Assessment 2 - Major Essay Topics

Title:

Written Assignment: MAJOR ESSAY

Description: 

The essay is 2000 words long 

A list of essay topics from which to choose can be found at the above attached file 'Assessment 2 - Major Essay Topics'.

Format:

The essay requires students to conduct their own research and provides them with an opportunity to analyse and integrate theoretical and analytical insights into their chosen area of study.

1. The course guide and Readings Folders provide a preliminary list of readings for the essay topics. It is up to you to seek out further sources. The quality of the readings and resources you use will influence your final mark.
2. You must read and refer to a minimum of 10 sources; most should be academic sources (books, journals); use only quality and relevant URLs (i.e. NOT Wikipedia).
3. You are expected to use the Harvard referencing system to acknowledge sources referred to in your essay. The Harvard system is similar to the APA system except that you are required to provide page numbers both for direct quotes and when you paraphrase the ideas of other authors.
4. Where an essay is incorrectly or insufficiently referenced according to standard styles, penalties will be applied.
5. Ensure your essay is well written, well edited and well-presented – use 1½ -2 line spacing; ensure pages are numbered; provide a cover sheet that includes your name, the title of the essay and the word count. Ensure you have kept an electronic copy of your essay.
6. Requests for extensions need to be made before the due date. Students should use the normal online portal when applying for extensions and attach the appropriate (medical) certificate to their application. Assignments submitted without an extension after the due date will be penalized – up to 10% of the mark for each day the assignment is late (as stated by University Policy).
7. When academic dishonesty is detected academic penalties apply (see Griffith Academic Integrity Policy). A dishonest assignment includes:

• Copying or attempting to copy the work of other students;
• Submitting the work of another as your own;
• Plagiarism : that is, taking and using ideas and material of others and presenting them as your own.  This includes web sources.  

Essays are to be submitted online via SafeAssign.

Students are expected to keep a backup file of their essay, including their drafts, and keep this until a final grade for the course has been released.

Rubric: See attached rubric

Supporting files/exemplars:   See attached Exemplar Essays

Additional Info

This module will help you with your assessment and provides detail on:

• Critical thinking
• Finding the right information for your assessment
• Identifying and evaluating scholarly and peer reviewed journal articles
• Searching for relevant information using Google scholar, the library catalogue and library databases
• Structuring and writing your essay using proper paragraphing and paraphrasing techniques
• Referencing your assignment.

Adding to your Employability Skills 

Writing an essay touches on several specific transferable skills that you will require in the workplace such as:

• • • Communication Skills (by effective writing and using digital tools)
    • Problem solving skills (by choosing what is important to include in your report)
    • Ability to Work Independently
    • Ability to analyse and critically evaluate evidence

 Along with the feedback that you will receive on it, your essay can provide evidence to prospective employers of your abilities in these areas.

Critical thinking is more than criticising an argument. It’s thoughtfully reasoned consideration. Critical thinking can be defined as examining your own ideas, and those of others; assessing and synthesising these different ideas and arguments; and applying ideas in different contexts. You will need to think critically when reading, note taking, doing assignments, preparing for exams, organising your time, and attending lectures and tutorials.

Critical thinking involves seven steps. Let’s say, for example, you had to make a decision about which university to attend. You would ultimately do the following:

• Analyse and interpret the question E.g. Ask: ‘Which university should I attend?’
• Immerse yourself in the topic E.g. Seek information about different universities.
• Ask questions E.g. Ask questions about University services, programs of study, and potential career paths.
• Make links E.g. Make a link between Griffith University and its impact on a future career in education.
• Understand the different perspectives E.g. Synthesise information from a range of sources, such as University open days; guidance counsellors; current students; and professionals in the field.
• Understand the theoretical frameworks E.g. Familiarise yourself with terminology and concepts relevant to universities, such as undergrad, postgrad, entry requirements and pre-requisites.
• Develop a position and arguments to support it E.g. Make an informed decision about which university to attend. It was Griffith University, right?

The body of the assignment consists of one or more paragraphs structured to reflect your critical thinking about the question and the chosen order for presenting your argument. The order of your paragraphs can be a logical sequence, a chronological sequence, a clustering of closely related ideas, a combination of opposing ideas, or in terms of importance.

Every paragraph will have a similar structure, and functions like a ‘mini-essay’. It should have an introduction (topic sentence), a body, and a concluding sentence. Each of these has a distinct function: 

• A topic sentence (usually the first sentence of the paragraph) states the key point of the paragraph. The rest of the paragraph is organised around this point.
• The topic sentence is followed by the ‘body’ of the paragraph. This can contain explanations, evidence and examples to support the key point of the paragraph. Supporting evidence is used to justify, explain or develop your argument.
•  A concluding sentence links the main idea of the paragraph back to your argument, and therefore to the assignment topic/question.

Click on the following link to watch a video from EnglishHelp to learn more about paragraphing.

• The two short videos will walk you through the basic skills required  to write effective paragraphs, which is an important key to good essay writing.
• There is also a practice component, which allows you to start developing the skills you have gained through the videos.  

This module has provided you with details on how to:

• Critical thinking
• Finding the right information for your assessment
• Identifying and evaluating scholarly and peer reviewed journal articles
• Searching for relevant information using Google scholar, the library catalogue and library databases
• Structuring and writing your essay using proper paragraphing and paraphrasing techniques
• Referencing your assignment.