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Program Requirements
Note: University regulations apply to all students at Laurier. If there is any discrepancy between the program or progression requirements outlined on this page and those in the university's academic calendars, the academic calendars are the official sources of information. The information below is from the latest calendar, and you may be following progression requirements from an earlier calendar. Students are responsible for checking the appropriate calendar. Contact your program coordinator should you notice any discrepancies.
Undergraduate Programs
We offer BA and BSc degrees with the following programs covering a broad spectrum of discovery. You should contact your undergraduate officer who will confirm your path to graduation.
- Honours BA in Geography
- Honours BA in Geography in Combination with another Honours BA Program
- Honours BA in Environmental Studies
- Honours BA Environmental Studies in Combination with another Honours BA Program
- Honours BA Environmental Studies in Combination with Fleming College Programs
- Honours BSc in Geography
- Honours BSc Geography and Archaeology and Heritage Studies
- Honours BSc in Geography and Geomatics
- Honours BSc in Environmental Science
- Minor in Geography
- Minor in Environmental Studies
- Environmental Science Option
- Geomatics Option
- Sustainability Option
Program Requirements
Three types of master's programs are offered: MA students are admitted to either the thesis, research paper or one-year (3 semesters) Environmental Data Analytics (EDA) field option If a student wishes to switch from thesis to the research option, or vice versa, the change must receive approval by the Waterloo-Laurier Graduate Program in Geography executive committee by the end of the first term after initial registration. Programs are available on either a full-time or a part-time basis.MA Thesis Option
Requires the successful completion of eight units* of credit comprised as follows:- Research seminar (one unit); selected from GG600: Foundations Spatial Data Handling, GG620: Foundations in Human Geography, GG640: Foundations in Environmental Science, GG660: Foundations in Resource and Environmental Management;
- GG700: Professional Skills Development for Masters Students (one unit);
- Two electives (two units); and
- GG699: Master's Thesis (four units).
The program director approves a thesis advisory committee for each candidate, consisting of a supervisor and one additional member. The candidate must prepare a thesis proposal to be approved in writing by the thesis advisory committee no later than the end of the second term of registration. The thesis must be defended successfully before a thesis examination committee composed of a non-voting chairperson (who may be the supervisor) appointed by the program director, the thesis advisory committee, and one reader who may be from outside the discipline, outside
Laurier or University of Waterloo or both, and who is knowledgeable in the area of the thesis topic. At least two members of the thesis examination committee must be members of the Waterloo-Laurier Graduate Program in Geography.
The decisions available to the examining committee are the same as those for the PhD dissertation defence.
MA Research Paper Option
Requires the successful completion of eight units* of credit composed as follows:
- Two research seminars (two units); selected from GG600: Foundations Spatial Data Handling, GG620: Foundations in Human Geography, GG640: Foundations in Environmental Science, GG660: Foundations in Resource and Environmental Management;
- GG700: Professional Skills Development for Masters Students (one unit);
- Three electives (three units); and
- GG698: Master's Research Paper (two units).
Each Research Paper MA student will have a supervisor and a reader. The student will develop a research paper proposal for approval by her/his supervisor prior to the end of the first term. A copy of the approved research paper proposal will be kept in the student's file. The research paper will normally be completed in the spring (third) term. The paper should be approximately 8,000-12,000 words and be organized into clearly defined sections on problem statement, status of research, research procedure, findings, and conclusions. The student and supervisor together must agree on the organization of the paper into discrete chapters and on the necessity or suitability of maps, statistics or appendices.
Research papers can take a variety of forms such as a journal article format or a standard research paper. In principle, the research paper shall be of such quality that it is publishable in a refereed review journal relevant to the discipline in question.
The research paper will be read and graded by the student's committee.
For full-time students the research paper option must be completed in three terms. For part-time students the coursework option must be completed in six terms.
Environmental Data Analytics (EDA) Field
The EDA field is under the existing Major Research Paper stream. The degree will involve two semesters of courses (six units) and one applied research placement term in the summer (two units). The new field meets labour market demands for trained geospatial and data handling related to environmental change and related management, regulatory, planning and policy decision making. The degree focusses on environmental analytics knowledge generation and dissemination applied to private, public and non-profit sectors.The EDA requires the successful completion of eight units of credit and is composed as follows:
- GG500: EDA Spatial Knowledge Creation (one unit);
- GG501: EDA Spatial Knowledge Mobilization (one unit);
- GG600: Foundations in Spatial Data handling (one unit);
- GG618: Spatial Analysis (one unit);
- GG606: Scientific Data Wrangling (one unit);
- MOMA612: Legal and Ethical Issues in Data Analytics (one unit); and
- GG502: A three-month work placement/research internship that will be a pass/fail including a required deliverable and a workplace report approved by the course coordinator (two units).
