UOSS Assessment Tasks

Assignment 1: Essay Plan

Percentage of Overall Mark: 5%

This assignment is designed to demonstrate that students are familiar with the organisational and structural format of a persuasive academic essay and gives them the opportunity to write about your thinking and to engage with the topic.

This assignment requires students to produce an essay plan that offers a possible answer to the UOSS 1 essay question.

Assignment 2: Essay 1

Percentage of Overall Mark: 15%

Essay Length: 1000 Words

This assignment is designed to encourage students to develop the skills they need to critically evaluate academic research, come to a scholarly decision about the issues discussed and communicate them in an acceptable academic style.

During the UOSS 1 course students will complete two essays:

• Essay 1 (Assignment No. 2) is a 1000-word essay and will focus on specific marking criteria. It is expected to be a thoughtful and complete piece of writing. Extensive constructive written feedback will be given on this paper.
• Essay 2 (Assignment No. 4) is a 1500-word essay and will represent a final, fully developed and rewritten product. It will focus on different criteria.

The essay question changes each year and is distributed as the course commences.

Assignment 3: Seminar Presentation and Discussion

Percentage of Overall Mark: 15%

The purpose of this assessment is to allow students to practise the presentation and discussion skills necessary for university study and to give them the opportunity to work collaboratively.

Each student will deliver a 5-minute individual oral presentation and co-lead a discussion and prepare an individual point-form summary of their part of the presentation (no longer than an A4 page).

Assignment 4: Essay 2

Percentage of Overall Mark: 30%

Essay Length: 1500 Words

This assignment is designed to help students demonstrate that they have further developed their writing and analytical skills.

Using the feedback from Essay 1 plus additional research, students will rewrite Essay 2 to produce a well-developed and informed academic essay. Please note the different skill areas that are being assessed in this paper.

Examination

Percent of total mark: 25%

This exam is based on demonstrating and engaging in the skills students have learned in the UOSS 1 course. The exam will include multiple choice questions, short answer questions and an essay-style question.

The exam will be held in Week 13 (Tuesday 4 June 2013, 6-8 pm).

Participation

Continuous Assessment
Percent of total mark: 10%

Assignment 1: Annotated Bibliography Plan

Percentage of Overall Mark: 10%

The foundation of any good research is an awareness of the existing information on a given topic. One source of information can be the media—for example, newspaper and magazine articles. The purpose of this assignment is to:

• encourage students to think critically about what they read in preparation for conducting research;
• introduce students to the process of accessing and critically assessing information;
• give students an opportunity to practice writing research questions.

This assignment requires students to compile an Annotated Bibliography.

Assignment 2: Critical Review

Percentage of Overall Mark: 15%

Essay Length: 1000 Words

The purpose of this assignment is to:

• introduce students to the process of accessing and critically assessing information.
• encourage students to think critically about what you read in preparation for conducting research.
• give students practice in integrating different sources of information and in writing Critical Reviews.

Assignment 3: Seminar Presentation

Percentage of Overall Mark: 10%

The purpose of this assessment is to allow students to practise the presentation skills necessary for university study and to give them the opportunity to work collaboratively.

Each student will deliver a 7-10 minute individual oral presentation and lead a discussion.

Assignment 4: Mini Research Report

Percentage of Overall Mark: 40%

Report Length: 1800 Words

This assignment is designed to demonstrate that students:

• are familiar with the organisational and structural format of a research report;
• have developed some data collection and analysis skills;
• are able to conduct observation and are able to draft a short research report.

Class participation and online activities

Continuous Assessment
Percent of total mark: 20%

The participation mark has two components:

• Class participation (10%)
• The completion of weekly online activities through Blackboard (10%)