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HUMS 1054: Introduction to cultural studies

Assignment 1, 2 and 3

This assignment help will assist you in creating an assignment question and researching for information for your assignments.

Developing a research question

Watch the following video (Video length:6 min 26sec) 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.

Step 1: choose a topic

Pick an area of interest and explore its different aspects to identify a topic.

Example:

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Pick an area of interest: Cultural politics (Identity)

Explore the aspects of your interest:

  • Where?            
  • What challenges?
  • How?
  • What context?

Elements of assignment question corresponding to the above aspects:

  • Australia (where?) 
  • Equity and diversity (what challenges?)
  • Addressing the challenges (how?)
  • Popular music industry (what context?)

Step 2: background research

Background search will help you to:

  • gather more background knowledge on a subject
  • explore different aspects of your topic
  • identify additional words and terminology

Watch the Library Collection video to learn how to search for background information. (Video length: 3 min 40 sec)

Step 3: brainstorm your question

Now you have explored different aspects of your topic, you can construct more focused questions and combine a few questions to from your final question.

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Example questions. 

  • What are issues of equity and diversity present within the popular music industry?
  • What are equity and diversity issues in the Australian music industry?
  • How do we address equity and diversity issues?

Combine all the above questions into one final question:

What are issues of equity and diversity present within the Australian popular music industry and what might be done to address these issues?

 

It might also be appropriate to refine your question even further. E.g. if you were wanting to focus specifically on gender or on how gender and ethnicity intersect. You can discuss this with your tutor as you develop your projects.

Planning your search

In order to locate relevant literature for your assignment you need to plan your search strategy before searching for information.

Watch the following video (video length: 3 min 55 sec) to get you started.

Example search strategy

(Equity OR diversity OR minority OR multiculturalism OR "cultural competence" OR "cultural differences" OR "cultural identity" OR inclusion OR equality OR discrimination)

AND

(Australia OR Australian)

AND

("Popular music" OR "modern music" OR “pop music”)

 

Where and how to search

Learn how to conduct an advanced search in Google Scholar (video length: 2 min 52 sec)

Learn how to conduct an Advanced Search in Sociological Abstracts Database (video length: 3 min 54 sec).

Write your Assignments

Create an Essay Plan
As part of your course you have been tasked with writing an essay plan. An essay plan should include:a thesis statement, possible main points, the structure of the essay and evidence of research.

Take a look at: 

Annotated Bibliography
An annotated bibliography is a summary of sources (eg. journal articles, books or chapters of books) with a short description which informs a reader what a particular text is about by summarising and evaluating the main points or ideas

View one of these guides for more information:

Writing an Essay
The Student Engagement Unit has created a suite of resources called Study Help that can help you understand different assignment types.

Want to Know more?

This short video (video length: 2 min 26 sec) goes through the process of writing an essay

Take a look at:

Policy Brief Guide

Letter to a Local MP