___________________________
*a unit of credit is the equivalent of a half-credit course.
Program Requirements
Three types of master's programs are offered: MES students are admitted to either the thesis, research paper or one-year (3 semesters) Environmental Data Analytics (EDA) field option If a student wishes to switch from thesis to the research paper option, or vice versa, the change must receive approval by the Waterloo-Laurier Graduate Program in Geography executive committee by the end of the first term after initial registration. Programs are available on either a full-time or a part-time basis. MES students are required to select a portion of their credits from a specified set of courses identified as MES eligible in the course description section.MES Thesis Option
Requires the successful completion of eight units of credit* comprised as follows:- Research seminar (one unit); selected from: GG600: Foundations in Spatial Data Handling, GG620: Foundations in Human Geography, GG640: Foundations in Environmental Science, GG660: Foundations in Resource and Environmental Management; for the MES degree this must be selected from research seminars identified as MES eligible in the course descriptions;
- GG700: Professional Skills Development for Masters Students (one unit);
- Two electives (two units); for the MES degree, a minimum of two geography courses must be selected from those courses identified as MES eligible in the course descriptions; and
- GG699: Master's Thesis (four units).
The program director approves a thesis advisory committee for each candidate, consisting of a supervisor and one additional member. The candidate must prepare a thesis proposal to be approved in writing by the thesis advisory committee no later than the end of the second term of registration. The thesis must be defended successfully before a thesis examination committee composed of a non-voting chairperson (who may be the supervisor) appointed by the program director, the thesis advisory committee, and one reader who may be from outside the discipline, outside Laurier or University of Waterloo or both, and who is knowledgeable in the area of the thesis topic. At least two members of the thesis examination committee must be members of the Waterloo-Laurier Graduate Program in Geography.
The decisions available to the examining committee are the same as those for the PhD dissertation defence.
MES Research Paper Option
Requires the successful completion of eight units of credit* composed as follows:- Research seminar (two units); selected from: GG600: Foundations in Spatial Data Handling, GG620: Foundations in Human Geography, GG640: Foundations in Environmental Science, GG660: Foundations in Resource and Environmental Management; for the MES degree this must be selected from research seminars identified as MES eligible in the course descriptions;
- GG700 Professional Skills Development for Masters Students (one unit);
- Three electives (three units); for the MES degree, a minimum of two geography courses must be selected from those courses identified as MES eligible in the course descriptions; and
- GG698: Master's Research Paper (two units).
Each Research Paper MES student will have a supervisor and a reader. The student will develop a research paper proposal for approval by her/his supervisor prior to the end of the first term. A copy of the approved research paper proposal will be kept in the student's file. The research paper will normally be completed in the spring (third) term. The paper should be approximately 8,000-12,000 words and be organized into
clearly defined sections on problem statement, status of research, research procedure, findings, and conclusions. The student and supervisor together must agree on the organization of the paper into discrete chapters and on the necessity or suitability of maps, statistics or appendices.
Research papers can take a variety of forms such as a journal article format or a standard research paper. In principle, the research paper shall be of such quality that it is publishable in a refereed review journal relevant to the discipline in question.
The research paper will be read and graded by the student's committee.
For full-time students the research paper option must be completed in three terms. For part-time students the coursework option must be completed in six terms.
Environmental Data Analytics (EDA) Field
The EDA field is under the existing Major Research Paper stream. The degree will involve two semesters of courses (six units) and one applied research placement term in the summer (two units). The new field meets labour market demands for trained geospatial and data handling related to environmental change and related management, regulatory, planning and policy decision making. The degree focusses on environmental analytics knowledge generation and dissemination applied to private, public and non-profit sectors.The EDA requires the successful completion of eight units of credit* and is composed as follows:
- GG500: EDA Spatial Knowledge Creation (1 unit);
- GG501: EDA Spatial Knowledge Mobilization (1 unit);
- GG600: Foundations in Spatial Data handling (1 unit);
- GG618: Spatial Analysis (1 unit);
- GG606: Scientific Data Wrangling (1 unit);
- MOMA612: Legal and Ethical Issues in Data Analytics (1 unit); and
- GG502: A three-month work placement/research internship that will be a pass/fail including a required deliverable and a workplace report approved by the course coordinator (two units).
_______________________________________
*a unit of credit is the equivalent of a half-credit course
Program Requirements
The MSc program is offered only via a thesis option. There are two fields for this degree: environmental science and geomatics. Students would normally focus on one, but can take courses in both fields. Normally, the formal requirements of the MSc program are to be completed in two years.Students must:
- Complete a program-wide seminar course;
- Complete four one-term credit courses;
- Complete an approved thesis proposal; and
- Write and defend a master's thesis.
