BI5611 People and Technology 2016-17

I. Coursework (70%)

Design a specific research question based on the suggestive topics and write your essay
to answer that research question;

Submit a hardcopy to the postgraduate office and an electronic copy on Turnitin

Select one of the following topics

1. Does IT still matter?
2. How do brick and mortar business survive in the digital age?
3. In what ways do digital technologies enhance knowledge and learning?
4. Crowdsourcing opportunities and challenges
5. Big data a double-edge sword
6. I know everything about you the end of privacy and why does it matter?
7. The affordances of social media and its impact on society
8. How are mobile phones being used to address poverty in developing countries?
9. What are the implications of technology on environmental sustainability?
10. What is the digital divide and how can it be addressed?
Formatting Requirements
1. Length: 4000 words (+/- 10%)
2. Font 12, Times New Roman, 1.5 line spacing
3. Use paragraph spaces, indent quotations, and format lists; though use lists sparingly
4. Page number at the bottom right corner
5. Use Harvard Referencing style to format citations and references (follow the Essay
Writing and Referencing Guide, available on Moodle)

Guidance
Dos

Narrow the big topics down to a specific research question and clearly state what it is
in the introduction;

Show awareness of historicity, complexity and multiplicity of issues;

Be logical, structured, and reflective;

Keep appropriate balance between introduction, main body & conclusion;

Draw upon a variety of sources, including academic journals, books, government

reports and news stories;

Use academic and formal English throughout the paper;

BI5611 People and Technology 2016-17

Language should be objective, concise, accurate and to the point;

Structure the essay clearly and logically;

Ensure a coherent flow of argument;

Use appropriate styles of citation and referencing;

Start with a basic draft and go through a few rounds of revision;

Do read each others essays and make suggestions for improvement.

Donts

Dont present unnecessary lists of facts that are not relevant to the argument;

Dont fill the space with meaningless diagrams, tables or bullet points;

Dont rely mainly on web resources!!!

Dont quote from Wikipedia (you can use it as a starting point to explore the topic)

Essay Marking Grid

Category
Research question

Understanding of
topic

Critical thinking

Quality of Analysis

Quality of writing

Indicators
-clearly defined;
-novelty;
- appropriate scope
-comprehensive literature review;
-draw upon historical data, statistics, news
reports, and appropriate examples;
-balanced presentation of the status quo;
-examination of various perspectives;
-able to question assumptions and reasoning;
-independent thinking;
-in-depth analysis rather than description;
-logical development of argument;
-support claims with evidence;
-coherent and flows (with mediating sentences);
-citations provided and correctly formatted;
-references at the end of essay and correctly
formatted;
-clearly structured and grammatically correct;

Percentage
10%

25%

25%

25%

15%