Scoping Your Earthscape Earthscape will welcome the contributions of your own earthscape--the life, land, and water of your region--to be added into Earthscape. Here are some suggestions as to how to proceed:   LOOK Look at your region's landscape. What is it like? What landforms and water are there? How did it get the way it is now? What plants and animals live there? What is the history of your region, both the human history and the history of the land itself? How has change affect it and what effect does the landscape have on the life of your region?   LEARN Learn about the geology and history of your region. Start out generally to get a broad picture. Then look closer and closer. Lots of free (or inexpensive) material is available from state agencies like the state geological survey. Track down local histories that have been written. Visit museums and be sure to make notes of what interesting things you find and where you found them.   CHOOSE Narrow down what you call your region--lest it grow to cover the entire Earth! Then narrow down what you are going to write about--since you will not be able to cover everything. First, an overview would be a good place to start, giving a sketch of your region's Earthscape. Then pick topics that you think are interesting--to others and especially to yourself. They need not be the most important parts of your Earthscape, but this is not a report. Learning and writing about something you find interesting is fun, and not a chore.   TELL Now write about the topics you choose. Try to tell it like a story! Make it interesting. Add things from the histories of the region. Interweave the story of your region's life, land, and water. If you have found other interesting things while you studied about your region, add those too and be sure to tell where you found things, so that others can find them. Add pictures to show your region and topic.   Notes Please tell where information used was found in references. The author's name, the name of the book, the publisher, city, and date of publication. The same for magazines and newspapers. Nothing is more frustrating than reading about something interesting and wanting to learn more and then not being able to find it. Most photographs and pictures in books are copyrighted. To use them without getting into trouble, we will need the permission of the publisher. Pictures you take yourself are no problem.   Disclaimer and Copyright