Students are required to write a 1,000 word academic essay that responds to the following:

• “To give a text an Author is to impose a limit on that text, to furnish it with a final signified, to close the writing” (Barthes 1977, p. 147). Drawing on the unit readings, discuss Barthes’ statement. How does this statement complicate dominant conceptions of the author and the text?

Students are also required to develop academic writing skills in their essays. If you have any questions about the structure of an academic essay, please ask your tutor, raise questions on the general discussion board and use the resources available at mq.edu.au/learningskills. You should also include in-text referencing and attach a reference list at the end of their essay. For more information on referencing please follow the link to Macquarie University Library’s Referencing Guide here: http://libguides.mq.edu.au/Referencing.

Essays will be marked according to the following assessment criteria:

1. Demonstrates a clear and effective grasp of relevant key concepts, including Barthes' work
2. Demonstrates engagement with the unit readings and material
3. Develops a strong argument that is well-supported by research
4. Effective use of writing skills to present academic research, including consistent and accurate use of in-text referencing

Submission: Students will submit this task via the Turnitin link on the unit iLearn Site.

Disruptions to Studies: In this unit, extensions will only be granted in line with the university's Disruption to Studies Policy. If you experience a serious and unexpected disruption to your studies and would like to seek an extension of 1-7 days, please contact your unit convenor. If you are seeking an extension of more than 7 days, please submit a disruption to studies notification via ask.mq.edu.au. Extensions will not be granted on the grounds of work commitments. For more information about this process, please read the section below on policies and procedures.

Late Penalty: Students who submit late work without an extension  will receive a penalty of 10% per day. This penalty does not apply for cases in which an application for Disruption to Studies is made and approved.

For this assessment, students are required to select two of their own responses to the weekly activities undertaken in the discussion forms between weeks one to eight. They are required to complete a 400-500 word scholarly reflection task for each post.

In these scholarly reflections, students are required to outline the context of their post on the discussion forum, demonstrate how it enhances their understanding of the key concepts or methods explored in the unit, and discuss how their thoughts have developed since writing their post.

Students can find a template for this assessment task on the main ilearn page, underneath the link to the dialogue module and unit guide. Each post they include should be 150-300 words in length (about a paragraph). This means you may either use a full post, or an extract. The posts are not included in the word count.

This assessment task will be marked according to the following assessment criteria:

1. Well-selected sample of two of the student’s weekly responses to the activities
2. Demonstrates a clear grasp of relevant key theoretical concepts and their context
3. Demonstrates the ability to identify the significance and implications of relevant key concepts
4. Demonstrates a critical engagement with relevant unit readings, cultural studies scholarship and debates
5. Stages a thoughtful reflection on the process of learning and engaging with cultural studies scholarship
6. Effective use of writing skills to present academic research, including consistent and accurate use of in-text referencing

Submission: Students will submit this task via the Turnitin link on the unit iLearn Site.

Disruptions to Studies: In this unit, extensions will only be granted in line with the university's Disruption to Studies Policy. If you experience a serious and unexpected disruption to your studies and would like to seek an extension of 1-7 days, please contact your unit convenor. If you are seeking an extension of more than 7 days, please submit a disruption to studies notification via ask.mq.edu.au. Extensions will not be granted on the grounds of work commitments. For more information about this process, please read the section below on policies and procedures.

Late Penalty: Students who submit late work without an extension  will receive a penalty of 10% per day. This penalty does not apply for cases in which an application for Disruption to Studies is made and approved.

From week ten onwards, we will undertake a series of workshops in this unit to prepare for your final assessment task. For this task, students are required to complete a writing proposal and submit an extract of their work. 

Part One: A proposal of 1,500 words 

This task requires students to write a theoretically informed proposal for a piece of narrative journalism. On one level, this is an exercise in presenting your work to someone who might be interested in publishing or producing it. Different outlets have different ways in which they require you to present your work for their consideration. If you aim to approach one in the future, you should follow instructions on their website about exactly what form they would want any approach to take.

On another level, students must also demonstrate in their proposal that they have engaged with critical and theoretical understandings of authorship and non-fiction writing. They should draw on what they have learnt about writing from the lectures and unit readings in order to inform their proposal. For example, they should discuss ideas surrounding the use of time, narration, the role of the author and narrative structure (to suggest a few).

A proposal should include the following:

1. Overview: Give a compelling summary of your project. What is it, and what is it about?
2. Rationale: What is interesting and distinctive about your project? Why should it be written? What does it hope to achieve?
3. Outline: Give a breakdown of the components of your project. If it has a plot, what is it? If it has chapters or scenes, write a paragraph summary of each one. What will the work actually be made up of? How long will it be?
4. Style: How will your work be written? What writing conventions will it follow? How will time operate?
5. Competition: What works in the market-place is your work like? Is it similar enough to successful works to show that there is a market for it, yet different enough to justify it being written?
6. Audience: Who would be interested in consuming your work? What kind of audience do you have in mind?

Part Two: 1,500 word excerpt.

The second part of the assignment requires students to provide a 1500-word excerpt from their creative work. This word-limit is based on your project being book-length and prose. These pieces will be workshopped from week 10 onwards.

This assessment task will be marked according to the following assessment criteria:

1. Demonstrates a clear grasp of relevant key concepts 
2. Identifies the significance and implications of the key concepts in both their creative and critical pieces 
3. Scholarly understanding of relevant issues and debates within the publishing industry 
4. Uses appropriate theoretical concepts that demonstrate engagement with the unit materials 
5. Original creative work that demonstrates an understanding of the unit material, the student has engaged with innovative understandings of narrative devices 
6. Provides a well-developed creative piece that has few typos or grammatical mistakes and is clearly and cogently written 
7. Stages a thoughtful reflection on the process of learning and engaging with cultural studies scholarship
8. Effective use of writing skills to present academic research, including consistent and accurate use of in-text referencing

Submission: Students will submit this task via the Turnitin link on the unit iLearn Site.

Disruptions to Studies: In this unit, extensions will only be granted in line with the university's Disruption to Studies Policy. If you experience a serious and unexpected disruption to your studies and would like to seek an extension of 1-7 days, please contact your unit convenor. If you are seeking an extension of more than 7 days, please submit a disruption to studies notification via ask.mq.edu.au. Extensions will not be granted on the grounds of work commitments. For more information about this process, please read the section below on policies and procedures.

Late Penalty: Students who submit late work without an extension  will receive a penalty of 10% per day. This penalty does not apply for cases in which an application for Disruption to Studies is made and approved.