CJR310 International Journalism
ASSESSMENT ITEM 2: RESEARCH ESSAY
You will submit a 2000 word fully-referenced critical essay which will DISCUSS ONE of the following:
a) Journalism is an expression of the culture in which it resides.
b) The decline of the foreign correspondent.
c) Does the West continue to dominate global news flow?
d) Asian values in journalism and its impact across the Asia-Pacific region.
e) The challenges for African journalism in the 21st century.
f) Compare and contrast development journalism in Asia and Africa.
g) The Pacific journalist – tradition versus freedom of expression.
h) The challenges for investigative journalism in Eastern Europe.
i) The clash of civilisation and its influence on US journalism.
j) The framing of Africa by western journalists.
k) Freedom of expression vs democracy in Latin America.
l) The decline of US newspapers and what it means for democracy.
m) Is peace journalism possible?
n) OR a statement you design based on your studies which has received prior approval from your tutor at least TWO weeks before due date.
Your assignment will be assessed according to the criteria sheet at the end of the Subject Outline. You are encouraged to self-assess your work by submitting a copy of this assessment criteria sheet with your assignment.
Length: 2000 words
Assessment - expectations and advice
As a journalism course, deadlines are absolute. There will be no extensions without reasonable excuse. And the only one I will accept is a doctor’s certificate.
1. I’ll expect good writing – concise, clear, well argued. By well argued, I mean you’ll support what you say by reference to your readings and I do expect you to go beyond your course readings and do additional research. With research, I’d like to see not just depend on web-based materials, I’d also like you to go to the library and refer to books, journals, and articles.
2. In terms of argument – what I mean is - like a court – you’ll need evidence to support your case – that evidence will have to hold up to scrutiny. It has to be solid. Don’t just make a unsubstantiated statement – I’ll see that as opinion and mark it accordingly – you’ll need to substantiate what you say. You do that by referring to your research and explaining, in your words and with the use of tactical quotes, how what the writer says supports your premise (I’ll come to that in a moment).
3. With your research, a good idea, right from the start is to focus it. And a good way to give direction to your research is look carefully at the assignment topic – ask yourself, what is it actually asking? Break it into components and look at each. Go and do your research. Spend a bit of time on your research. Don’t try and rush it. It won’t work. Really at the end of the day, I want to see an example of demonstrated learning.
4. Please use examples to illustrate your argument – they can be drawn from the readings, additional research and/or current news stories – all properly referenced.
5. I’ll also expect a well structured paper – something I can read with ease. So you need to be careful here. It gets back to good writing. So after your research, spend some time developing a structure before you start writing. Work out a schematic and use that as your model.
a. There’s a few tools you can use a mind map: http://m.wikihow.com/Make-a-Mind-Map
b. and another example: http://www-public.jcu.edu.au/learningskills/resources/lsonline/mindmapping/JCUPRD1_069917
c. A good narrative model to consider for a short assignment like yours is the 5 par essay model: http://essayinfo.com/essays/5-paragraph_essay.php
7. You’ll need to attribute your information – I want in text referencing and a bibliography. I want you to use the Griffith Referencing tool Eg - http://app.griffith.edu.au/reference_tool/index-core.php
8. Spend some time editing your work – watch out for punctuation, grammar, syntax, etc. Don’t lose marks for incorrect punctuation. I’ve seen that happen too many times.
ROUGH GUIDE TO PUNCTUATION - http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/punc.html
Editing checklist - https://student.unsw.edu.au/editing-checklist