Title: Reflective essay



Details of task: The reflective essay takes the form of two short reflective responses. Using the reading, online lecture and tutorial content from the first three weeks of the semester, write reflective responses to these two questions:

Q1: In ‘Journalism and the Academy, Revisited’, Barbie Zelizer outlines five types of inquiry into journalism.
Choosing one of these types, reflect on how theory can inform an understanding of the relationship between news and power.

Q2: Reflect on a news story that you’ve read, watched or
listened to in the past six months that asked ‘questions of the powerful’. What does this story tell us about the role of journalism in society?

The word limit required is 400 words per question, with a total for the reflective essay of 800 words.

In responding to these two questions, you should not attempt to discuss everything covered in the first three weeks of the semester. Rather, you should seek to address what you think are the most significant or relevant areas for your own responses to the set questions. Further independent research is not required, but you do need to refer to theory and scholarly work covered in the first three weeks of class and to relevant media examples.

Word limit: 800 words (2 x 400 word reflective responses)

Value: 20% of total mark

Presentation requirements: This is a reflective piece of work. However, formal scholarly
conventions are required. Please ensure that your writing is clear, succinct and lucid; that you respond to the questions and make your own insights and arguments clear; and that you include relevant citations from within course materials and a bibliography.

Referencing requirements: Referencing must be completed using an in-text method
(Harvard method is advised).
To build your skills in citing and referencing, and using different referencing styles, see the online tutorial Academic Integrity: Demystifying Citing and Referencing at http://www.lib.monash.edu/tutorials/citing/

Submission Instructions: The reflective essay is to be submitted online on Moodle.

Every student must upload their essay into two online dropboxes by the due date and time: the TurnItIn dropbox and the Moodle Assignment dropbox.

TurnItIn will be available two weeks before the due date. Students are advised to submit a copy of their assignment to TurnItIn at least two days before the final due date, as this will allow you to see an ‘originality report’ and revise your assignment, resubmitting a new version to TurnItIn for checking. (Please note that it can take up to 24 hours for a new originality report to be generated).

There is a Library guide explaining how to use TurnItIn available at: https://guides.lib.monash.edu/turnitin/using-turnitin.

It is important to note that your TurnItIn submission should be clean of all identifying material.

Estimated return date: Two weeks after submission, via Moodle

Criteria for marking (see rubric for greater detail):
?demonstrated engagement with and understanding of the first three weeks’ reading and teaching content
?coherent reflections and insights and/or convincing arguments
?scholarship (knowledge of the relevant academic literature)
?rigour, adequacy and insight in any empirical account or examples
?ability to apply theoretical insight to empirical evidence
?effective use of written sources (including at least six references from within the course materials from the first three weeks including academic sources, industry reports and relevant data)
?clarity and strength of the reflection presented
?presentation and structure of written work

The essay will be graded according to the accompanying rubric.