Writing your essay
Writing your essay
ALR103 Essay (Assignment 2)
ALR103 Essay (Assignment 2)
Due Date: Friday December 10, 2021 (8pm AEDT)
Word Count: 1200 words (+/- 5%)
Weight: 30%
Referencing: Australian Harvard. Please refer to the Deakin guide to Australian Harvard referencing
Assignment Overview – Pick ONE of the two options below and note that you MUST use the same option for Assignment 3 (the PR plan). The rationale is:
Change is not allowed because the research you do for this assignment provides input into Assignment 3.
You will receive formative feedback that may help you with Assignment 3. WARNING: you may not contact organisations directly for the purpose of the assignment. Option 1 – Encouraging greater public transport use to reduce emissions
You are a public relations intern for your local council. The council has decided it is time to run an awareness campaign about encouraging greater use of public transport and bikes to help reduce carbon emissions. The council would like you to:
Briefly identify the history and background of this issue
Examine/analyse the factors that might impact on their campaign
Identify and evaluate their existing communication tactics
Option 2 – Refugees – raise awareness and drive donations
You are a public relations intern with an Australian charity that supports refugees. They want to build awareness of refugees and raise donations to support their programs for refugees in your state. Your charity would like you to:
Briefly identify the history and background of this issue
Examine/analyse the factors that might impact on their campaign
Identify and evaluate their existing communication tactics
Regardless of chosen option, in your essay, you must:
Identify and briefly explain the issue and any relevant external factors
Identify and define the target publics related to the issue
Identify and analyse public relations tactics used by your organisation to communicate with target publics in the last 12 months
Draw on a minimum of 7 prescribed readings from topics 1-4 (this means a minimum of 7 scholarly sources).
Conduct your own research to help you understand the issue, publics and tactics used. You should draw on a minimum of 4 sources to help you. You will find information located at your
organisation’s website, in news media, on government websites, and at the websites of similar organisations, in white papers, at think tanks and other research organisations.
Step 1 Task Understanding
Read the Instructions carefully and note the due date
Read the Marking Rubric and make note of any elements about which you are unsure (for discussion in seminars or via CloudDeakin.
Analyse the essay question, ie. Content terms, and directive terms and limiting terms
Step 2 Topic Research
Read the Library Search Tips (see Library website and Library modules)
Identify a set of potentially useful resources
Survey, skim, and scan to find the relevant articles, and parts of articles
Work out a plan for researching the background to your organisation to find examples of their public relations activities
Step 3 Critical Reading: Identify which readings from the Study Guide will help you best
Consider the author’s purpose: why has the author written the material? Are these purposes
explicitly stated? Are these implicitly stated?
The author’s approach: what are the author’s underlying assumptions? Are these explicitly stated?
Is there any proof of bias?
Content: what is the author’s thesis? How do they develop the thesis? What evidence, examples, or
explanations are used?
Step 4: Essay Plan. Plan your essay using this structure:
Introduction
Clarify how you intend to interpret or limit the question
Provide an overview of your argument and the supporting points
Clarify how you are defining key terms in the question
Body: Add a paragraph for each point including:
Topic sentence stating the main points
Sentences elaborating each point with supporting evidence
Scholarly sources and examples are correctly cited using Harvard
Concluding sentence summarising the points, linking to next paragraph/argument
Conclusion: reiterate the claims in the introduction and refer back to the essay topic
Reference List: includes all references you cited, formatted using the Harvard style. To avoid plagiarism, you must give credit if you use the words or ideas of someone else.
For additional assistance refer to the Deakin essay writing guide and planner: https://www.deakin.edu.au/students/studying/study-support/academic-skills/essay-writing
Step 5: Write your Essay. Write a draft first and then edit:
Check assignment instructions often to ensure you remain focused on the task.
Check assessment criteria and discuss these with your tutor if you’re unclear about the rubric.
During editing check sentence structure and remove conversational or vernacular expressions
Make sure you write with confidence and authority using relevant discipline terms.
Be objective. There is no space for bias or emotion, only evidence-based analysis and discussion.
Be accurate. You get NO MARKS for guessing. Inaccuracy alerts the marker to scrutinise your work.
Direct quotes must NOT exceed 5% of the word count. Paraphrase and cite sources to show you understand the source and are able to communicate their ideas to support your points.