ANTH106
Essay Writing Guide 2019
Essay Outline Instructions – 25% – due 4 April, 5:00pm…..2
Essay Instructions – 35% – due 19 May, 5:00pm………………3
Important information …………………………………………………….5
How to write an essay outline ………………………………………..8
How to write an anthropology essay ……………………………..14
Acknowledging your sources………………………………………..17
Tips for writing your assignment ………………………………….18
Inserting your opinion into an academic essay………………22
Description of grades/standards……………………………………24
How to request a regrade of your essay mark………………..26
FAQs (frequently asked questions) ……………………………….28
Essay Outline Instructions – 25% – due 4 April, 5:00pm
Good writing skills are an important attribute of university students, and
one of the more difficult skills to develop. The assessments in this
course will help you develop your writing skills and will give you a
chance to receive detailed feedback and learn from your mistakes. This
first assessment task asks you to produce a detailed outline of your
research essay, a fully-written introduction section, and a complete set of
references for your essay. Within 3 weeks of submitting your essay
outline, you will receive feedback, which will allow you to improve your
writing, referencing, and thematic organisation in the essay assignment
due later in the semester.
Instructions
In no more than 800 words (not including references) write an outline
for a critical essay providing an analysis of a case study on drugs.
Provide a full reference list and FULLY WRITE OUT (don’t just outline!)
your INTRODUCTION section (only!). This will ensure that you receive
feedback on both your writing style as well as the thematic organisation
of your ideas.
Choose your case study from the following four options:
• Option 1: Dwyer, R. 2011. ‘Chapter 1: The social life of smokes:
Processes of exchange in a heroin marketplace’ in Fraser and
Moore (eds), 2011. The Drug Effect: Health, Crime and Society.
Melbourne: Cambridge U Press.
• Option 2: Race, K. 2011. ‘Chapter 2: Party animals: The
significance of drug practices in the materialisation of urban gay
identity’ in Fraser and Moore (eds), 2011. The Drug Effect: Health,
Crime and Society. Melbourne: Cambridge U Press.
• Option 3: Keane, H. 2011. ‘Drugs that work: Pharmaceuticals and
performance self-management’ in Fraser and Moore (eds),
2011. The Drug Effect: Health, Crime and Society. Melbourne:
Cambridge U Press.
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• Option 4: Any chapter from Marc Lewis. 2011. Memoirs of an
Addicted Brain: A Neuroscientist Examines His Former Life on
Drugs. PublicAffairs.
Use the following questions to guide you in writing your essay outline.
• What issues are raised by your case study?
• How do they relate to topics covered in class and weekly readings
so far? (Obviously, you’ll be able to include more theories /
readings in your essay than you will in your outline, since we will
have covered more material by then.)
• What are the complex social processes and relations that surround
the production and consumption of drugs?
Structure and writing styles are as important as content when writing an
essay. Two weeks before the essay outline is due your convener will
hold an essay-writing workshop during lectures.
You will submit your essay online through the Turnitin link provided on
iLearn. See details in the section ‘Important information’.
Essay Instructions – 35% – due 19 May, 5:00pm
This assessment task is about showing how you can take the theories
and concepts introduced in the ANTH106 lectures and required readings
and apply those theories and concepts critically to material (i.e. your
case study) to analyse that case. It builds on the skills learned in the
essay outline and will also assess how you incorporate comments and
feedback to improve your writing. You will use the case study chosen for
the essay outline to write a complete essay.
Instructions
In no more than 1200 words* (including in-text citations and footnotes,
but NOT including references) write a critical essay providing an analysis
of a case study on drugs.
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Use the same case study you chose for the essay outline. While you will
use the same concepts / ideas / references / theories and theorists from
your essay outline, we expect you to include theories and concepts from
the entire unit to show how your understanding of the unit material has
matured.
Using the essay outline, write your argument (body) and conclusion in
full. Rewrite your introduction taking additional material and marker
feedback into account. Find and use a minimum of two external, peerreviewed
sources in addition to the theories / required readings from
ANTH106. (You can draw on the ‘additional readings’ in the unit outline
for your 2 external sources.)
Structure and writing styles are as important as content when writing an
essay. You are encouraged to have a peer read a draft of your essay
and provide feedback on your organisation and written expression.
You will submit your essay online through the Turnitin link provided on
iLearn (i.e. in the same way you submitted the essay outline
assignment).
Your case study will be selected from one of the following options
(Remember you’re using the SAME CASE STUDY as for the essay
outline):
• Option 1: Dwyer, R. 2011. ‘Chapter 1: The social life of smokes:
Processes of exchange in a heroin marketplace’ in Fraser and
Moore (eds), 2011. The Drug Effect: Health, Crime and Society.
Melbourne: Cambridge U Press.
• Option 2: Race, K. 2011. ‘Chapter 2: Party animals: The
significance of drug practices in the materialisation of urban gay
identity’ in Fraser and Moore (eds), 2011. The Drug Effect: Health,
Crime and Society. Melbourne: Cambridge U Press.
• Option 3: Keane, H. 2011. ‘Drugs that work: Pharmaceuticals and
performance self-management’ in Fraser and Moore (eds),
2011. The Drug Effect: Health, Crime and Society. Melbourne:
Cambridge U Press.
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• Option 4: Any chapter from Marc Lewis. 2011. Memoirs of an
Addicted Brain: A Neuroscientist Examines His Former Life on
Drugs. PublicAffairs.
Use the following questions to guide you in writing your essay outline.
• What issues are raised by your case study?
• How do they relate to topics covered in class and weekly
readings?
• What are the complex social processes and relations that surround
the production and consumption of drugs?
The word limit will be enforced strictly and you will be penalised 1%
for each 10 words you exceed the word limit!
Important information
Word limits
The essay outline has an 800 word limit and the essay has a 1200
word limit. Include the word count for your paper on the cover page.
Papers that exceed the word limit will be deducted 1 percentage
point for each 10 words over the limit.
For both essay outline and essay the word count excludes the list of
references at the end of the paper, and it excludes the title, but it
includes the in-text citations. So, when you submit your word count, just
count the words that form the body text of the essay or essay outline.
Please take the word limit very seriously and try to make your argument
concisely and clearly. The word limit is designed to level the essaywriting
field, so to speak: it is unfair to fellow students if one person has
much more space to argue their case while another student sticks firmly
to the length guidelines.
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While there is a penalty for exceeding the word limit, there is no penalty
for going under the recommended length. Just remember that you
usually can make a more persuasive argument if you take advantage of
the full number of words you’re allowed!
How do I submit my essay and outline
Essays and outlines are submitted via Turnitin which you can access
from the Turnitin link on the iLearn page for ANTH106, under the Essay
tab. You can only submit your essay (or outline) once, so make sure
you choose the correct file when you submit.
Please name your file using this protocol ‘Option chosen’ ’student last
name’ ‘student number’ – for example – ‘Q2 Sheik 42021212’.
Essay submission checklist
• The Turnitin link will open the week before the assignment is due
• Provide a word count – 800 words for the outline and 1200 words
for the essay are the absolute maximum word limits! You will be
penalised by 1% for each 10 words that you exceed the word limit
• Be sure to include your list of references with the outline or essay
in one document
• Please save a record of your Turnitin receipt and unique student ID
after submitting
• YOU CAN ONLY SUBMIT ONCE. Once you’ve submitted, you
cannot un-submit and resubmit, even if the deadline hasn’t
passed. Make sure that what you submit is FINAL
Outlines and essays will be returned online through the Turnitin system
with feedback, 3 weeks after the submission date. You can access it via
the Turnitin system.
