You will find a quiz in the iLearn block for each week of this unit, consisting of two short-answer questions (you only need to write a maximum of 2-3 sentences for each answer). The quiz is timed - you will have 10 minutes to write your responses. One question will assess your understanding of the week's lectures, the other will assess your understanding of the readings. You will do twelve quizzes over the semester (plus one practice test in week one, which is not graded); the best ten will count towards your grade. The quiz will be graded out of 4 (2 possible marks per question). You will receive feedback in the form of model answers for each question.

NOTE: You will need to complete your quiz before midnight on Sunday of each week.  Unless you are ill or have an unavoidable absence, and can provide documentation, you will not be able to make up any quizzes after the week in which they are given. 

In our week 3 discussions, we will focus on analysing primary sources and how to use them in a research essay. We will be working online with a supplied primary source that relates to this week's topic area. 

You will then be supplied (via iLearn) with an additional primary source that also relates to this week's topic area. Using the skills we developed in our discussion, you have one week to write a 500-word analysis of the supplied primary source. 

The written piece is to be submitted by Sunday 27 August at 11.55pm

This task will assess your ability to develop a research question and approach, as well as your ability to locate and analyse primary and secondary sources. It is the first step towards developing your research essay. The proposals will be returned in time for you to work on your research essay after the mid-semester break. 

You should proceed as follows:

Thinking about a topic: It is best to start this process as early as possible. Look at the weekly lecture and tutorial schedule. What themes in this course do you find most interesting? What questions are you interested in exploring? Do you want to write about Australia, the United States, or both? 

Try to think about popular culture historically - that is, think carefully about how we can use popular culture as evidence of past attitudes, representations, ideologies, and points of view. You are aiming to relate popular culture to broader social, cultural, and political events and ideas, and to relate popular culture to the broader society that produced it. 

Developing a question: Your question needs to be direct and focused, because you will be assessed on how you answer it - for example, "How did x reveal ideas about y in the American 1950s?". You can focus on media debate about a particular pop culture text or group of texts, or examine responses of a particular kind of pop culture consumer to an item of pop culture. You can trace the ways responses to a particular event, new technology (for example, television) or social movement (for example, feminism, the Iraq War) played out in popular culture, or explore how certain popular culture texts represent gender or race or sexuality in particular historical contexts and reflect - or contest - dominant representations. 

Submitting your proposal: The proposal is due Sunday 17 September at 11.55pm via turnitin on iLearn. 

Your proposal should be 1500 words and must include the following:

1. Your research question, clearly framed as an essay question, rather than simply as an idea.
2. Your approach to the question. This section should be around 800 words. In outlining your approach, consider the following questions:
   • What is your topic about? What time and place are you focusing on?
   • What might your main primary sources be? Are they accessible? Why are they useful? List at least three and explain how at least one of your sources relates to your research area and question, explain its key themes, and explain how you might use it as evidence - what components of the source are most useful to you?
   • How does the genre or form of your primary sources shape their meaning?
   • What do you need to know about the historical background/context of your topic? (For example, if you are writing about film and the Gulf War, then you need to include works on the Gulf War as well as its cinematic representations.)
   • What other themes or issues do you need to understand in order to explore this topic properly? (For example, do you need to find out more about changing gender roles, or how propaganda works?)
   • Are there questions about evidence or methodology you need to consider?
3. An annotated bibliography, which must have seven 100 word entries. The works in your annotated bibliography should be the most relevant secondary sources for researching your project. You may use the questions in the ‘approach’ section above as a guide to thinking about the kinds of readings you need to cover in your annotate bibliography. 
4. The proposal enables you to start thinking about your research essay at an early stage and understand where your work will fit within the relevant field of study. If you are unsure what an annotated bibliography looks like, see the following websites: 
   • https://student.unsw.edu.au/annotated-bibliography 
   • http://guides.library.cornell.edu/annotatedbibliography
   • http://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/write/annotatedbibliography.jsp

This assessment task evaluates your ability to construct an argument in response to your own self-devised research question, based on primary and secondary sources. This task is the culmination of your assessment tasks in this unit; all your previous assessments are "scaffolding" this final task. You need to observe the conventions of writing and referencing as outlined in "Writing Essays in History". 

Your final essay should be 3000 words, not including referencing. 

This assessment is to submitted via turnitin on iLearn. Remember to submit the essay self-assessment (available on iLearn) sheet with your essay. You must also include a short statement, about one paragraph, on how you have utilised the feedback you have received on your research proposal  when completing your final research project. 

There is a rubric for this assessment task included as a PDF download in the "Assessments" section on iLearn.