LNGE40049 - Essay Writing for University

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit will guide you through the process of writing an academic essay. You will be introduced to the culture of academic writing at university and the common features of academic essays. You will develop strategies to read, evaluate and summarise information, and then use that information to develop and support an academic argument. Throughout the unit, you will develop critical thinking, note-making, formal writing and referencing skills necessary for academic writing.

Details

Level Non-award
Unit Level Not Applicable
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2023

Term 1 - 2023 Profile
Brisbane
Bundaberg
Cairns
Gladstone
Mackay
Online
Rockhampton
Townsville
Term 2 - 2023 Profile
Brisbane
Bundaberg
Cairns
Gladstone
Mackay
Online
Rockhampton
Townsville
Term 3 - 2023 Profile
Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Non-award unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Annotated bibliography 20%
2. Portfolio 30%
3. Essay 50%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2022 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 90.70% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 28.41% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Unit evaluation
Feedback
Students value the opportunity to cover the weekly content in the online lecture earlier in the week, rather than later.
Recommendation
Schedule the weekly ‘Zoom Lecture’ for online students earlier in the week and offer a new weekly ‘Zoom Q&A’ session.
Action Taken
A Zoom lecture is delivered at the beginning of each week and a Zoom Q&A session is offered at the end of each week, providing a suitable timeframe for students to learn, consolidate and discuss the weekly content.
Source: Teaching team
Feedback
Students value the assessment templates being clear and easy to understand.
Recommendation
Streamline Assessment 1 and Assessment 2 templates to make assessment requirements clearer for students.
Action Taken
The instructions in the Assessment 1 and Assessment 2 templates were streamlined and the layout improved to facilitate comprehension of requirements and use of resources.
Source: Teaching team, Unit evaluation
Feedback
Students value not feeling rushed between assessments.
Recommendation
Update assessment requirements to reduce the complexity of the tasks while ensuring the unit learning outcomes are still met.
Action Taken
The Assessment 1 and Assessment 2 requirements were simplified, resulting in improved task management.
Source: Teaching team, Unit evaluation
Feedback
Revise the requirements and scheduling of Assessment 1 to allow the provision of earlier feedback.
Recommendation
Review Assessment 1 and revise due date for submission earlier in the term.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Unit evaluation, Teaching team
Feedback
Students value opportunities to engage in online synchronous learning.
Recommendation
Offer a weekly Zoom tutorial in conjunction with the existing weekly Zoom lecture.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Unit evaluation, Teaching team
Feedback
Students value resources that are easy to use and have consistent content and formatting.
Recommendation
Consolidate assessment videos and instruction guides across all assessments.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Evaluate information for relevance, authority, objectivity and currency
  2. Paraphrase, quote and summarise information using appropriate referencing conventions
  3. Plan and write an academic essay that integrates sources to support a reasoned argument.


Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Annotated bibliography • •
2 - Portfolio • •
3 - Essay • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
2 - Communication • •
3 - Information Literacy • • •
4 - Information Technology Competence • •
6 - Critical Thinking • • •
8 - Ethical Practice • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
2 - Portfolio • • • • •
3 - Essay • • • • •
1 - Annotated bibliography • •