Extensions and penalties
Late submissions will incur a penalty of 2 percentage points per day
and will not be accepted more than 7 days late unless the unit
convenor has granted an extension due to ‘unavoidable disruption’ (see
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Undergraduate Student Handbook, and submit applications for special
consideration via ask.mq.edu.au).
Plagiarism
Macquarie University defines plagiarism in its rules:
“Plagiarism involves using the work of another person and
presenting it as one’s own.”
Plagiarism is a serious breach of the University’s rules and carries
significant penalties. Please make sure you understand the meaning and
consequences of plagiarism by reading the University’s academic
honesty policy.
The policies and procedures explain what plagiarism is, how to avoid it,
the procedures that will be taken in cases of suspected plagiarism, and
the penalties if you are found guilty.
Please note the availability of online materials has made plagiarism
easier for students, but it has also made discovery of plagiarism even
easier for unit convenors. We have specialised databases (including
Turnitin) that can quickly identify the source of particular phrases in a
student’s work, if not original, and evaluate how much is taken from
sources in inappropriate ways. Our advice to you is to become familiar
with the guidelines about plagiarism and then ‘quarantine’ the files that
you are actually planning on turning in; that is, do not cut and paste
materials directly into any work file that you plan to submit, because it is
too easy to later on forget which is your original writing and which has
come from other sources.
There are two kinds of plagiarism that students often aren’t aware about:
self-plagiarism and sham paraphrasing.
Self-plagiarism is when you copy yourself – for example, you write a
paper for one unit and then you submit the same paper to another unit,
or you copy whole paragraphs from one paper to another without
permission of the convenor. This is plagiarism, and you will get caught
by Turnitin, so don’t do it!
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Sham paraphrasing is when you use the same words as in a published
source and acknowledge that author as the source of the idea in your
paper, but you represent them as your own words – i.e. when you copy
text from another source and cite the source, but don’t put the text on
quotes.
Turnitin is used to detect plagiarism and we take it very seriously.
Plagiarism in any assessment task will be referred to the Faculty
Discipline Committee and may result in a mark of zero for that
assignment or failing the entire unit, depending on the severity of the
plagiarism.
No consideration for lost work
It is the student’s responsibility to keep a copy of all work submitted for
each unit. No consideration will be given to claims of ‘lost work’, no
matter what the circumstances.
Students are required to keep copies of all the written or digital work
they submit. In the event that you submit it, and there are problems with
Turnitin, you will be required to resubmit it. If there is no record of your
work being created or submitted and you cannot produce a second copy,
it will be impossible for the convenor to give you credit for the
assignment.
How to write an essay outline
Adapted from Greg Downey’s outline instructions in ANTH151
Introduction
An essay outline involves developing the essential elements of a good
essay in outline form. It will have its own sense of argument.
For the assessment, students will choose one of the case study options,
prepare an introduction (approximately one page), an outline of evidence
and how the argument would be structured (citing sources), and an
outline of the conclusion which includes the implications, reservations
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and importance of the argument. Students must also provide a
comprehensive reference list.
The INTRODUCTION section MUST BE WRITTEN out IN FULL (not just
an outline).
This will ensure that you receive feedback on both your writing style as
well as the thematic organisation of your ideas.
Use the following questions to guide you in writing and structuring the
outline:
• What issues are raised by your case study?
• How do they relate to topics covered in class and weekly readings
so far? (Obviously, you’ll be able to include more theories /
readings in your essay than you will in your outline, since we will
have covered more material by then).
• What are the complex social processes and relations that surround
the production and consumption of drugs?
The whole document should not exceed 800 words (excluding the
reference list).
Your introduction and conclusion need to be double-spaced. Your
outline and reference list can be single-spaced, but put an extra
space in where necessary to make it more readable. The key is
readability, but the text portion (introduction) has to be double-spaced in
case we need to write something on your copy.
Use the Harvard style of referencing. Harvard uses in-text citation
together with a full reference list. Guidance on the Harvard style can be
found in this guide.
Steps in a producing an outline essay
1. Choose a topic and start conducting research. Use a systematic
approach, use the required and recommended readings as a
starting point, locate good sources from peer reviewed journals,
read them, see what sources they cite or what has been written
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since on the same subject (use Anthrosource, Web of Knowledge
or other academic data base).
2. Start writing immediately! Students often think that they should
only write at the end, but this is a form of procrastination and can
often be a disaster. Write something after you read anything
interesting.
3. As you go, prepare your bibliography and start arranging your
outline page. The outline page should, by the end, be a series of
key points, numbered, with a brief note of supporting material
(short quotes from authors, citations of the key texts, several facts
that would go with the key point if you were to write it up as a
paragraph). It must include citations.
4. Key points are like paragraphs in the body of an essay. So each
key point is the collection of material that you think would make a
good paragraph. I would expect at least 4 but probably no more
than 7 or 8 key points in your outline.
5. Once you’ve finished with the outline and already have a pretty
good bibliography, write the introduction and outline the
conclusion. For the introduction, you need to focus on ‘the hook,’
the thing that draws your reader in and presents the key question,
debate or problem you will be discussing. That is, you need to put
the key over-arching issue up in the very first long paragraph,
giving the reader some sense of why it’s important.
6. Proofread! When you proofread, reading OUT LOUD is the best
way to do it. Cut out things that sound weird, catch yourself
repeating words, and trim flabby writing (most essays read smarter
when they are shorter). If you can’t successfully read something
out loud, it’s not well written; it might be overly convoluted,
fragmented, or just a run-on sentence. See the ‘writing advice’
information in this guide for the most common writing problems.
7. Presentation MATTERS in this assessment as in everything in life,
and the last 10% of effort can translate into a major difference in
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your final mark, just like the last 100m of a race can lead to a big
difference in the outcome. If you get lazy at the very end or don’t
give yourself enough time, it’s like putting your resume together
and then not caring how it prints out, or preparing for a job
interview and then showing up late.
Writing a good introduction
The best way to start an essay is quickly, not to waffle around or present
sweeping, overly-broad statements. Bad introductions tend to be
padded, overly vague, and don’t get to the point until the very end. If
you’re in the habit of writing your introduction first, you need to get in the
habit of going back and fixing it at the end. It’s normal to write vaguely
at first, but you want to replace this before you turn it in for assessment.
A WEAK introduction might start something like:
‘Lots of people wonder why cannabis, the most common illicit drug
in the world (Legleye et al. 2014, p. 1103), still isn’t legal. They
think about it a lot and you can find lots of writing and opinion
about it. The chapter ‘Cannabis in Cultural and Legal limbo’ from
the book ‘The Drug Effect’ (2011) is one of these. It explores ‘The
image of Cannabis’ through the history and its criminalisation that
are impacted by the symbolic image effecting the social political
environment.’
That’s a BAD introduction. It’s too vague, wastes our time, doesn’t
actually get to the subject, and frustrates the reader.
A GOOD introduction dives right in. It doesn’t waffle around or make
vague statements. A good introduction doesn’t just summarise the
essay (it can, but doesn’t have to summarise), but it DOES give the
reader a sense of the argument or debate or central question of the
essay. For example:
‘Many drug reform advocates welcome the increased acceptance
of cannabis for medical use. However Reinarman (2011), in his
book chapter ‘Cannabis in cultural and legal limbo’, warns that
there may be an unintended consequence to the medicalisation
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debate. He claims it constructs users as addicts and their usage as
‘illness’ (Reinarman 2011:171). One effect of this is a closing down
of the space for non-problematic recreational use, as users are
viewed as deviant. A second is that it reinforces the prohibitionist
approach of control and discipline, with the medical industry
replacing policing and law as the enforcers of control.’
