Assignment 2 – Individual research and participation
Weighting: 40% (Two (2) posts x 20 marks each)
Due: Progressively. You need to post two (2) submissions by the date/times listed below to a Discussion Forum (DF) that will be available for EACH Post.
NOTE: All times are NSW (Sydney) time
Students need to choose any 2 or more topics from Topics 1 – 6 AND choose any 2 or more topics from Topics 7 – 10:
(The point is to offer you some flexibility to work around assessments in other units & whatever other commitments you have to manage)
Post 1: Any 2 or more Topics from Topics 1 – 6: any time until noon Monday 17 August (Week 7)
Post 2: Any 2 or more Topics from Topics 7 – 10: any time until noon Monday 14 September (Week 11)
You are required to do two (2) things as an individual student for this Assignment:
1. Choose & identify a relevant article for EACH of your chosen Topics;
2. Contribute a 1000-word post to a Discussion Forum (DF) explaining the relevance to your chosen article and a personal reflection on the issue.
Make sure you PAY ATTENTION to the details below about each of these two things!
NOTE: there will also be a short recording made available in week 4 explaining this in the Assessment Tasks and Submission section and some good and poor examples are provided in the Assessment Tasks and Submission section.

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1. Choose & identify a relevant article for EACH of your chosen Topics
Ideally, throughout the session you will undertake some wider reading regarding ACC03032 (that is, read more widely than just your text). This assignment offers some incentive to do so, at least for some of the topics.
For EACH of your chosen topics, choose an article you believe is relevant to those topics. Your article needs to have been published after 1 January 2020. “Relevant” is explained in #2 below.
Once you have chosen your article you need to identify it so it is NOT chosen by another student. You will do this by RESERVING or NOMINATING it as “yours” on the relevant DF by adding the following details in the SUBJECT line of your DF post:
• Author names;
• Name of the source of your article;
• Date & issue details (as applicable).
Here are two fictional (made-up) examples:
• Smith and Jones, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Volume 24, Issue 1, 2019, pp.23-47;
• Stevens, Australian Financial Review, 2 May 2020, p.4.
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2. Contribute a 1000-word post to a Discussion Forum (DF) explaining the relevance of the article.
For each of your chosen topics contribute a post (maximum 1000 words) on the relevant Discussion Forum (DF).
There will be a separate DF for each post – NOTE: each Part of DF will become UNAVAILABLE on the due date/time specified above. If you have NOT posted by that date/time it will be too late!
Your post needs to explain how your chosen & identified article is of relevance to your chosen topics that will have been covered in ACC03032 by that time and will also include a personal reflection.
• Your explanation for relevance needs to provide examples from the article to illustrate theories and/or principles from your chosen Topics (maximum 750 words). It is important to provide evidence (facts) from the articles to support any opinion and arguments you express; perhaps facts illustrate certain terms you learn in topics; maybe you recognise that the findings are only applicable in a certain context; or the interpretation of the facts illustrate a certain theoretical lens (or approach). This DOES NOT mean summarise the article, summarise the topics or define the theories.
• Your personal reflection part for each contribution needs to explain what you found to be the aspect of your chosen topics that created the most reaction from you (biggest impact on your learning … something you realised or now feel you understand more clearly). For example, you may not have thought about the issue before; you may have observed behaviour related to the matter before and that was important to you; you may have related the issue to a current development in the world – current affairs, your employment or business, etc. This is subjective and personal reflection that will differ from student to student (maximum 250 words). This DOES NOT mean making recommendations about what you think the authors might have said/done.
• Please include a link (URL) to the article or attach a PDF copy in your post & the full reference.
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Marking criteria Assignment 2
In assessing Assignment 2, the marker will take into account your performance in the following areas:
• logical coherence of discussion (unintelligible discussion will receive no marks)
• extent of insight provided (in the personal reflection part this will be personal insight; in comment regarding the article part this will be insight into the way the article illustrates theories or principles from the relevant topics … NOT summaries of the article or topics or definitions of the theories … you only have 1000 words!)
• structure/organisation of content (you only need two sections, or they can be integrated ?)
• conciseness and clarity (1000 words is not very much and is to foster this)
• level of understanding of course concepts
• extent of evidence presented in support of your opinion (using examples from the article to illustrate Topic theories … you do not need to refer to additional articles or references).
The checklist on the next page should help … you can use it to “self-assess” your contribution before the due date (YOU can fill in the Yes/No columns if you wish but it is only for YOU, no need to submit it!) and it also offers an insight into the template you will receive in View Grades for feedback and your mark. Remember, you can edit your own contribution ANYTIME up until the due/date and time … of course, when you leave things until the last minute it will be too late!

Your article
Self-Assess 20
Did YOU … Yes No Consequences … Potential marks
Choose an article published after 1 January 2020 that has not already been reserved on the relevant Topic DF? If NOT … your post will not be marked … you can still choose other Topics (unless there are no more to choose!); the practice will have been worth your while BUT you will not earn any marks 1
Accurately indicate author(s), source, issue/date in the Subject line of your post If not, and another person has chosen that article AND cited correctly, yours will not be marked (even if there are no more to choose); if theirs is also not cited correctly, neither will be marked (even if there are no more to choose) 1
Provide a full citation (reference) to the article at the end of your post? Good … if you have done the above two correctly your mark will be accumulating! 1
Provide a working url at the end of your post (or attach a copy of the article - copyright permitted)? Good … this will allow prompt marking because I will be able to understand the context of your contribution. 1
Explain how the article illustrates (provides examples of) theories and/or principles from your chosen topics? Good … it is the understanding and application that is important. This and the next point is where you will obtain (or lose) most of your mark (providing you have done all of the above). 12
Reflect on how the article has helped your understanding of your chosen Topics? Good … it is the connections that are important. This and the previous point is where you will obtain (or lose) most of your mark (providing you have done all of the above). 4
Summarise the article? Not a strategy that will earn you marks -6 or -8
Summarise the Topic? Not a strategy that will earn you marks -6 or -8
Define the theories (from the Topic) without any examples from the article? Not a strategy that will earn you marks … these are things that will REDUCE your mark from the potential 3 + 3 above -6 or -8