Between weeks 1 and 4, a series of audio interviews with creative industry practitioners will be available on the unit's iLearn page. These practitioners represent a range of creative industry sectors, experience and areas of expertise. You'll be able to access the interviews each week as they are posted. Choosing a minimum of three of these interviews, you'll write a 750 word reflection based on the following question: "Of the various people that've been interviewed, which 3 have you found the most engaging, interesting and/or helpful in terms of your aims or aspirations after graduation?"

The essay is due 11.59pm, Friday, September 8, 2017.

Marking Criteria

• Pertinence: a clearly articulated link between the industry/profession of the speakers and the student's career planning
• Content: key insights and/or anecdotes are linked to post-graduation goals
• Presentation: the writing is clear, succinct and grammatically correct
• Quality: overall standard of academic writing and referencing

MAS316 is conducted in intensive mode with five 2-hour seminars scheduled through the semester in weeks 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9 in C5C 209 [check Timetables for times]. You are required to attend each of the five seminars in person.

You will also be scheduled to make a 12-15 minute research presentation in one of those seminars. Your presentation time and date will be posted on the unit's iLearn page.

The presentation will answer the following question: What are the difficulties and opportunities of developing a career in your chosen field over the coming years with reference to developments in the sector over the last decade? 

Your presentation will offer a critical analysis of the sector of your choosing by citing academic and non academic studies and reports, media coverage and commentary on developments in that sector, and you will discuss how those developments shape and effect that sector today.

For example:

• If you intend to become a journalist, you could discuss developments in news publishing such as the downsizing of staff by major news outlets, the parallel need for journalists to become multi-skilled in their abilities to produce various kinds of media content, while also nominating a potential area of growth in new media journalism in the coming years.
• If you are intending to work in the film and TV industry you might discuss the growth in micro budget film production and potential venues for independent online and offline distribution.
• If you are thinking of becoming a professional musician or music producer, you might discuss the impact of reduced royalties with the advent and expansion of online streaming music services such as Spotify and what this means for a new artist launching a career in the next few years. 
• If you are interested in a career in marketing or PR, you might discuss the impact of online rich media and how web analytics have expanded markets while focusing promotional and marketing from groups to individuals.

In essence this research presentation assessment is asking you to think of the career you want to pursue and the impacts past changes are having on that industry, while thinking about how new technologies, ways of working and thinking are sharing future opportunities.

The above are only examples — you need to think about your career plans and the industry you will enter.

You'll need to do research to make a cogent and convincing argument. The first place to start is the library — search for industry journals and other related publications by the topic you have chosen [e.g. 'songwriter royalties', 'rich media marketing', 'independent film distribution' etc]. Then widen the search by searching in relevant news media [eg. e.g. business news etc]. It also important to base your presentation in relevant academic texts [journal articles, book chapters, etc]. These will give you a good grounding in the debates on the industry.

• Your presentation will be accompanied by visuals in a PowerPoint [or similar] presentation. (Seminar rooms are equipped with a computer and data projector. If you wish to present from a laptop, it is up to you to organise VGA output/appropriate adaptors to connect to the data projector).
• You will provide your tutor a paper copy of your presentation (including references) along with your name and student number.

Definitions: by sector we're referring to any identifiable sub sector of the creative industries such as design, music performance or production, acting, dance, public relations, visual art, writing and journalism, publishing etc

By critical analysis we mean the ability to synthesise research materials from across your course research and practice, a comparative analysis of research, and the ability to understand the field with both theoretical and practical frames of reference. 

Marking Criteria 

• Pertinence: a clearly articulated link between the industry/sector and research presented in the presentation
• Content: key insights linked to post-graduation goals and conception of opportunities and difficulties
• Presentation skills: the presentation is clear, well articulated and structured
• Depth of research: the presentation demonstrates a depth of research

Looking back over the work you have produced for various units in the course, you will reassess the best of this work and present it within a critically discursive framework in a portfolio form of your choice. You will discuss the key outcomes from your participation in the course with reference to five pieces that you have produced and these can include any combination of text, image, sound and moving image.

The form of the portfolio can be:

• Presentation to camera: a to-camera spoken word recitation/performance recorded and edited on video - 10 mins max
• Presentation and production: a mixture of to-camera spoken word presentation and media production [such as excerpts of music, additional footage, movie clips etc] recorded and edited on video - 10 mins max
• Text and media: a text and image document in PDF format with embedded media files and/or links to YouTube or Vimeo clips - 5 x 500 word reflections on the works presented plus a 200 word introduction [2,700 words total], plus images/media
• Text only: 5 x 500 word reflections on the works presented plus a 200 word introduction [2,700 words total]

The portfolio is due 5pm, Friday, November 3, 2017 and should be submitted via an assignment submission link on the unit's iLearn page.

Marking Criteria 

• Pertinence: a clearly articulated link between the work presented in the portfolio and your critical framework/understanding of that work
• Content: key insights linked to post-graduation goals, the development of the work presented over the duration of the course and its future potential
• Presentation: the form chosen for the portfolio enhances an understanding of the work presented; the portfolio is technically proficient, conforms to the guidelines above
• Quality: overall standard of academic writing and referencing