ACX701. Assessment 2 Autoethnographic writing
Assessment instructions and advice
Weighting: 25%
Word count 2.500 words
Due date. Week 7. 5pm Friday 31 August. 2018
Output
This task requires you to produce a 2.500 word piece of autoethnographic writing focused on your own media-related experience. This task is worth 25 marks. Further advice for completing this assessment task is highlighted under the below headings.
Focusing your written piece
There are countless ways you could develop an autoethnographic narrative based on your own experiences of media The first important point to emphasise is that you cannot cover all of your media-related experiences. so please don't try! To highlight a few possibilities. you could describe and analyse the ways in which you use your smartphone or a particular app on a daily basis. a recent game you've played with a group of people. an online community you've had substantial interactions with. a specific media text you have consumed and/or interacted with recently. and soon. As in the last assessment task its not as crucial what you focus on as what you do with it - but if you're unsure about the approach you are taking. you should feel free to check your ideas with your tutor.
Writing your autoethnographic piece
This task builds on the knowledge you have been developing in previous weeks. so be sure to keep in mind the readings, academic skills and practical tasks you have engaged with when preparing this assignment In describing and analysing your chosen media-related experience, be sure to explicitly consider the ways in which you are interpreting your experiences in a questioning. self-reflexive manner.
Using source material in your written piece
You must use your textbook and a minimum of two further scholarly sources to inform your writing. Highlighting. explaining and applying communication concepts will enable you to produce a more complex and persuasive narrative. Keep in mind previous advice about quoting and paraphrasing when engaging with theoretical ideas. As always. be sure to reference fully when drawing on source material in your own work.
Sr Assessment criteria
The following assessment criteria will be used to assess your performance in the task in the form of a marking rubric. Reading through the criteria now will provide a useful guide of what your marker will be looking for.
1. Ability to systematically describe and analyse a personal media-related experience
2 Ability to write in a dear. structured and persuasive manner
3 Ability to identify. understand and apply relevant communication concepts
4 Ability to draw on scholarly source material in appropriate ways
5 Ability to reference source material completely. accurately and consistently
Some tips for writing up your autoethnography
Prepared by Alexia Maddox for the unit team
If you think about your autoethnographic essay in three main sections and relate this to the word count for the essay this will be helpfuL Please note that what follows is only one way that you can structure your work. You can actually write it in many different ways so it's ok if what you are doing is different. as long as it has all of the elements discussed present
However your primary agenda for an auto ethnography is that you have a point to make.
So the first question is: what point do you wish to make with your example? In your writing you need to be clear about why somebody would want to read this piece. In other words. you need to clearly identify your intention for this piece.
One way to bring the reader into your work is to start with a writerty hook It's ok to do some signposting about what you are going to discuss in this essay and perhaps what theories or concepts you will draw on up front. but don't go overboard on this.
You will write around 2.500 words (which includes your reference list). so you can think about dividing this up into three sections. and leaving some word count for transitions and your reference list. As a basic approach. I've divided the following sections up into 700 words each.
Section 1: Autoethnographic description
Your first section will be your description of your media related experience - this will be where you discuss one example of your online shopping practice and document what you did and how you went about it. This is about providing a sense of setting/space or context to your description.
To provide a specific example. consider when you bought a jacket online. Did you find the jacket through an ad and then looked around online to find it for the cheapest price and then bought it? Initially was this a very visual practice that then turned into a search practice? As you are aware. this is very different from buying a jacket in a
physical retail store. So all of these attributes will I ieed to brought out in your description of the event and compared with your usual shopping practices. It will also be interesting to find out whether this was an impulse purchase or a planned purchase for you.
Word count Allocate around 700 words to this initially.
Section 2: Theory and evidence engagement
Your next section is likely to draw out the themes from your first section and use these themes to engage with the scholarly Literature. What is being said in the peer reviewed journal articles I shared with you about online shopping practices and how these compare to traditional place-based retail practices. What does the literature say about the Link between visual advertising and how algorithms are used to identify your usual patterns and topics online and match products and ads to you. What does the literature say about impulse shopping online. What does the literature say about the target market and audiences/consumers in this environment?
Word count. Allocate around 700 words to this initially.
Section 3: Reflection on theory and the self.
Questions that would be interesting to me to read from you are:
t What is your reaction to the theory and evidence?
2. How do you relate this to yourself and your online shopping behaviours?
3. Do you feel empowered by this process or manipulated?
4. Do you think there could be future trends that more fully meet your needs as a consumer?
Word count: Allocate around 700 words to this initially.