Assessment Methods:
There are three instruments of assessment for the module. Two copies of all assessments should be submitted – one via Turnitin or the relevant discussion board on the module pages and a hard copy to the postbox on the 5th floor of the Hamish Wood building.
Students are invited to select one of the following topic areas for their assessments during discussion with the module leader in week 2. All module assessments will be based upon the general topic area selected.
• History of children in consumer culture
• Gender, identity and consumer culture
• The relationship between celebrity, childhood and consumer culture
• Sexuality, sexualisation and consumer culture
• Children, harm, inequality and consumer culture
Further assessment guidance will be provided during ‘face-to-face’ seminars in which time will be set aside to workshop all assessments. Additional guidance will be provided on the ‘Assignment’ section of GCU Learn.
1. The first assessment is the production of an annotated bibliography based upon one of the topic areas above. This assessment constitutes 30% of the overall assessment and should be approximately 1000 words. This is the first stage in the process of becoming familiar with an area of research, which will culminate in the production of a critical essay for your third assessment. To ‘annotate’ simply means to add notes. For the purposes of an annotated bibliography, these notes should be both descriptive and critical. Your bibliography should contain approximately 5-6 key academic sources on your topic and you should aim to produce 150-200 words for each entry underneath the full reference to the text. This should give a brief critical summary, indicating how and why the source is useful in terms of addressing your topic. This assessment is due for submission on Friday 6th March via Turnitin and a hard copy to the postbox. Feedback for this assessment will be available during seminars in Week 8.
2. For the second assessment you should complete a critical review of one of the journal articles from your annotated bibliography. This should be approximately 500 words long and should be submitted by Monday 23rdMarch via your virtual seminar for online discussion. This constitutes 20% of your overall mark. Formative feedback for this assessment will be available during online discussion during Week 9 and marks will be available during seminars in Week 10. Again, your critical focus here should be on how well the article addresses your topic area.
3. Assessment three is a 2,000 word critical essay on your topic and this is worth 50% of your total mark. This should be submitted by 4pm on Friday 17th April via Turnitin and also by hard copy to the postbox. By the time you get to this stage of your assessments, you should be well aware of the relevant material and also feel more confident about your ability to critically engage with the relevant material. Feedback for this assessment will be available after 7th May via sessions arranged by the module leader on GCU Learn.