In other words, a good introduction is dynamic and engaging by fronting
the central question of the essay. It says, if you like this idea or want to
know more, keep reading! You can use a (short) story to get people
engaged as long as the story presents the key question or debate, but
you don’t have to use a story.
Writing a conclusion
A good conclusion acts like a summary, but it isn’t written like one. DO
NOT sit down and write, ‘First, I showed that… Then, I discussed…’
BORING! Instead, when you finish, ask yourself, ‘If a person only reads
two paragraphs in my essay, the introduction and the conclusion, what
do I want them to take away from it?’ Then, write. When you finish that,
ask yourself, ‘Why the h*** should anyone care about this?’ Then, write.
For this assessment task you’re required to outline the conclusion. With
those notes, you should be able to craft a great outline for the
conclusion. A good conclusion gives a strong sense of the central
argument or thesis of the essay, and it also gives a sense of the
significance of the argument, or why anyone should care. A good
conclusion makes people go, ‘Yeah, I see that now!’ and ‘Wow, now that
I think about it, this matters!’ It doesn’t make people go, ‘oh, god, I’ve
already read this.’
Choosing good sources
Students sometimes have trouble figuring out which sources are
reputable and can be trusted, and which can’t be. The gold standard for
the best research appears in peer-reviewed journals (those which only
publish articles after review by other scholars) and in books published by
the strongest university presses (rule of thumb: if you haven’t heard of
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the university, it may not be the strongest press). There are exceptions,
but these are generally the best sources to go on. One way to know that
you’re NOT dealing with a strong source is that the writer is not
referencing their sources; an article without a good references list and
either in-text citations or footnotes is almost certainly not one of the best
sources.
Try to get some variety in your sources so that you don’t wind up only
working with one person’s opinions (unless that’s your specific goal).
For example, if you keep finding the same author writing about a topic,
consider finding someone who disagrees, to see if the counterarguments
are strong. You may be surprised how some people will
continue to drum on about something when other researchers have
punched huge holes in their arguments, sometimes continuing with a
controversial theory for years.
Use articles from a range of journals; focus on peer-review, but don’t
restrict yourself to one or two journals. Sometimes journals can get in a
rut as well, and really interesting, challenging stuff has to come from
other journals.
In general, though, remember that these essays are practice for
developing your research skills and we want you to demonstrate these
skills, not simply choose the easiest, first things you find. If we see a
pattern that looks lazy or overly hasty, this will not look good for the
assessment.
Integrating your sources into your argument
When working with research, students tend to commit two opposite
errors; either they
• don’t make much reference to their sources and don’t let the
reader know how the argument is supported, or
• just lift whole sections either with or without attribution. Both of
these are a problem.
Study how other people, whose writing you like, work with their sources
and use them. For example, if there’s a good article in the reader, notice
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how the author talks about other people’s ideas, especially if it’s an
article from a good journal. Don’t be afraid of referring to authors by
their names in the text (just use last names) and also think about quoting
phrases or terms when they’re particularly good (put the citation at the
end of the sentence). Do this in preference to quoting whole chunks of
text.
Make sure you understand something that you are quoting. Often,
students will quote paragraphs from a text and then not explain them or
tie them into their argument. Sometimes, the paragraph will even say
something different to, tangential from, or even opposed to what the
student seems to be arguing. This is one of the dangers of over-quoting;
make sure that you control the ideas.
Learning outcomes
Research skills are an essential part of any university education.
Whether you’re going into commerce or government or law or
engineering or management, you’re going to come across questions that
force you to go look for answers. We want you to learn how to do this,
how to assess sources of information or arguments, and how to report
your findings. Even if your job title does not say, ‘researcher,’ you’re
likely to find that you will want to have these skills, to be able to up-skill
yourself and teach yourself about new subjects.
How to write an anthropology essay
In anthropology you are expected to read widely and critically. You will
soon discover that much of anthropology consists of argument about
how social facts are to be interpreted. Our understanding often
advances through a variety of contrary viewpoints and emphases. As in
related disciplines such as sociology, political science and philosophy,
there is an internal tension generated by the opposition of arguments
that gives anthropology much of its vitality and interest. Anthropology is
not so much a unified body of knowledge as it is a dialectical, ongoing
production. Your essay should be an extension of this dialogue, one that
is balanced, well thought out, and reasonable.
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Few issues in anthropology have been resolved. You won’t find many
generally accepted ‘answers’, and there are no single authorities who
can tell you all you need to know. This means that we expect your
essays to demonstrate not just factual knowledge but also some ability
to present and critically evaluate arguments and counter-arguments
about particular problems. A great anthropology essay doesn’t just
summarise key theoretical arguments, it puts theorists in dialogue with
each other, finding points of agreement and difference, and evaluates
those differences.
Read the information on writing an anthropology essay on the
Anthropology Department website.
Thesis and Relevance of Arguments
The essay should demonstrate your capacity to develop a structured
argument in response to the question. Your material must be relevant to
the question and draw on the themes and issues of the unit. Don’t
include material not directly related to it. Make sure that you identify
exactly what the question is asking. Make a clear argument (the “thesis”
of your essay) and support it with appropriate evidence.
Make sure you demonstrate that you understand the central concept
used (e.g. ‘culture’ and ‘ethnography’.) You can do this either by giving
definitions (do this only with very difficult or very important technical
words) or, preferably, by using the concepts in such a way that
demonstrates that you know what they mean.
Familiarity with the material and literature you’re writing about is
essential but not sufficient. An essay must be based on your own
thinking. Avoid using extensive quotes or merely paraphrasing another
author’s work. You must use your own words to demonstrate you
understand and can discuss with insight the theories and evidence you
use.
It is not enough to just summarise the arguments of different authors –
you must show links between them, agreements and disagreements,
and offer a critical assessment of the authors’ arguments and the data
they marshal in support of those arguments.
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Make sure that the points you make are relevant and illustrate the
argument of your essay. Back up all statements of fact, quotations, and
paraphrased sentences with appropriate citations.
Organisation and Expression
The essay should be clearly organised so that it develops an argument
in a coherent, progressive manner. You must start with an introductory
paragraph that states the aim of the essay, provides a clear thesis
statement or argument, and outlines the structure of the argument.
The body of the essay is used to systematically support your thesis
using persuasive arguments and evidence. Paragraphs must have a
logical flow to help bring the reader along on the journey. Finish with a
conclusion that draws together the threads of the argument to
demonstrate how you’ve proved your position.
Clear expression is an important part of a clear argument. Attention to
grammar, syntax and style will assist in clarifying what you are trying to
say to the reader. Try reading aloud or ask someone to read it for you,
and ask a friend to tell you whether the arguments make sense and
follow a logical flow.
Have a title page that includes an essay title, the number/option
assessment chosen, unit name, student name, student ID and word
count. Use standard 12 point font (e.g. Times New Roman, Arial) with
double spacing and margins of at least 2.5 cm.
Communication / Writing
Spelling, punctuation, and grammar are extremely important – they
create a powerful first impression – and you want it to be positive. Use a
dictionary and spellcheck regularly. Don’t use big words just because
they sound fancy. A common mistake that people make is to use words
that don’t make sense in context, because they found them in a list of
synonyms and it sounded good.
Use good academic English. Write complete sentences and keep them
short and succinct. Make your point as clearly and concisely as you can.
