geographical assignment, where WJEC publish a topic 18 months before the exam, which is assessed externally by WJEC [GG6b].

• The enquiry is worth 15% of your total A-level award.

When starting out, bear in mind:

1. The topic for research should be from one or more units you have studied.
2. The enquiry must be based on primary sources, including fieldwork, and secondary sources. The latter may include maps at a variety of scales, photographs, statistical data, geographical literature, information and communication technology, remotely-sensed imagery, and geographical information systems.
3. Investigation of only one issue, hypothesis, problem or other enquiry is required. WJEC say a tightly focused enquiry undertaken in depth is more successful than a superficial approach covering several linked hypotheses (which repeats the enquiry route).

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Ideally you should follow this 'recipe' for a successful enquiry:

1. Identify a geographical question.
2. Select appropriate methods.
3. Collect data.
4. Organise, record and present evidence.
5. Describe, analyse, interpret and evaluate the evidence.
6. Draw conclusions.
7. Evaluate the whole enquiry.

Remember: The enquiry must not exceed 3,500 words in total running text.

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Resources:

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Techniques:

River studies	Measurements Lots of useful material from Bridgewater high Geography site
Questionnaires	http://www.geography-site.co.uk/pages/skills/fieldwork/stats/ques.html
Small-scale urban studies	http://www.bridgewaterhigh.com/Geography/Yr11/Southport_coursework/Southport_coursework.html
OS map reading	http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/freefun/understandingmapping.html
Spearman's rank	Also http://www.geography-site.co.uk/pages/skills/fieldwork/stats/spear.html
Chi Square test	http://www.geography-site.co.uk/pages/skills/fieldwork/stats/chi.html
Using a quadrat	http://www.yptenc.org.uk/docs/factsheets/env_facts/quadrat.html
Lorenz curves and Gini coefficients	http://www.bized.ac.uk/virtual/dc/farming/theory/th9.htm http://ingrimayne.saintjoe.edu/econ/AllocatingRationing/MeasuringIncomeDist.html
No luck? Try Google.

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Virtual field trips:

Virtual fieldwork Website designed as an educational resource for sixth-form geography pupils by staff at King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys. Urban trip featuring development of Chester from the Romans to the present and Port Sunlight. http://www.virtualfieldwork.com Downstream river changes in N Wales with photos of 24 stations. http://www.virtualfieldwork.com/physical1.htm Glaciation study is an investigation of the till lain as ground moraine by the retreating Irish Sea ice sheets of the Pleistocene. The investigation took place at the cliff face of the Wirral Country Park. http://www.virtualfieldwork.com/thursaston.htm

GeoResources Use the virtual field trips button on the right. Trips include an urban study of Canterbury, sand dune management in N Wales, a river study and coastal erosion in Kent (Reculver - an alternative link below). http://www.georesources.co.uk/index.htm

Reculver Virtual field trip to Kent coast (site supported by Royal Geographical Society grant). Area stretches from Herne Bay in the west of the county to the Wantsum Channel in the east and features erosion and management. Photos, maps and notes. http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drayner/recintro.htm

Coastal Erosion Field Trip Solana Beach to Del Mar, San Diego County, California, by Chris Metzle of MiraCosta College, Oceanside, CA. Designed as a preview or review or for those that cannot visit the field trip site owing to their distance from the location. http://www.miracosta.cc.ca.us/home/cmetzler/field_trip/intro.html

Aberlady Bay, East Lothian. Field notes on a maritime dune ecosystem by Dr Alan Silverside of Paisley University. Aberlady was the UK's first local nature reserve. http://www-biol.paisley.ac.uk/courses/silverside/EcLandUse/ELUDunes.html Main sand dunes page.http://www-biol.paisley.ac.uk/bioref/Habitats/dunes1.html

Coatham Sands on the Tees Estuary A Newton House Field Centre trip studying spatial patterns in the dunes. Fieldwork, results and conclusions. Chelmsford County High School tackle the personal enquiry for Paper 3 (Investigative Study) of the OCR 9050 syllabus. As published in the Geography Review, March 2001, Vol. 14, Number 4, pp14-17. http://www.cchs.co.uk/subjects/geography/6thform/resources/sanddune/intro.htm

Snowdonia Geobytes virtual trip with a glacial focus. http://cgz.e2bn.net/e2bn/leas/c99/schools/cgz/accounts/staff/rchambers/GeoBytes/AS%20A2/A2/Glaciation.Web/glaciation.hmp.htm

Arthog - Real rather than virtual outdoor education centre in South Snowdonia. http://www.arthog.co.uk/index.html

Swallow Pond Wallsend - a guided tour from Kay's Geography.

• Don't forget to check the case studies page!

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