UNIT REQUIREMENTS AND EXPECTATIONS

• You should spend an average of 12 hours per week on this unit. This includes listening to lectures prior to seminar or tutorial, reading weekly required materials as detailed in iLearn, participating in Ilearn discussion forums and preparing assessments.
• Internal students are expected to attend all seminar or tutorial sessions, and external students are expected to make significant contributions to on-line activities.
• In most cases students are required to attempt and submit all major assessment tasks in order to pass the unit.

REQUIRED READINGS

• The citations for all the required readings for this unit are available to enrolled students through the unit iLearn site, and at Macquarie University's library site.  Electronic copies of required readings may be accessed through the library or will be made available by other means.

TECHNOLOGY USED AND REQUIRED

• Computer and internet access are essential for this unit. Basic computer skills and skills in word processing are also a requirement.
• This unit has an online presence. Login is via: https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/
• Students are required to have regular access to a computer and the internet. Mobile devices alone are not sufficient.
• Information about IT used at Macquarie University is available at  http://students.mq.edu.au/it_services/

SUBMITTING ASSESSMENT TASKS

• All text-based assessment tasks are to be submitted, marked and returned electronically.  This will only happen through the unit iLearn site. 
• Assessment tasks must be submitted as a MS word document by the due date.
• Most assessment tasks will be subject to a 'TurnitIn' review as an automatic part of the submission process.
• The granting of extensions is subject to the university’s Special Consideration Policy. Extensions will not be granted by unit conveners or tutors, but must be lodged through Special Consideration: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/my-study-program/special-consideratio

LATE SUBMISSION OF ASSESSMENT TASKS

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, (a) a penalty for lateness will apply – two (2) marks out of 100 will be deducted per day for assignments submitted after the due date – and (b) no assignment will be accepted seven (7) days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline. No late submissions will be accepted for timed assessments – e.g. quizzes, online tests.

WORD LIMITS FOR ASSESSMENT TASKS

• Stated word limits include footnotes and footnoted references, but not bibliography, or title page.
• Word limits can generally deviate by 10% either over or under the stated figure.
• If the number of words exceeds the limit by more than 10%, then penalties will apply. These penalties are 5% of the awarded mark for every 100 words over the word limit. If a paper is 300 words over, for instance, it will lose 3 x 5% = 15% of the total mark awarded for the assignment. This percentage is taken off the total mark, i.e. if a paper was graded at a credit (65%) and was 300 words over, it would be reduced by 15 marks to a pass (50%).
• The application of this penalty is at the discretion of the course convener.

REASSESSMENT OF ASSIGNMENTS DURING THE SEMESTER

• Macquarie University operates a Grade Appeal Policy in cases where students feel their work was graded inappropriately: http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html
• In accordance with the Grade Appeal Policy, individual works are not subject to regrading.

STAFF AVAILABILITY

• Department staff will endeavour to answer student enquiries in a timely manner. However, emails or iLearn messages will not usually be answered over the weekend or public holiday period.
• Students are encouraged to read the Unit Guide and look at instructions posted on the iLearn site before sending email requests to staff.

Lectures

Each week showcases a theme from our Bachelors of Security Studies program. Our intention is to introduce students to our academic staff and the broad expertise and experience of our department. As each week is a unique guest lecture, we expect all students to attend, engage and participate. Therefore, attendance will be recorded through the Echo ALP system.

Therefore, the last 10-15 minutes of each tutorial prior to the next week’s lecture will be dedicated to preparing questions for the guest lecturer. This will familiarise students with how to prepare questions, and proactive communication with lecturers.

Tutorials

All students are expected to come prepared to tutorials having attended or listened to the lecture, and read all the required readings. This basic assumption of knowledge will form the foundation for discussion. The structure will be as follows:

1. Discussion on lecture content and required readings (20min)
2. Academic skills session (20min)
3. Preparing questions for next week’s guest lecturer (10-15min) 

Readings

Weekly readings are available from the Library’s Leganto platform, and each week’s readings are specified on the iLearn.

Assessments

Please use the resources on the site, the required and recommended readings are there for a reason and should be the base from which you start your research.  For further guidance, please always refer to the marking rubrics to see how we mark and what is necessary for to be put in each paper.

All word limits include references (either in-text citations or footnotes), and all referencing must use a consistent style. For referencing guidelines please see the library site: http://libguides.mq.edu.au/Referencing. With regard to referencing, I do not mind any particular style as long as it is consistent (Chicago, APA, Harvard, Oxford, MLA are the main ones, and please refer to the library guides).

All references (footnotes or in-text references) are included in the word count, but bibliographies are not. There are no set limits on how many references are needed, however as a general guidelines I follow the 10% rule i.e. if a paper is 1500-words, than it usually has a 150-word count for its footnotes; if a paper is 3000-words, than it usually has a 300-word count for its footnotes. The word count has a +/-10% leeway.