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Have a friend proofread your essay for you before you submit it –
another person can often spot typos and other errors that you might
miss.
Also, see the Anthropology Libguide for all kinds of useful resources for
undergraduate students on how best to write up their assignments,
anthropology-related online resources and the latest publications etc.
Acknowledging your sources
Research
Never quote or use an author’s work in any way without
acknowledging it.
To quote or paraphrase another person’s work without acknowledgment
is plagiarism: that is the presentation of the words and ideas of another
writer as your own. Plagiarism demonstrates that the writer has failed to
think independently, and it is unjust to writers who do honest work. To
the extent that work is plagiarised it loses value, and depending on the
amount plagiarised, may receive no marks at all.
You must always indicate where in the literature you obtained the facts,
concepts and points of view that you discuss in your essay. When
quoting an author verbatim, always show this with quotation marks and a
citation. You must also indicate where a summary of someone else’s
work or ideas ends and your own discussion is resumed.
Make use of appropriate sources from the required and recommended
readings in the unit outline and in the essay handout. Search the library
or the Internet for additional references. You should use lectures,
tutorials and general anthropology texts to guide you to relevant issues
and readings.
However, do not cite lecture slides – you can only cite a lecturer as a
source if it has been published in a peer-reviewed piece. Please go
directly to the peer-reviewed source of information (such as a journal
article) to provide evidence in your essay.
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Do not uncritically rely on un-scholarly sources such as Wikipedia and
non-peer reviewed popular literature or websites. You can mention
these to make a critical point (e.g. “This popular website makes suchand-
such a claim about drugs,”) but do not assume that they represent
the final word on a topic.
Referencing
Anthropology uses the Harvard style of referencing. Harvard style uses
in-text references, a reference list, and does not use footnotes. You will
be penalised for using an incorrect reference style so it makes sense to
understand what’s required from the beginning.
There are many good Harvard referencing style guides on the Internet.
Here is one you might like to use. Or just Google “Harvard referencing
for film” (or “legal case” or “web page” or “book” or “article”… etc.!) and
you will find many university guides for Harvard referencing.
Tips for writing your assignment
Read all questions carefully
Read all questions carefully and look at the lists of references provided.
You may want to write a few bullet points for each question so you get a
sense of how much you know of each topic before starting.
Choose a question
Choose a question that you find INTERESTING. There is nothing worse
than having to write an assignment on a topic you don’t like.
Familiarise yourself with the issues
Before going off to do research, read the question again and jot down
notes of the ideas that come to your mind.
• Do you understand the question?
• What are the instructions embedded within it? Is there more than
one part to the question?
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• Do you agree with the question?
• Can you think of examples to illustrate the point?
• What issues does the question raise?
Do a preliminary reading
Read your question before you start to read each source. Check out at
least five of the references in the reference list provided. Read them
thoroughly, take notes, and revisit your question with those sources in
mind.
• How do they inform your potential answers to the question?
• Do they raise issues you hadn’t considered? If so, do you need to
do further reading on specific topics?
• Can you begin to formulate an argument?
• Can you appreciate the debates within the literature? Where do
you stand within these debates?
• In which direction do you want to take your research?
Do further reading
Read your question again. Read more sources both from the list
provided and from your own research, take more notes. Revisit your
questions, formulate new questions. Repeat this process until you feel
you have a clear idea in your head of what you want to say and how you
want to support it.
Plan your plan
Only after all this work do you begin to think about writing the essay.
Read your question. Jot down your main points, and any evidence you
have to support them. Consider how they relate to each other, how you
can group them into clusters of ideas.
• Do you have enough evidence to support your points?
• Are you making an argument or merely describing what you read?
• Are you addressing the question?
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Write a plan
Once you have all your ideas written down you can begin to think about
how to organise them. If you write a paragraph-by-paragraph plan of
your points you will find that writing the essay is the easiest step.
• Leave your introduction till last.
• Organise your points in logical order.
• Each point will most likely become a paragraph, although some
points may need more than one paragraph if they are more
complex.
• Under each point list the supporting evidence and various debates
! this is your paragraph.
• The last sentence of each paragraph needs to connect to the first
sentence of the following paragraph. That gives your essay logical
flow.
Fill out the plan
Once you have a detailed plan like this one, writing an essay is merely a
question of filling out the plan. Here is where you think about how you
make your point. Use short, concise sentences. Think about language
and style. Be very clear about your ideas. If you know what you want to
say, the chances are that you will be able to express your ideas well.
Often unclear style results from unclear thought processes.
Tip: During this process check the marking rubric to be clear on the
marking criteria.
Write the introduction
Only once you have finished the essay do you concern yourself with the
introduction.
• Present your argument: state the research problem and why it
matters.
• A good essay contains an original, independent idea, or thesis,
that makes us see the subject in a new light.
• Make us care about the research topic: is there some fascinating
anecdote or quote that you can use as a hook to grab the interest
of your reader?
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• Anticipate the major observations of your study – don’t give it all
away in the introduction but you must provide sufficient information
so the reader knows what to expect.
Editing
The editing stage is as important and sometimes as time-consuming as
all previous stages. Ideally, once you finish filling out the plan and writing
the introduction you leave the essay for at least two hours, but better
still, a day. Only once you look at your work with fresh eyes can you pick
up on typos, grammar, style and other issues.
Editing works best if you do it in stages:
• 1st Read – check for flow – all paragraphs connect well, ideas
develop into each other, points are well supported, arguments are
strong.
• 2nd Read – check for grammar and expression – no typos, no
spelling, no grammar, no awkward expressions, no sentences
without verbs.
• 3rd Read – general check – read it without looking for anything in
particular to see if anything stands out.
Peer review
If you want to, and you are lucky to have someone who will help, you
can give your essay to a classmate to check for general style issues,
clarity of ideas, expression, etc.
Submit
Make sure you submit the final copy of your work.
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Inserting your opinion into an academic essay
Some students have been confused, trying to figure out what it means to
insert your own opinion into the essay. A common mistake new students
make is that inserting your own opinion means to say, “Well, I think this”
— without grounding that opinion in the scholarly literature. As in “Soand-
so says that marijuana should be illegal, but I think it shouldn’t,
because in my opinion, marijuana is no worse than alcohol.” Or, “Soand-
so says that marijuana shouldn’t be criminalized, but I think it
should, because I’ve seen how drugs have destroyed my friends’ lives.”
Those are NOT the kinds of opinions we are looking for in an academic
essay!
The opposite sort of mistake people commonly make is to string together
a series of quotes or paraphrases, without making their stance clear on
how the quotes or phrases relate to each other and to the argument.
For example:
Jones says that cows eat grass because it is green (Jones 1989),
and Humphreys says ‘cow pies are green because their diet is
mostly grass’ (Humphreys 2007:34). Ali says that the fact that
grass is green has nothing to do with the reasons cows eat it (Ali
2003a, 2003b). Xiang says that the greenness of the grass is
tangentially related to cows’ eating it because of the chlorophyll in
it, but that it is a mistake to assume that cows naturally desire
green food (Xiang 2008).
That’s not what we’re looking for either!
So inserting your own opinion into an academic essay means putting
different authors in dialogue with each other and IMPLICITLY showing
what you think by evaluating the merits of what they say. It is neither
just paraphrasing and quoting other authors, nor is it spouting your own
random opinion without reference to the scholarly literature. For
example, here is how we might transform our absurd example from
above:
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Jones and Humphreys share the same fundamental assumptions
about the relationship between colour and cows’ preferred diet.
