Students are required to write a 1,000 word essay that responds to the statement below:

• In her essay ‘Who Needs Cultural Research?,’ Ien Ang argues: ‘the distinctive intellectual currency and social utility of cultural studies research lies in its capacity for inducing conjunctural questioning, rather than in providing positivist answers to set questions’ (1999). Drawing on the work of Ien Ang, additional academic research and your own experiences as a cultural studies scholar, critique Ang’s understanding of cultural studies.

Essays will be marked according to the following assessment criteria:

1. Demonstrates a clear and effective grasp of relevant understandings of cultural studies methodologies and concepts
2. Engages with a number of divergent critiques of cultural studies and cultural research
3. Demonstrates engagement with the unit readings and material
4. Demonstrates thoughtful reflection on cultural studies scholarship
5. Stages a well-supported critical engagement of Ang’s statement
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 the students 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.

In this unit, we aim to further develop your knowledge in the field of cultural studies, consolidate your understanding of cultural studies methods and prepare you to take your knowledge and analytical skills beyond undergraduate study - whether in paid work, family life, creative pursuits or further study. 

As a result, you are required to participate in weekly activities and engage with your peers. This assessment comprises of (1) weekly posts and (2) a submission that will be made via turnitin in week eight to receive individual feedback. 

Weekly Post and Comment in the Activity Forum:

Each week, students are required to respond to the weekly activities in two ways. First, they must respond to the activity by writing an original 200+ word post. Second, they must encourage discussion by writing a comment on another student's post. Students must complete their original post and comment in the allocated week. 

Submission of the Activities Reflection Task:

For this component of the assessment task, students are required to submit two documents. First, students must compile their weekly posts and comments and submit them in a single word document to turnitin. Second, students must also complete an activities reflection task. For this task, 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 (a) outline the context of their post on the discussion forum, (b) demonstrate how it enhances their understanding of the key concepts or methods explored in the unit, and (c) discuss how their thoughts have developed since writing their post.

Students can find a template for this assessment task in the Assessments and Guides Section on the ilearn page. 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. Demonstrates engagement with the unit material by completing an original post and comment each week within the allocated time frame
2. Well-selected sample of two of the student’s weekly responses to the activities
3. Demonstrates a clear grasp of relevant key theoretical concepts and their context
4. Demonstrates the ability to identify the significance and implications of relevant key concepts
5. Demonstrates a critical engagement with relevant unit readings, cultural studies scholarship and debates
6. Stages a thoughtful reflection on the process of learning and engaging with cultural studies scholarship
7. 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 their final assessment task in this unit, students are required to complete two tasks. 

Weekly posts and comments:

First, students must compile their weekly posts and comments from weeks 9 - 11 and submit them in a single word document to turnitin. From week 9 - 11, you are required to respond to the weekly activity with a post of 200+ words and make a short comment on a fellow student's work within the allocated time frame. These posts and comments will form an essential part of the assessment task and will contribute to your final mark as they demonstrate your engagement in the activities and workshops that take place to prepare you for this assessment.

Final Essay:

Second, students must write a 2,000 word essay. In this final essay, students are required to identify a specific cultural context or problematic that they have encountered throughout the unit and would like to explore further. They must draw on the concepts and methods developed in a relevant field of cultural studies research that we have discussed over the course of the unit and engage with this topic, both critically and imaginatively.

For example, students may consider using the concepts and methods developed within fields such as Cultural Legal Studies, Critical Race and Whiteness Studies, Performativity Studies or Somatechnics, in order to engage with cultural contexts and problematics such as the representation of the law in fiction, classifications of the body in government policy documents or representations of race in the Australian media. 

Students will have the opportunity to discuss their chosen topics on the discussion boards and during essay preparation workshops that will take place from week ten onwards.

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

1. Demonstrates engagement with the unit material by completing an original post and comment each week within the allocated time frame
2. Demonstrates the ability to deploy analytical skills in order to develop a scholarly research question
3. Demonstrates a clear and effective grasp of relevant key concepts 
4. Demonstrates critical and sustained engagement with the unit readings and questions of cultural studies research
5. Demonstrates knowledge and analysis of key cultural studies methodologies and principles
6. Ability to stage a well-supported analysis and develop a strong and well-supported argument
7. 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.