Task Description
Assessment type: Individually written essay
Weighting:
This assessment accounts for 45% of your final grade.
Due date:
The assessment is due in Friday 7th June, 2019 Week 12 at 11:55 PM AEST. There is a late deduction of 2.25 points per day after the due date.
Length:
The essay must be between 1500-2000 words in length.
Cover sheet:
The assessment must include a cover page that contains your name, student number, resident campus, assessment title, and lecturer and/or tutor.
Format:
The essay format should be 1.5 spacing and 12 point font; Times New Roman. As this assessment is an essay you must write in fully formed paragraphs. You should not use headings or bullet points.
References:
The assessment must include 10 academic references. You must use the APA reference style.
Task:
This assessment is designed with two goals in minds. Throughout your time at CQU you will be required to write literature reviews. This assessment will help understand how to identify and interpret the different parts of this written academic communication genre. In addition, you are required to present your knowledge in an essay. As we discussed in the lecture, academic essays are a particular communication genre that is different from other written academic communication genre, such as a report. This assessment provides you with an understanding of how to write academic essays in the future.
For this essay you must choose to write about any one of the weekly articles listed on the unit Moodle page. You may not write about articles not listed on the unit Moodle site. The essay must address the following areas:
Identify and describe the topic of the research article,
Identify and describe the question(s)/problem(s)/issue(s) that the article addresses,
Discuss the significance of question(s)/problem(s)/issue(s), Describe major findings/conclusions, and
Discuss the significance of the findings for future communication research or management communication practices.
Other:
Given all students will do the same assessment, plagiarism will be monitored to ensure that your submitted work is original and not purchased or copied from other students. Where assessments are found to be similar, penalties may apply in accord with University policy.
Essay Outline: The following information is designed to help you structure your essay. This information is for instructional purposes only. When you write your essay, you will write it using fully formed paragraphs. You will not include sectional headings/numbers. The essay structure provided below is general in nature
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and could be applied to other essays that you write during your time at CQU.
The first paragraph that you write is an introductory paragraph. An introductory paragraph should follow the following format. I. Introductory paragraph:
a. Opening statement(s) that introduce the topic of the essay.
b. Statements that establish the importance or significance of the topic (Think about how the content of the essay will positively impact or influence the reader).
c. A preview of the structure of the essay
d. A thesis statement—think about the point or main argument that you wish to make.
e. A transition statement that indicates that you have finished the introductory paragraph and are about to start discussing the body of the essay.
The body of the essay contains body paragraphs. The body paragraphs are designed to advance or explain your thesis statement. You should include as many body paragraphs as logically necessary. Please remember each body paragraph should include only one topic. There are five areas that you need to cover for this essay, so it would seem logical that you would minimally include five different body paragraphs. The body paragraphs should follow the following structure.
II. Body paragraph: main point 1
a. Clearly articulated topic sentence (should support the thesis statement)
b. A statement explaining, describing, defining, illustrating or supporting (may include direct or indirect references based upon relevant and credible academic sources)
c. A statement explaining, describing, defining, illustrating or supporting (may include direct or indirect references based upon relevant and credible academic sources)
d. A statement explaining, describing, defining, illustrating or supporting (may include direct or indirect references based upon relevant and credible academic sources)
e. Transitional statement pointing the reader to the next point of discussion.
III. Body paragraph: main point 2 (see above paragraph structure)
IV. Body paragraph: main point 3
The conclusion ‘wraps up’ the essay—it reminds the audience about what they have just read. The conclusion is not complicated in structure, but it is very important because it is the last part of the essay that a reader reads. This means that this paragraph is the last opportunity to make your case for quality or cogency of your work. Generally speaking, conclusions that are illogical or partial would suggest that the preceding information is illogical or partial. The conclusion must reflect the following structure.
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V. Concluding paragraph
a. Restate your thesis
b. Summarize your main points—in doing so you should demonstrate how these points support and advance your thesis.
c. Close with a broad capstone statement that provides a call for action/recommendation/predation/evaluation). Given that this specific essay asks you to review and evaluate an academic article, it seems logical that the capstone statement for this essay would be evaluative—that is the statement makes a value judgment about the article that you have written about.
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