Jones was the first to advance the thesis that cows eat grass
because it is green (Jones 1989), and Humphreys then elaborated
upon Jones’ hypothesis by arguing that there was a direct link
between cows’ diet and the colour of their faeces, arguing that
‘cow pies are green because their diet is mostly grass’ (Humphreys
2007:34). Humphreys essentially disregards the 2003 critique of
Ali, who argued that the fact that grass is green has nothing to do
with the reasons cows eat it (Ali 2003a, 2003b). However, Ali’s
argument has been influential amongst a new generation of
scholars, who recognize the inherent contradictions and lack of
logical reasoning in Jones’ argument. Xiang tries to seek middle
ground by reclaiming Jones’ original argument from the
accusations of illogic, by pointing out that the greenness of the
grass is at least tangentially related to cows’ eating it because of
the chlorophyll in it, but Xiang acknowledges Ali’s critique when
she says that it is a mistake to assume that cows naturally desire
green food (Xiang 2008).
In the above paragraph, you can infer a lot about the writer’s opinion,
even without actually saying, “In my opinion,” or “I think that…”. Note, for
example, where it says “recognize the inherent contradictions and lack
of logical reasoning in Jones’ argument.” That’s clearly the author’s
opinion — she has assessed Jones’ argument and agrees with others
who see it as illogical and contradictory. Another author might take a
completely different position and argue this way:
Influenced by Ali’s 2003 critique of Jones’ seminal argument
(Jones 1989), a new generation of scholars has been quick to
dismiss the importance of colour in shaping a cow’s diet. Yet not
everyone is so swayed by this theoretical trend. Xiang, for
example, returns to Jones’ classic argument and finds that there is
in fact considerable scientific merit to his claim, when she points
out the important role that chlorophyll plays in determining both
dietary preference and food colour. (Xiang 2008). Clearly the link
is not as irrelevant as Ali would have us believe.
23
In this example, we can see the author has a completely different
opinion than in the first example, and that opinion comes through clearly,
even as every point is well referenced and relates to the academic
literature. In no place do we see words like “I think” or “In my opinion.”
It can just be inferred.
The final bit of advice is this: take the authors you are reading in class as
your writing style guide. The writing we look for as an ideal in student
papers is not fundamentally different from the academic writing you are
assigned to read for class. Do any of these authors say “In my opinion”
in their writing? Rarely. And yet they all clearly have strongly held
opinions about the topics they are writing about! Look to them for
examples of how to set up your argument in your essay, and if you can
effectively mimic their rhetorical style and their standard of referencing,
you’ll perform fantastically well in this assignment.
Description of grades/standards
Here is an explanation of what each grade implies. It can help you
understand what you need to do to achieve a higher grade.
Macquarie University awards grades in the following ranges. Below is a
brief summary of what each grade may be taken to mean in the Faculty
of Arts. It provides more information than the grade definitions supplied
by the university, but is not inconsistent with them. The grade awarded
for a particular assignment or activity in a unit is also broadly consistent
with the following list. In this way, you should replace the word “essay”
with whatever assignment you are doing – where necessary.
In this system the Pass grade represents the normal grade for a student
who has worked satisfactorily in a unit. Approximately half or more of
students in a unit can expect a pass grade.
High Distinction (85%-100%)
Students gaining a HD show all the qualities of students earning a
Distinction, but their work also shows originality and real initiative in
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approach, research or argument. HD students have usually gone
beyond the question asked and the materials on the unit, to seek out
new materials, reflect critically on issues or methodologies used in a
certain discipline or to contrive daring styles of literary presentation. HD
work shows no lapses in any field, whether interpretation, argument,
research or presentation. HD work should be flawless!
Distinction (75%-84%)
Distinction work is exceptional in relation to its peers. It shows all the
qualities of Credit work, but shows evidence of initiative. The student will
usually show they have a range of options at their disposal: there are a
number of ways they can interpret the question, research the topic and
organise their argument; and they are aware of the specificity of the
methodology available. In other words, they will show an understanding
of the approaches modelled in lectures and readings, and the ability to
go beyond them. Within the choices they have made, they have
presented a strong, considered, if not absolutely water-tight argument.
Credit (65%-74%)
Credit work will present an argument that shows a considered, planned
response to the issues and questions raised by a unit, and a wellinformed
engagement with unit material. Discipline based terminology
and methodology will be clearly understood and applied. Credit students
show evidence of thorough use of unit readings and lecture material.
Credit essays show basic mastery of unit material and discipline specific
methodology as modelled in lectures and readings. Literary presentation
should show proper referencing, and proper structure, at a sentence,
paragraph and overall strategic level.
Pass (50%-64%)
The Pass grade is the grade most commonly awarded in a unit. A pass
essay deals adequately with unit material; it understands key disciplinebased
terminology as it has been outlined in lectures and unit material. It
shows a general or basic understanding of discipline-based
methodology, in a practical sense, but it would not usually reflect on
methodological questions (unless that is the specific focus of the unit or
25
task). It would be adequate in its literary presentation, conforming
loosely to discursive writing conventions (using paragraphs etc.)
showing some evidence of planning and structuring; some attempt at
informed use of references would be expected. A pass essay at the
lower level would probably be descriptive; at the higher level, it would
show awareness of the need to be analytical and critical, though this
might not have been brought off effectively. Research will not go beyond
a basic, probably one-off reading of unit material.
Fail (less than 50%)
Work that has been failed usually shows disregard for the demands of
the questions asked, the aims of the unit or the approach of the
discipline. It shows little direct address to the question, minimal
knowledge of the unit material and little care as to preparation, research
and presentation.
How to request a regrade of your essay mark
NOTE: YOU HAVE TWO WEEKS FROM THE DATE OF RETURN OF
YOUR ASSESSMENTS TO REQUEST A REMARK. This section
contains information on the procedure to follow.
As the convenor of ANTH106, I (Lisa Wynn) don’t mark most of the
essays. There are too many for me to mark them all! Instead, I have a
team of about 10 essay markers, most of whom have PhDs in
anthropology and have marked essays in this class before (some of
them even took ANTH106 as undergraduates!).
My job as convenor is to supervise the essay markers, to articulate a set
of standards by which they are assessed, and then to review their marks
to make sure that they’re marking fairly and evenly across the board.
After the essay markers submit their marks, I go back and randomly
sample their essay marks to see whether they are providing useful and
qualitative feedback. I also review their marks to see whether they are
too easy or too harsh compared to the other markers and against the
26
standards I have set for essays in this class (which you’ll find in the unit
outline and the essay assessment rubric).
If you are not satisfied with the essay grade you received from the
person who marked your essay, then I am happy to look at your essay
and remark it. But to make this a very fair process, there is a formal
procedure that I follow for remarking essays. So if you want your
essay remarked, here’s what you need to do:
1) Review your essay, the feedback you got from your marker, and the
essay marking criteria (which can be found on iLearn under the essay
tab/folder).
2) Print out the marking criteria (i.e. the assessment rubric, on iLearn
under the essay tab) and fill it out by circling or highlighting where YOU
think your essay falls under each of the assessment criteria.
3) Write a letter to me that identifies what you think are the main
differences between the marker’s assessment of your essay and how
you would assess it yourself. Explain, if you can, why there is a
discrepancy between what the marker wrote about your essay and how
you have self-assessed it (e.g. “The marker said that I did not sufficiently
reference claims of fact, but as you can see on pp.2 and 3, I provide an
in-text citation for every claim of fact and these are fully referenced in the
bibliography”).
