31265 – Communication for IT Professionals: Assignment Sheet
Assessment 4
Research Report
Marks: 40%
Length: 2,200 – 2,500 words
Due Date: Draft Report due in class in Week 13
Time Management Report due in Week 14 5th June 11:59pm
Final Research Report due Week 14 5th June 11:59pm
Submission: Bring Draft Report to Week 13 workshop to be marked. Submit Final Report & attached signed scanned cover sheet as PDF to ‘A4: Research Report’, submit Appendices as PDF to ‘A4: Appendices’, and submit Time Management Report as PDF to ‘A4: Time Management Report’. Join PDFs where necessary.
Objectives: Assesses objectives 1-6.
Feedback: Assignments will be returned 3 weeks after submission of all elements.
Aims: To develop your skills in researching, critiquing, synthesising and organising information into a report, and in arguing and justifying a point of view derived from your research.
Task — In this assignment, you will:
• Conduct more extensive research on the issue or topic established in Assessment Task 2. The topic may be altered with the approval of the workshop lecturer or tutor. The topic should be based on your group’s general topic area, but may be
• Select a minimum of 6 journal articles, conference papers or books relevant to the issue or topic. (Website articles or blogs do not count towards this total but may still be used).
• Identify the main points that relate to your specific topic, position and argument.
• Organise, synthesise and critique the main points to develop an argument.
• Present your argument, fully justified, in an appropriate report format.
Structure of Draft Report:
In Week 13 students will be required to bring to their workshop a hard copy of their draft report in order to obtain feedback from their lecturer or tutor and have it marked. It is expected that a draft report will be approximately 2000 words. This must include the following: the complete main points completely fleshed out in draft form, the Introduction and conclusion, the complete Reference List using Harvard Referencing. Your draft must be edited by all other group members - (use word with track changes, Adobe Reader annotation tools, pages on mac, or an equivalent editing system).
Format of Time Management Report
The time management report should be automatically created as the time management system is used over the course of the semester as per instruction in class. The time management report therefore will be a printout of the evidence of the usage of the time management system. Students may substitute the recommended time management system for their own system if they wish, but their documentation of their time management must still satisfy the assessment criteria. Note that, writing a time management report in a Word Processor cannot satisfy the assessment criteria, so submissions written in word documents will attract 0 marks for this section.
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31265 – Communication for IT Professionals: Assignment Sheet
Structure of Final Research Report
A signed and scanned cover sheet for each student must be attached. The assignment should be typed with 1.5 spacing and should follow this outline:
TITLE PAGE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Briefly summarize the contents of the report.
INTRODUCTION
Identify and define chosen issue or topic; Set parameters or scope of topic; Indicate overall findings; Establish your own focus and point of view (your position); Briefly indicate the organization of the report.
SYNTHESIS OF SELECTED TEXTS (Replace this heading with heading/s more suitable to your topic)
Synthesize the relevant information around 2-5 main points (probably 3). Organize these points into logical paragraphs that develop your ethical argument. Draw on at least 6 sources to support and justify your argument.
Incorporates 1 visual presentation you’ve created from data obtained from articles or surveys CONCLUSION
Summarize your argument and restate your position.
REFERENCE LIST
List the articles or books you cite in your report, arranged alphabetically by author’s surname using Harvard UTS Referencing style. Note - none of these references should be a single URL.
APPENDIX
A copy of either the first page, or the entirety of each article you cite (or the title and reverse title page of any book cited), highlighted to show the source.
Assessment 4 Marking Criteria (40% weighting)
TIME Evidence of advance planning and completion of tasks
MANAGEMENT Documented breakdown of assignment project into individual
DIARY (2/40) systematically categorized tasks
Evidence of planning and drafting
DRAFT (3/40 Evidence of group member editing and proof-reading marks)
Reference list in correct Harvard UTS format
Complete, succinct executive summary
Clear introduction and conclusion, content organisation supports argument
Selection of appropriate texts and evidence of wide reading
CONTENT
Awareness of ethical theories and application to ethical question (20/40 marks)
Main points formed from synthesis of evidence
Quality, elegance and relevance of data visualisation
Correct English grammar and vocabulary
Elegance of paragraph structure
STRUCTURE Cohesion of text (organization of paragraphs & sections headings, etc.)
(15/40 marks) Appropriate academic style and expression Correct Harvard UTS citation in text
Reference list in correct Harvard UTS format
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