Assessment 2
Literature-Based Report
Date Due: Week 6, by 12 Noon Sunday, 8th Apr 2018
Marks: 40 %
Objectives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
No. of Students: Professional Stream: Teams of 3
Research Stream: Individual
Length: 2,500-3,000 words (not including ToC and Reference List)
Format: 12 point Times New Roman font, single spaced, single sided
Submission: A hard-copy or a soft copy to the tutor and an identical soft-copy to the specific UTSOnline Turnitin assignment folder.
Return: From tutor in Week 7
Aim: This assignment provides students with the opportunity to locate existing information on the topic and begin writing about it in an organized and logical way. The assignment will provide Professional Stream students with the necessary background for Assessment 4 Project Proposal, and will give Research Stream students valuable feedback to prepare them for their full Literature Review in Assessment 4.
The assignment will be in the form of a report which synthesizes information from a minimum of 10
high quality texts that you have read. Professional Stream students should select these from both
industry and academic sources, while Research Stream students must search a minimum of 3 academic journal databases for journal articles and conference papers, although academic books and book chapters are also welcome. The assignment tests your ability to evaluate the quality of the articles and their suitability for the context in which you are researching (the IT industry for Professional Stream students, the academic context for Research Stream students). You will demonstrate your writing skills (paraphrasing, synthesis, the logical organization of ideas, critical analysis, proofreading and editing) using your own words as far as possible, and correctly citing all work drawn from other writers, whether paraphrased or quoted directly. Additionally, you will need to show your ability to create a reference list and your mastery of in-text citation. Research Stream students must create their reference list using bibliographic software such as EndNote (optional for Professional Stream students).
The Report should consist of the following sections:
1) Title Page, Table of Contents (and a List of Figures and Tables, if relevant) and Introduction to the topic, each beginning on a separate page.
2) Critical Evaluation of the Sources: take 2 of your articles and evaluate their suitability for your research according to commonly accepted criteria, e.g., relevance, reliability, accuracy, lack of bias, timeliness and completeness.
3) Literature Review: present your viewpoint on the topic with support from the literature. This section should be organized into sub-sections with appropriate headings and demonstrate a logical progression of ideas in terms of its structure and the links between subsections.
4) Conclusion should sum up your key findings from the literature and describe the implications of these findings for your future research.
5) Reference List should include all articles and other sources referred to in the report. Research Stream students should generate this using EndNote or similar software.
6) Appendix will include a printout of the first screen of the search results from 3 sources that you used in finding references for your research. The 3 printouts should each include at least one of the articles that appear in your Reference List.
• For Professional Stream students, at least 1 of the printouts should be from an industry source (e.g., reports from government, NGOs, industry, or market research companies; ICT industry or business magazines and journals; white papers); and at least 1 from the academic journal databases accessible from the UTS Library website.
• For Research Stream students, the printouts must all come from 3 academic journal databases accessible from the UTS Library website.
Assessment 2: Marking Criteria
Organization and Presentation (3 marks)
• Self-explanatory title
• Table of Contents
• Logical organization following a report structure, including appropriate use of sections and headings/subheadings
• Correct grammar, spelling and English expression
Content (32 marks)
• Introduction that sets up the field, states the student’s point of view and introduces the report (2 marks)
• Ability to critically evaluate whether 2 articles are appropriate for the students’ research, applying evaluation criteria (3 marks)
• A Literature Review which demonstrates (19 marks):
o Coherent syntheses of existing literature o Ability to critically analyze the literature o Logical progression of ideas from one section to another and within each section, including good paragraphing o Ability to paraphrase and avoid an overdependence on direct quotation
• A well-written Conclusion (2 marks)
• Ability to make a convincing argument, fully justified, through the Introduction, Literature Review and Conclusion (3 marks)
• Ability to search 3 sources appropriate to the student’s stream to locate relevant, high quality articles (3 marks)
Referencing (5marks)
• Correct in-text citations in UTS Harvard style
• Reference List in correct UTS Harvard style (for Research Stream students, created using bibliographic software).