INDIVIDUAL COMPONENT OF A2
Report on Contemporary Workplace Issues
Keep in mind this is an academic writing task and the report will analyse one or two themes from the interviews, using scholarly material.
What is the report?
Following the interviews students will submit individual written reports of 1500 words (excluding the bibliography) in which they reflect on one or two key issues raised in the Q and A and on their workplace observations. The report should have the form of an essay.
The issue/s might include, but are not limited to: secure and insecure work; formal and informal work; internships and free work; exploitation; creative careers; risk and work; gender in the workplace; career planning; technological change; etc. Whatever issue you chose, you MUST use scholarly literature to analyse it alongside what the interviewees said about the issue.
You need to tackle one or two key issues in depth, so do not pick three or four issues. How should it be structured?
Start with an opening statement about your project and the task, so that it is clear why you are discussing the issues and scholarly literature you’ve selected. You might discuss the interviews separately, or you might discuss them at the same time and structure the report around themes or ideas. Either way is fine.
The report should contain the following components (not necessarily in this order):
Introduction
A short section on the methodology, embedded in scholarly research (i.e. the semi-structured interview methodology and your observations about this)
Reflection on key issue/s from the interviews, embedded in scholarly research
Reflection on observations of the workplaces (only if directly relevant to your argument)
Conclusion
What should my discussion include?
You need to articulate WHY you have chosen a particular issue/s. You need to articulate WHY you have chosen each source and how it supports your analysis of the particular issue/s. You MUST make an argument.
What are independent research and scholarly sources?
Each report must demonstrate independent scholarly research. Independent research is research in addition to the materials provided in the subject outline. You must show that you have researched a topic and read about it, then analysed the interviews using those materials.
What are scholarly sources? What other types of sources are there?
All academic essays and report must use scholarly sources. Scholarly sources are:
Academic books
Chapters from within edited academic books
Refereed journal articles
Conference papers or working papers by academics (though these are not as of high quality as a refereed journal article)
Thesis (like a Masters by Research or PhD).
Other types of sources can be used in addition to this, but not to replace scholarly sources:
Other things written by academics: opinion pieces, newspaper articles, interviews with academics, etc.
Data: statistics produced by governments, companies, or other people or bodies. Always sure you think about the quality and reliability of data. Data from a government source would be considered high quality/reliability; a statistic from Wikipedia would be considered extremely low quality/reliability.
Other sources: magazines, newspapers, encyclopedia, website, political material, annual reports, ephemera, etc.
You must always apply the CRAP test when using any source — Currency, Relevance, Authority, Purpose:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0VF3kh1ffk
Do I include a bibliography?
Yes, you should include a correctly referenced (UTS Harvard style) list of the texts discussed. You should use in-text citation in your discussion to reference each text and any specific pages cited. The bibliography is not included in the word count, but the in-text citations are. Check the UTS Harvard instructions if you are not sure: http://www.lib.uts.edu.au/help/referencing/harvard-utsreferencing-guide
Do I reference the interviews?
Yes. The first time you mention the interview put an in text citation like (Baxter 2018), and include it in the reference list. In the reference list it should be in UTS Harvard style, similar to this: Garnaut, R. 2002, Interview with Damien Cahill , October 1. (use your name and the correct year and date for each interview obviously). You do not need to put an in text citation every time you mention the interview, only the first time and if it is otherwise unclear that you are referencing the interview.
QUESTIONS?
Do you have questions not covered in the information in this document? Let the subject coordinator Mark or your tutor know and they can add answers.