4) Send this letter to me with a clean copy of your ANTH106 essay.
Then, here’s what I do:
Once I have received your request for a remark, I give the blank copy of
your essay to a new marker (not the one who originally marked your
essay) and, without telling them what the original grade was, I ask them
to tell me how they would mark the essay.
Once they have marked it, I read the essay myself and compare the
grades given to it by both markers, as well as your assessment rubric
and the letter you have provided describing why you think the grade
27
should change. I make a final decision on the grade based on all of
these together.
As you can see, I take requests for remarking very seriously and I do
everything I can to make sure that it’s a fair process. Once you submit
your paper for remarking, you are committing yourself to abiding by the
final mark – with the full awareness that your mark might go up, or it
might stay the same, but it also might go down! In the past, I have found
that students who have requested re-marks of their essays have just as
much a chance of seeing their grade go DOWN as they do of seeing it
go UP! So you should be sure that you are very confident that your
paper was better than the essay marker thought it was before you
submit it for remarking, because my decision will be final. I strongly
recommend that before engaging in this process you read the essay of a
fellow student that received the mark you think you deserve and
compare your essays.
DEADLINE: The deadline for requesting that your essay be re-graded is
2 weeks from the time essay results have been released (i.e. 5 weeks
after your essay was submitted). After that time, no requests for regrading
will be considered.
FAQs (frequently asked questions)
1.A. Referencing: lecture notes
Q: How do I reference the cannabis lecture notes?
A: Short answer: DON’T reference lectures or lecture notes! Anything
we say in class can and should be independently sourced from the
academic literature. That’s why I (Lisa Wynn) provide a list of references
at the end of my lecture notes, so you can figure out where I got the
information that I included in my lecture. Not all lecturers provide a list of
references, so in that case you might have to work harder to find the
sources, but a good starting point is to look at the required and
recommended readings associated with that week’s lecture.
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1.B. Referencing: multiple authors
Q: Just a quick question, as an IT student I don’t often write essays
anymore. The referencing help link for Harvard style suggests using ‘et
al.’ in text for works with more than three authors. My question is, is it
still relevant to list all authors the first time and et al. each instance after?
A: Say you have an article with 5 authors: Wu, Habib, Park, Garcia, and
Gautier. In the text, your in-text citation would be (Wu et al. 1999). In
the reference list you would list all the authors. If you have an article
with 3 authors, your in-text citation would be (Wu, Habib, and Park 1999)
– every time!
1.C. Referencing: Author of a chapter in an edited book
Q: I’m doing chapter 2 of The Drug Effect and the author of that chapter
is Kane Race; however the editors of the book are different to the
authors of each chapter, so when I cite at the end of each paragraph and
do my reference list, do I use Kane Race or Suzanne Fraser & David
Moore?
A: For the in-text citation, you cite Race i.e. “blah blah blah (Race
2011).” In the reference list at the end, you also put Race as your
reference, and follow the directions for how to reference a chapter in an
edited book (so the reference will be in Race’s name but it will also
include information about where it was published, i.e. in the Fraser and
Moore volume). See a guide to Harvard referencing for info about how
to do this correctly.
1.D. Referencing: Quoting an author who quotes
someone else
Q: The article I am using quotes another author, and I want to include
that quote. How do I reference that?
A: Let’s say you’re reading an article by Wu, who on p. 50 of her 2015
article quotes something from p.10 of another article written by Habib in
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2010. You want to use the Habib quote. You would say, “’blah blah blah’
(Habib 2010: 10, in Wu 2015: 50).” Then in your reference list, you
would just list Wu, not Habib. (Alternatively you could source the Habib
article yourself and quote Habib directly. It’s always best academic
practice to go back to the original sources!)
2.A. Word count: How much over?
Q: Can I go 10% over the 1200-word limit?
A: NO! There’s a strict word limit and you will be penalised 1% for each
10 words you go over the limit. There are different rules for word limits
in different classes, and no overall MQ policy about word limits, so don’t
assume that what you’ve done in one class is the rule for ANTH106!
2.B. Word count: Lower limit?
Q: Is there a lower word minimum?
A: There’s no lower limit, and we don’t suggest fluffing up your language
just to reach some minimum word count. Better to be concise than
unnecessarily wordy. However, just remember: someone who writes
900 words is going to be able to make more arguments and say more
interesting things than someone who writes only 600 words.
2.C. Word count: Includes references, in-text
citations, title?
Q: It says the word count doesn’t include references is it just the
reference list attached after the essay or those also used within it??
A: Word count doesn’t include the title or the reference list at the end,
but it does include the parenthetical in-text citations.
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3.A. Questions about my chapter: One chapter, or
more?
Q: I’m doing a chapter from Marc Lewis, Memoirs of an Addicted Brain.
Should I talk about the whole book, a whole section, or just one chapter?
A: Just talk about one chapter. You can mention something in another
chapter if it’s essential to the argument you’re making, but it’s not
necessary and you don’t get any extra ‘points’ for mentioning that you’ve
read more than one chapter.
3.B. Questions about my chapter: Help me figure
out what theorists to use!
Q: I have chosen chapter X. But I’m not sure what theorists I can use to
analyse it. It doesn’t seem like any of them really apply. Would you be
able to tell me what theories I could include in my essay?
A: Sorry, I can’t tell you what to write! That said, Manderson,
Himmelstein, Zinberg, and Robson can be applied to most writing about
drugs. Use Zinberg to write about the way social setting shapes how
drugs are used. Use Zinberg also to talk about any social rituals or
social sanctions around drug use that shape how a drug is used and that
affect the health impact of drug use. Use Manderson to talk about drug
symbols. Use Himmelstein to talk about social entrepreneurs who
shape popular images and legal status of a drug, and about how these
popular images of drugs change over time. Also use Himmelstein to talk
about social locus of use: the way social class of the stereotypical user
of a particular drug affects the popular image (and legal status) of that
drug. Use Robson to talk about the history of drugs. (Actually you can
use the Robson chapter to talk about just about anything.) Use Weil to
talk about how social rituals and sanctions around drug use mitigate the
negative health effects of drug use in society. (This is related to
Zinberg.) Use Parrott to talk about drug pharmacology. And so on.
Most of the required readings can be used in some way to analyse every
31
chapter. Your job is to figure out which of them are most relevant to your
chapter, and apply them!
3.C. Clarifying essay question: “Complex social
processes and relations”
Q: What does “the complex social processes and relations that surround
the production and consumption of drugs” mean?
A: This refers very broadly to the social processes and relations, so that
would include changes to society over time, the way social locus of use
(following Himmelstein) influences drug laws and policy (in other words,
how the political marginalisation of users can lead to a drug being
stigmatised or made illegal), the way social entrepreneurs shape the
popular image of drugs in society (think of how I discussed this with
relevance not only to the influential artists and scientists who
popularised LSD use but also the way they understood drugs with
reference to major political events going on at the time, such as the
Vietnam war and the protests at universities). It includes the political
economy of drugs, which we’ll be talking about more and more in the
coming weeks. It refers to sociocultural norms about drug use — rituals
of consumption, for example (which Paul Cohen talked about). And so
on — in short, it refers to all of those social processes and relations that
we’re talking about in lecture that influence how drugs are used,
circulated, and regulated.
4.A. Sources: How many?
Q: How many references do we need to include all together in the essay
and how many of them have to be ones we have found ourselves?
