Information and Communication Technology Policy and Strategy

Here is an outline of the structure, sections, and expectations of the essay (please note that the headings are functional descriptors rather -- actual headings can and should be contextual to your essay -- e.g. the Introduction might be titled ‘The History and Current Context of the Virtual Community Social Development.’

1. Introduction Establishes a context for your essay. An introduction answers the questions:

--Why is it interesting/useful/important to consider the topic of the essay?

--What should the reader know in order to put the topic into a larger context?

--What is the aim of this essay (in general terms)? -- e.g. to assess competing views about the importance of factors that might contribute to the success of virtual communities

2. Literature Considers what other people have thought and how to think about the topic in a way that leads to (a) research question(s). The literature section answers the questions:

--What are some of the issues have been identified as relevant to the topic being considered?

--What issues are contested (authors have different or contradicting views)? What specific research questions will this essay address? (Recall: A research question is a question with two or more answers for which evidence and logic can be used to reach a conclusion as to which of the answers is better.)

3. Method and Findings -- Most commonly a research essay will use evidence drawn from existing literature and hence does not involve a specific method. The logic of some essays requires consideration of how to answer the research question in which case some comments on method are appropriate. Findings are the result of examining the possible answers to the research question -- interrogating these answers for their quality, robustness, generality and credibility. For the topics assigned an important source of evidence is examples drawn from actual Internet services of other observable evidence in addition to evidence from scholarly and business literature. This section answers the following questions:

--What evidence supports each of the answers?

-- What is the quality, robustness, generality and credibility (not necessarily all need to be considered) of this evidence?

4. Conclusion -- The conclusion of your essay summarises the findings and reaches a conclusion about which of the answers to your research questions are best supported by evidence and logic. The conclusion is also a place to examine what additional evidence might be gathered to strengthen or contradict the conclusion that you have reached and to discuss what possible limitations or qualifications to your conclusion are appropriate (e.g. your conclusion may be formed from a limited number of cases and a more complete consideration of the range of actual experience might lead to a modification of the conclusion).

The learning criterion for the essay is a demonstrated understanding of the relation between social and technical issues in the use of ICT (which can draw on one or several parts of the course).

In a separate file I have posted the framework that we use in assessing work which provides an outline of the elements considered and the criteria for each level of mark.