The MSc degree is distinguished from the MES and MA degrees by the concentration of the course requirements in science-oriented courses. These science-oriented courses are typically based in natural science and quantitative methods and usually have a major lab or field component.
The MSc requires successful completion of eight units of credit, (one unit = 0.5 credit course), as follows:
MSc Thesis Option
Requires the successful completion of eight units of credit comprised as follows:- Research seminar (one unit); selected from: GG600: Foundations in Spatial Data Handling, or GG640: Foundations in Environmental Science;
- GG700: Professional Skills Development for Masters Students (one unit);
- Two electives (two units): two courses selected from among environmental science, geomatics, or other science courses relevant to the program of study; and
- GG699: Master's Thesis (four units).
The program director approves a thesis advisory committee for each candidate, consisting of a supervisor and one additional member. The candidate must prepare a thesis proposal to be approved in writing by the thesis advisory committee no later than the end of the second term of registration. The thesis must be defended successfully before a thesis examination committee composed of a non-voting chairperson, the thesis advisory committee, and one reader who may be from outside the discipline, outside Laurier or University of Waterloo or both, and who are knowledgeable in the area of the thesis topic. At least two members of the thesis examination committee must be members of the Waterloo-Laurier Graduate Program in Geography.
The decisions available to the examining committee are the same as those for the PhD dissertation defence.
Program Requirements
To meet the program requirements, students must satisfactorily complete the required coursework, the comprehensive examination and must successfully defend the dissertation.
Course Work
The course load at the doctoral level is normally one research seminar (selected from GG600: Seminar in Spatial Data Handling, GG620: Seminar in Human Geography, GG640: Seminar in Physical Geography, GG660: Perspectives in Resource and Environmental Management). Additional course work may be assigned subject to the needs of individual candidates. To continue in the program, students will be required to attain a minimum grade of B+ in each course.
GG691: Graduate Student and Faculty Seminar in Geography is required of all students. While in residence, all doctoral candidates must participate in GG691.
Comprehensive Examination
GG891: PhD Comprehensive Examination focuses on the student's field of specialization and includes both a written and an oral component. The comprehensive examining committee includes the student's advisor and three other members, one of whom will be from outside of the program. At least two members of the comprehensive examining committee must be members of the Waterloo-Laurier Graduate Program in Geography. A chair of the comprehensive examination is appointed by the graduate dean or designate (University of Waterloo) or the departmental graduate coordinator (Laurier).
The examination will normally be completed by the end of the fourth term of registration in the doctoral program. (This requirement assumes continuous registration once admitted into the program.)
A candidate has only two opportunities to complete the Comprehensive Examination successfully. Any appeal by the student concerning a negative evaluation should be made to the appropriate appeals committee of the university in which the student is registered.
Decisions in the Comprehensive Examination
Passed: the student successfully completed all requirements of the examination.
Passed conditionally: the student will be considered to have completed the exam successfully upon having satisfied conditions established by the examining committee. The conditions shall:
- be communicated to the student in writing;
- contain the date by which the conditions must be satisfied;
- identify the member(s) of the Examination Committee responsible for determining that the conditions have been met. Normally, this determination will be made by at least one member of the committee other than the student's supervisor or co-supervisors.
Failure to satisfy the conditions within the designated time limit shall result in an outcome of Re-examination.
Re-examination: The student will be required to repeat the exam. In this case, the student shall be provided written communication that identifies the deficiencies in the exam that led to this outcome and the deadline by which the re-examination must take place. In the case of re-examination it is anticipated that the committee membership will be the same as the initial committee. Any changes in membership must adhere to committee guidelines and be approved by the Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, or designate.
When a student is re-examined, the outcomes are limited to:
Passed
Exam Unsuccessful: the student will be deemed to have failed to satisfy the program's comprehensive exam requirement. In this case, the student shall receive written communication identifying the deficiencies in the exam that led to this outcome.
A student who is deemed to have failed to satisfy the comprehensive exam requirement (Exam Unsuccessful) may not continue in the current PhD program. The student's status will change to Required to Withdraw in the term immediately following the term in which the examination took place.
PhD Dissertation Requirements
The regulations and procedures at the university in which the student is registered will govern both the dissertation (GG899: Doctoral Thesis) and the examination formats.
Residence Requirements
- Normal: six terms from master's degree, nine terms from honours bachelor's degree.
- Minimum: four terms from master's degree, six terms from honours bachelor's degree.