A: The general recommendation is 5-6 sources per 1200 words. (That
number doesn’t include your chapter that you’ve chosen to analyse – but
note, you’ll need to include that chapter in your list of references!) This
is just a general guide; it’s possible to write an excellent essay with
32
fewer or more than that. Two of your sources need to be external, peerreviewed
sources.
4.B. Sources: What’s peer-reviewed?
Q: What do you mean by an academic, peer-reviewed source?
A: Peer review means that before publication, an article or book has
been reviewed by other experts (peers) in that discipline to ensure that it
is factually correct and meets academic standards of argument. Articles
published in academic journals are peer-reviewed. Articles published in
newspapers and magazines usually are not peer reviewed. Films
usually are not peer-reviewed, but some documentaries may be.
Government-published studies and statistics have usually undergone
thorough peer review. Academic book publishers (any university press,
plus presses like Routledge, Berg, Berghahn, Palgrave, I.B. Taurus) are
peer reviewed. Books published by what are called “Trade
publishers” (e.g. Penguin, etc.) may or may not be peer-reviewed, but
often are not. You can feel more confident about the factual content of a
peer-reviewed article than something you read in the newspaper or find
on someone’s personal blog on the Internet. You can use non-peer
reviewed sources, but you should be skeptical of them. Typically, a nonpeer
reviewed source might be used in a paper as an example of drugs
in popular culture phenomenon or as an example of typical media
representations of drugs, but you shouldn’t consider a non-peer
reviewed source to be a definitive source for research or facts about
drugs.
4.B.1. Sources: How peer review works in practice,
and whether you should trust it
In case you’re curious, here’s how peer review works in practice. Say I
write a paper about erectile dysfunction drugs in Egypt based on my
research there. I submit it to the journal Medical Anthropology. The
journal editor removes my name from the title – it’s usually double-blind
review – and sends it out to anywhere from 2 to 6 experts. They will try
33
to send it to experts in erectile dysfunction drugs, experts in masculinity
studies, experts in Egypt, experts in pharmaceuticals. Each of those
experts reads my article and writes a review of it. Each of them makes a
recommendation about whether it should be published or not. They also
make suggestions for improvement. They then send these reviews back
to the journal editors.
The journal editor reads those reviews and decides: is this good enough
to publish? The article may be published without revision, but this is
rare. The editor may reject the article altogether. Or the editor may ask
the author to revise their paper in response to the reviewers’ comments.
The editor sends me the reviews. They’re usually anonymous, so I don’t
know who wrote what. Some of the suggestions recommend useful
changes, which I then make to the article. Some of them are just asking
for clarification, so I add a footnote. Some of them want me to cite more
sources (typically, publications by the reviewer), so I add the sources.
Some of the suggestions are complete nonsense, so I refuse to make
those changes. After I’ve made all the changes I’m willing to make, I
write a response to the editor listing what changes I’ve made and
arguing against some of the reviewers’ suggestions if I feel they’re
inappropriate for the paper. Then the editor makes a decision about
whether to publish my paper or not.
In theory, this whole process is supposed to improve the quality of the
papers published, and often it does. However, there have been some
well-publicised scandals that have cast doubt on the peer review
process. In one case, a mathematician submitted a nonsense papers
full of obscure, postmodern jargon garbage to a postmodern literary
journal. It passed review and got published – only for the author to later
reveal his prank, in an attempt to discredit the journal. (Google Alan
Sokal to read about this case.) There are also “predatory journals”
which charge authors money to publish with them and do not actual
subject the papers to rigorous review. One author famously submitted
an article entitled, “Remove me from your fucking mailing list” in which
the article consisted of nothing but the sentence, “Remove me from your
34
fucking mailing list” repeated over and over again. The journal accepted
it for publication and asked the author to send money to get it published.
The author then revealed this publicly, to draw attention to the practices
of predatory journals. There have also been several studies that show
that peer review is nepotistic (you’re more likely to get your paper
published if you recommend a friend as a reviewer), elitist (you’re more
likely to be published if you list an elite university as your affiliation),
sexist (as a woman, you’re more likely to get published if you use initials
instead of your first name so the reader doesn’t know you’re female),
and racist (you’re more likely to get published if you have an Anglo
name).
That’s why I encourage you to be critical and skeptical of EVERYTHING,
even peer-reviewed articles.
FYI: The other complaint academics have is that anonymous peerreview
enables academic trolls to be jerks without consequence.
There’s a very funny academic blog / twitter feed called “Shit My
Reviewers Say” that collects examples of the sometimes witty,
sometimes inane comments from academic reviewers. Check it out for
a good laugh.
4.C. Sources: Required/additional
Q: Is it true that we are NOT ALLOWED to use required readings? But
can use additional readings?
A: Actually the essay assignment is all about you using the required
readings to analyse your case study — that’s the fundamental
assignment! In *addition* to the required readings, you are supposed to
use 2 external sources. They can be from the list of recommended
readings or something you just found on your own doing a search of
Anthrosource (a popular anthropology database) or PubMed (a medical
research database), but those external sources obviously can’t be the
required readings because by definition those are not “external.”
35
4.D. Sources: Do I have to use them all?
Q: I know in our essay we need to use 2 external sources. But when it
comes to the required readings on the unit we have come across so far
are we expected to include all of them in some way?? Just finding it a
little difficult with the word limit
A: You don’t have to use them all (that would be a lot!). I’d suggest you
should use several, and pick the ones that you think are most relevant to
your chapter!
4.E. Sources: Films?
Q: Can one of our 2 external sources can be a film?
A: Most films are not peer-reviewed academic sources, so you could
definitely use it as a source but it wouldn’t count as one of your 2
external peer-reviewed sources. You’d still need 2 peer-reviewed
sources. That said, if you have evidence that a documentary film is
peer-reviewed then I guess that could count as one of your 2 external
peer-reviewed sources! See 4.B above for more info.
4.F. Sources: How many required readings should I
use?
Q: I’m discussing Himmelstein and Manderson but not Zinberg’s theory
because it isn’t exactly relevant. Manderson and Himmelstein will be the
only references from the required readings I’m using and obviously other
external sources. Is this okay?
A: Use what’s relevant to your case study and your argument. The
markers don’t expect everyone to use every required reading. (Though
TBH I would argue that there’s never a time when Zinberg’s argument
isn’t relevant; it’s the basis of virtually all social science writing on
drugs!!) That said, I would advise against relying on just one or two
readings. The whole point of the exercise is to show that you’ve
understood the required readings and the theories we’ve been
36
discussing in class and can now apply that to a different case study. So
find ways to incorporate several required readings into your essay. You
might want to focus on just two required readings, but you can still find
ways to briefly mention some of the other required readings with just a
sentence or two.
4.G. Sources: What’s outdated?
Q: Are we allowed to use an article that was published in 2005? In most
of my units, we are not allowed to use resources that are more than 10
years old.
A: Use anything that is relevant to your essay and that you consider to
be accurate. Zinberg’s theory is quite old, actually, but has enduring
relevance and thus it is timeless. On the other hand, you might be
skeptical of something published in 2005 that has now been debunked
or disproven. For example, some of the early publications on the socalled
“gateway” effect of cannabis have since been disproven and
superseded by more subtle interpretations of data. Part of your job as a
researcher is to discover if an article is still considered current within its
field!
5.A. Essay argument: Coming up with a thesis
statement
Q: I’m struggling to create a good thesis statement! Any suggestions on
how to tackle it?
A: Your thesis statement is just a short summary of what you’re arguing.
After you write your paper, go through and try to summarise each
paragraph in one sentence. Then look at all those sentences and ask
yourself, “How can I sum this up into one or two sentences?”
