Assessment Brief
Program Bachelor of Applied Social Science
Subject Understanding Societies: An Introduction to Social Analysis
Subject code SOC202A
Name of assessment Assessment 2: Essay
Length 1500 words
Learning outcomes addressed by this assessment This assessment addresses the following subject learning outcomes:
A, C, D, E.
Submission Date: Weeks 6
Lecturer Name Sadia Niyakan-Safy
Assessment brief Summary: Students are required to discuss the importance of social research and how social research produces knowledge, citing examples to support their discussion.
Total marks 100
Weighting 30%
Students must attempt all tasks in the unit to be eligible to pass the unit.
BASS –SOC102A, Assessment Brief 1 Page 1
Assessment Description:
Define -social research- and explain why it is so important.
Using ONE social issue (family life, drugs, equality/inequality, social class, same-sex marriage, mandatory detention of asylum seekers etc) as the basis for your discussion, explain how social research has contributed to knowledge of this issue. The paper should use well-explained examples of contemporary research, showing how the research contributed to new or revised knowledge of this social issue, and how that research may have influenced changes in policy or practices in the wider society.
Marking criteria:
Max. in category Your points
Word count, readability and structure 10
In-text references and reference list; accuracy and use of correct referencing style 10
Clear identification and discussion of a current social issue 10
Use of theory or theoretical concepts 30
Empirical discussion of social research and its contributions to society 40
Total marks: 100
Percentage: /30%
Comments:
Further information:
Papers should be written in Times New Roman, font size 12. Papers should be double-spaced.
All papers that are late without an approved extension will be penalized at 10% per day of the total possible marks for that assessment.
Marks will be deducted for failure to adhere to the word count – as a general rule you may go over or under by 10% of the stated length.
Students must attempt all tasks in the unit to be eligible to pass the unit.
The assessment MUST be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word format. Other formats may not be readable by markers. Please be aware that any assessments submitted in other formats will be considered LATE and will lose marks until it is presented in Word.
Notes for Essays:
This essay will incorporate a formal introduction, main points/sections and conclusion; the main points can be distinguished by sub-headings. The work must be fully referenced with in-text citations and a reference list at the end. We recommend you work with the APA 6th Edition to ensure that you reference correctly.
We recommend a minimum of ten references, unless instructed differently by your lecturer/tutor. Unless specifically instructed otherwise by your lecturer, any paper with less than ten references may be failed. Essays which include sources that are not properly referenced according to the APA 6th Edition Referencing Guide will not meet a level 200 requirement and will be penalized.
References are assessed for their quality. You should draw on quality academic sources, such as books, chapters from edited books, journals etc. Your textbook can be used as a reference, but not the Study Guide and lecturer notes. We want to see evidence that you are capable of conducting your own research.
Before submitting your assignment, please review this video by clicking on the following link, on why sources of information need to be acknowledged: Plagiarism Man (thanks to Swinburne for this video).
You must search for peer-reviewed journal articles, which you can find in the online journal databases and which can be accessed from the library homepage. Wikipedia, online dictionaries and online encyclopedias are acceptable as a starting point to gain knowledge about a topic, but should not be overused – these should constitute no more than 10% of your total list of references/sources. Additional information and literature can be used where these are produced by legitimate sources, such as government departments, research institutes such as the NHMRC, or international organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO). Legitimate organisations and government departments produce peer reviewed reports and articles and are therefore very useful and mostly very current. The content of the following link explains why it is not acceptable to use non-peer reviewed websites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqjJyqfceLw (thanks to La Trobe University for this video).
Marks will be deducted for failure to adhere to the word count – as a general rule you may go over or under by 10% of the stated length.
BASS –SOC102A, Assessment Brief 1 Page 3
Plagiarism Statement
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