Assessment Comparative Analysis

Purpose: The purpose of this assessment is to build on the research and evaluation skills and techniques developed with Assessments 1 and 2, and the critical thinking skills discussed and practiced in class, to develop a comparative analysis of the Trimester topic. This assessment will help also students to develop and improve writing and information literacy skills. This assessment contributes specifically to Learning Outcomes a, c, and d.

Topic: A short report comparing and contrasting what different academically valid sources say on the Trimester topic

Students should use the 4 acceptable sources ( the ones that met the evaluation criteria as taught in class) from their Annotated Bibliography plus a minimum of 2 other sources (academically acceptable and that meet the evaluation criteria) to develop their report

Task Details: The short report gives students the opportunity to study an assigned topic in depth. It requires students to find relevant sources of information that will enable them to write a comparative analysis from an informed point of view. This will help students to develop writing and information literacy skills.

The assessment will require students to identify 2 or 3 main points of interest about the Trimester Topic. Students should use the 4 acceptable sources from their Annotated Bibliography plus a minimum of 2 other sources (academically acceptable and that meet the evaluation criteria) to develop their report.

Using their sources which may agree and/or disagree with those points, students should compare and contrast what the different sources say about the points and draw conclusions which answer the question(s) posed. A brief evaluation (a summary sentence such as used in your Annotated Bibliography) of the sources should be included in the discussion.

It is important to note that the purpose of this assignment is to review what different authors say about the topic/points of interest. More detail about the assessment will be provided in class and via Moodle.

Presentation: The review needs to be submitted as follows:
- 1000 - 1500 + 10% word academic style report
- Word .doc or .docx
- Font: Arial 10pt, Calibri 11pt or Times New Roman 12pt.
- Title page
- Introduction, analysis discussion using suitable headings and sub- headings and a conclusion
- Reference List

The topic for this assessment is "Do accountants need to be ethical?"

This is quite a broad topic so individuals need to identify the scope / focus / theme of their assessment. This should be explained in the introduction using a thesis type statement. You should also focus on Australian accountants and conditions where possible.

Points to remember:

You only need to write 1000 - 1500 words + 10%.

This means you need to be fairly specific about the approach you take and the alternatives you discuss and evaluate - so limit your scope/focus.

You need to develop the discussion into a single coherent report - this means you will need to do some considerable outlining and editing to make the report flow well. Coherence is worth 14% of the marks so may mean the difference between a Pass and Credit etc.