Alternatively, give your essay to someone else to read and ask them, “If
you had to summarise what I’m saying in 2 sentences, what would those
2 sentences be?” Sometimes an outside perspective can help you see
what you’re arguing.
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5.B. Essay argument: Criticising theorists
Q: I’ve been analysing the case study of ‘Pleasure and Pain, the
influence of music, film and video’, and I was just wondering if I am able
to argue the things that I believe Boyd has neglected to point out about
the power of the media?
I’m confused as to whether I can steer away from the facts, and argue
her points on whether I agree with them or not? Please let me know if I
am just meant to analyse the single text (alongside my external sources)
or if I am able to argue with her points.
A: You can definitely be critical of the author you’re reading. Just don’t
let that pull you too far away from the main point of the essay
assignment, which is to prove that you can take the theorists we’ve been
reading in class and apply them to new material, i.e. the case study (i.e.
chapter) that you’ve chosen to read. If you can do all of those in 1200
words, then awesome!
6.A. Turnitin: High similarity percentage
Q: I submitted my essay through the TEST Turnitin link and my similarity
came to 47%… I’ve never gotten such a high percentage before for any
of my assignments. Some are broken highlighted but all my references I
did not type word for word from my articles. Is this okay? Or should I
change things around?
A: The similarity index itself doesn’t matter. What matters is whether
you plagiarised or not. If you have a lot of broken highlighted text, it may
indicate that you have not done a very good job of paraphrasing. Just
changing a few words here and there is not enough. You need to either
completely put things in your own words, or use the author’s exact words
and place in quotations.
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6.B. Turnitin: Password
Q: Can you please advise what is the password for essay submission
through turnitin?
A: You don’t need a password and you don’t need to go to the Turnitin
website. Just log into iLearn and submit through the links under the
Essay tab — that is Turnitin, embedded in iLearn, and when you log into
iLearn, that’s the only login and password needed.
6.C. Submission: Forgot reference list when I
submitted
Q: Unfortunately for all my other subjects I must submit via turnitin
without a reference list, word count or other information and submit my
final assignment separately. I have unfortunately just done this for this
subject after misreading a comment someone else made clarifying
submission.
I now understand that by submitting my essay into turnitin, I have
actually submitted the end result.
Is there any way I can resubmit my essay including the word count and
the reference list?
A: Send an e-mail to drugsacrosscultures@gmail.com with the complete
essay submission including references and word count. If I delete your
submission and then you resubmit your essay on Turnitin, it will appear
that you have completely plagiarised yourself, so that’s not a good
solution. But if you e-mail me your complete submission I’ll make sure
that reaches whoever is marking your essay.
6.D. Submission: Hard copy
Q: Just a quick question, once we submit our essay into Turnitin, where
do we submit it after that?
A: Once you’ve submitted to Turnitin, that’s it, you’re done! No hard
copy submission after that.
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7.A. Late submission
Q: What’s the penalty for submitting late?
A: The penalty for ANTH106 essays is 2% deducted per day from the
overall 100% of the essay assignment. Late essays can be submitted
up to 3 weeks after the due date, but will not be accepted after that time.
7.B. Late submission: I need an extension for
medical reasons
Q: I know it’s very late notice and I’ve never done this before so I’m not
sure how it works, but I’ve been sick and I haven’t been able to do the
essay. If you would grant me a couple of days’ extension, I’m sure I can
get it done properly.
A: Just apply for an extension under the Special Consideration Policy —
instructions for how to do so are in the unit outline and on iLearn (it’s a
formal online process that goes through the Faculty of Arts, not directly
to the unit convenor) or you can just google “Macquarie University
Special Consideration” — and then you can get a deadline extension
equivalent to the amount of time that the doctor certificates indicate that
you were ill.
7.C. Late submission: I need an extension for
reasons that don’t meet the Special Consideration
Policy criteria: competing assignments
Q: I have an assignment essay due in ANTH106 but I have to spend the
week before revising for an in class exam that covers week1-week8 for
“Consumer behaviour” unit of study. I feel that that the close timing of the
2 events will prevent me to do my best in both assessments. I need to
change the due date of one of the essay so that I am able to effectively
study for the in-class exam and have more time to produce a better
essay for it.
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A: You’re a very special snowflake, but having two assessment tasks
due the same week does not meet the university’s requirements for
special consideration. Please see the MQ Uni Special Consideration
Policy (you can Google that) which clearly states that special
consideration may be granted for an “event or set of
circumstances …that could not have reasonably been anticipated,
avoided or guarded against by the student AND was beyond the
student’s control.” In this case, the essay assignment has been available
since the beginning of the semester and therefore the student could
have written it long before needing to study for the other class test, i.e. it
could have reasonably been anticipated and was not beyond the
student’s control.
7.D. Late submission: I need an extension for
reasons that don’t meet the Special Consideration
Policy criteria: work responsibilities
Q: I’ve been having difficulty keeping up with my uni work to be
completely honest as I have been working day and night for my parents
as there some issues at work, and been coming home very late. I’m only
asking if you allow me an extension till Friday the 4/5/2012. it would be
much appreciated, as I have completely forgot this assignment was due
today.
A: I’m sorry to tell you this but it doesn’t sound like your situation would
meet the university’s requirements for special consideration and
therefore your request for a deadline extension is unlikely to be granted.
The policy states that special consideration may be granted for a
“serious and unavoidable disruption…that could not have reasonably
been anticipated, avoided or guarded against by the student AND was
beyond the student’s control.” The policy further states that “The
University has determined that some circumstances routinely
encountered by students are not acceptable grounds” for claiming
special consideration under the Special Consideration Policy, and
“These grounds include, but are not limited, to routine demands of
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employment… [and] routine family problems.”
In this case, the ANTH106 essay assignment has been available since
the start of semester and therefore you could have written it long before
these work/family demands came up, which is why I think your request
for a deadline extension is unlikely to be granted, unless you can provide
further details that describe a work/ family situation that is “serious and
unavoidable” and far from “routine.”
Please note that you only lose 2% per day that the essay is late, and
sometimes two or three extra days can make a huge difference in the
quality of the essay you submit, enough that you may find it worthwhile
to submit a couple days late and take the penalty.
8.A. After submission: Changing essay
Q: Last night I submitted my assignment via Turnitin, and afterwards I
made some minor changes i.e. grammar and slightly changed my
references. I thought I would be able to resubmit my essay on Turnitin,
but it turns out I cannot. I’ve attached a copy of my final copy, and I had
printed one off to give you today, but you’re not in your office. I
apologise for the inconvenience but I would appreciate it if you could
mark this copy. As I said, it’s only a couple of very minor changes, but it
may make a difference 🙂
A: As it says in the unit outline and on iLearn, it’s not possible to desubmit
and resubmit your paper so what you submitted to Turnitin is
final. Your online submission is final.
8.B. After submission: Submitted wrong file
Q: Sorry to be a pain but I accidentally submitted the wrong assignment
file into Turnitin last week. I can’t resubmit the proper file so I’m sending
it to you in the hope that you can send it on to the right place! Again,
sorry for the hassle.
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A: What did you submit, an earlier version of your essay (in which case,
please tell me how much you changed between that version and the
final version) or a different file entirely? I can’t submit on your behalf, but
I can delete your submission so that you can submit again. However,
this won’t work if there’s almost no difference between what you
submitted previously and the final version, b/c then it will appear that
you’ve plagiarised, which is why I need to know how much difference
there is between what you submitted before and what you just now sent
me.
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