COMM 1060: Ideas, innovation and communication
Assessment 2: Presentation
For this assessment you will select one print story from a reputable news organisation.
For details, please refer to your course's LearnOnline page.
Assessment 2: News sites examples
- News Media GuideThis guide provides an overview of some of the main news outlets and the different types of media you can look at and search through.
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Assignment 2: Example news site search
Each news site will be different as many news outlets are under the same company. Keep this in mind and adjust to find the latest content and type of resources using the filter and sorting functions.
For example:
- After searching for your topic, sort results by the Latest function
- Further filter results by media type or news outlet
- In this example, ABC hosts a range of content from ABC radio, Foreign Correspondent, Four Corners, etc.
- Results will indicate where these stories were originally posted, date/time, and whether these are audio, video or articles via icons on the thumbnails.
Assessment 2: How to spot fake news
Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. Fake news is untrue news, presented as real news with the intent to mislead the audience. (Definition taken from Wikipedia)
Please view the Library Guide for Fake News.
Assessment 2: Evaluating information
Is what you have located relevant and reliable? Are you uncertain whether to use the information you have found? Always critically evaluate what you find. When evaluating information you can use the CRAAP test:
| Currency | How current does the information need to be? Do you need to use information published in the last five years or are older, seminal works fine to use? |
| Relevance | Does the information found answer your question? Do you understand the content and is it at the right level for your purpose? |
| Authority | What are the author's qualifications? Are they linked to a particular organisation such as a university, research institute or government department? |
| Accuracy | Is evidence given for the research undertaken? Can you verify the information presented by using other sources? Is there a bibliography or references given? |
| Purpose | Is it trying to communicate research, persuade you or sell you something? It is expressing an opinion, or is it balanced and objective? |
- Critical analysisHelpful resources on how to critically analyse various media types, such as articles, websites, etc. Video (3:38) and PDFs.
- Study Help: Evaluating information (3:17)A useful guide on how to evaluate information.
Assessment 2: Referencing
The Academic Writer Tutorial: Basics of Seventh Edition APA Style provides an introduction to the seventh edition APA style and is designed for writers new to the style.
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Massey University APA referencing toolAPA Interactive creates customised examples of APA references and in-text citations.
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APA StyleAcademic Writer, formerly known as APA Style CENTRAL®, is APA's complete digital environment for teaching and conducting the process of scholarly writing.
Learn about referencing using the seventh edition APA style in this interactive tutorial from JCU Library. Create a reference for a book, a journal article and and a webpage. 
Assessment 2: Recording & software
- ZoomZoom is a great application for making recordings.
- PowerPoint (Office 365)PowerPoint can be found in all student computers on any campus at UniSA. You can also download PowerPoint (Packaged in Office 365) for free using your UniSA student details.
Assessment 3B: Research report
For Assessment 3B you will build on the research skills you developed in Assessment 2.
You will consider a range of topics and then identify a research question that you want to learn more about. You will plan and conduct your search for information and scholarly sources, and review them to support a critical response to your research question.
For details, please refer to your course's LearnOnline page.
Assessment 3B: Developing a question
Before you start developing your research question, think about your research objectives.
Watch the following video (6:26) to get you started:
- All good academic research starts with a research question.
- A research question is an actual question you want to answer about a particular topic.
- Developing a question helps you focus on an aspect of your topic, which will streamline your research and writing.
- To create a research question:
- Pick a topic you are interested in.
- Narrow the topic to a particular aspect.
- Brainstorm some questions around your topic aspect.
- Select a question to work with.
- Focus the question by making it more specific. Make sure your question clearly states who, what, when, where, and why.
- A good research question focuses on one issue only and requires analysis.
- Your search for information should be directed by your research question.
- Your thesis or hypothesis should be a direct answer to your research question, summarised into one sentence.
Assessments 3B: Planning your search
In order to locate relevant resources for your assignment, you need to plan your search strategy before searching for information.
Watch this video to learn how to construct a search strategy (3:42).
Assessment 3B: How to search
Knowing where to search is just as important as knowing how to search. The following videos will help you to understand how to use different search tools.
Search the Library Collection (3:33)
Searching in Google Scholar (3:05)
You can access and search Google Scholar from the Library homepage.
Conducting an Advanced Search in ProQuest Central Database (4:47)
- Find Information GuideFor more information, please visit the Find Information guide.
Assessment 3B: Scholarly sources
For this assessment you will need to review scholarly sources to support a critical response to your research question.
Watch this video (2:22) to get started.
- How to find scholarly sources (PDF)Learn how to find and identify scholarly resources.
Assessment 3B: Writing your assignment
Visit Study Help, an online hub packed with resources on assignment writing, referencing, study skills and more.
Resources that you may need for this assessment include:
