ACST834 in 2019
General information on Reports
We will post one set of report questions each week, from week 1 to week 12. You must complete at least 5such tasks during the term (each worth 8%), but you can choose which topics you want to do. This will allow you to choose the topics which are most interesting and/or relevant to you.
Due dates for each report are in the unit guide. Please submit before 5pm.
Report 1 – March 25
Report 2 – April 20
Report 3 and 4 – May 17
Report 5 – June1
Submission Instructions
The short reports must be submitted electronically via iLearn, in the Dropbox.
PLEASE make sure you put your name and student id on each page of the document you hand in. This will prevent mistakes which might lead to some other student getting credit for your excellent work.
The report should be in PDF format. We would like you to name your document to show your name and student id, For example, if you are submitting Report 1, and your information is as follows:
User ID (ie your student #): 87651234
Last name: Doe
First Name: Chris
Assessment Task: Report1
…then your document should be called 87651234DoeChrisReport1.pdf
Marking Criteria
Completion of these reports’ tasks should help you to:
- Learn about the subject matter
- Analyse a real-life problem and think about how to manage it better
- Develop research skills
- Develop written communication skills
The maximum word length is 1000 words, plus references.
Marking Guide
Since the reports cover a wide range of subjects, the marking guide is fairly broadly defined.
Your report will be assessed on (a) your demonstrated understanding of the issues and (b) your ability to critically evaluate the evidence and arguments for and against the proposed solutions to each problem and (c) your ability to communicate clearly.
| Research | Does the student show a good understanding of the pertinent facts of this situation? In some cases, this may require some additional reading (on top of recommended sources) | 4 marks |
| Critical Thinking | Does the report show that the student has thought critically about the problem under consideration? If the reports deals with a controversial issue, has the student read the views of people on both sides of the argument? If regulation is under consideration, has the student outlined both the pros and cons of the proposal? Has the student critically evaluated the evidence and arguments offered by others? Has the information been linked back to the course material (set in a wider context?) | 2 marks |
| Presentation | Is the information presented clearly? Does the report have headings and diagrams or graphs (where appropriate)? Does the report have a logical structure? Is the report presented in the student’s own words, or is there an excessive reliance on cutting and pasting? Has the student provided references for all sources of information? | 2 marks |
| Total | 8 marks |
Cut-and-Paste
Note that if you simply copy sections from any source (i.e. cut-and-paste), you have not demonstrated much understanding – it simply demonstrates your ability to cut and paste (which is a useful skill but not what we are looking for here!). So please express the ideas in your own words. You will not get good marks for cutting and pasting.
Of course you may include some quotes from different sources, e.g. where one of your sources has a particularly good explanation of some point – but not too many. And quotations should always be “in quote marks”.
Turnitin
Your reports will be submitted to Turnitin, which will check for plagiarism. Please make sure your Turnitin score is low (below 20).
Referencing
You should ALWAYS give your references – the Uni has an academic honesty policy which requires this. If you do not cite your references, then you may face disciplinary action and you will lose marks.
There are several different referencing styles. You may use Harvard Referencing – a guide is available at http://www.citethisforme.com/harvard-referencing. If you wish to use a different form of referencing, that’s fine, as long as you provide all the same information specified in the Harvard Referencing System. (Most referencing systems provide the same information, but it is just presented in a different order and format).
Wikipedia
Wikipedia often has good summaries of the facts, and may also give you some references for further reading. So it is not a bad starting point. However if you simply summarise a Wikipedia article you are unlikely to get good marks. You are likely to get higher marks for your reports if you do some additional reading and thinking.
You should be aware that sometimes Wikipedia may NOT always be reliable. This is especially likely to be a risk in controversial cases and/or where the people involved in the case try to change the Wikipedia entries to make themselves look better (I’ll point out some examples of this during the term). So it is a good idea to check other independent sources.