2016 Investigation
Stage 1: Preparation
Beginner FAQs
What is the investigation in a nutshell?
A 2,000 word written report regarding a social inquiry into a contemporary social or cultural issue of your choice (negotiated with your teacher).
Can we see an example?
Sure! This is an A grade exemplar from the SACE Board. We'll go through it as a class.
What is social inquiry?
According to the SACE Board, "The social inquiry approach to learning forms the core of the study of Society and Culture" (2016 Subject Outline).
It can be useful to refer to the questions in this document when planning your Investigation or if you get stuck along the way:
What is the SACE Board's advice on how to go about it?
Each year the Chief Assessor for Stage 2 Society and Culture produces a report reflecting on the previous year's submissions. It can be helpful to consider these words "from the horse's mouth"; we will go through it as a class.
How is it structured?
The SACE Board provides limited guidance in the Subject Outline:
There are no hard and fast rules as long as you meet the assessment criteria.
You may have liked the way we approached the mini-investigation for Folio task 2 using the six thinking hats. If so, all you need to do is follow the same guiding questions in the scaffold and double the word counts for each part. If not, Ms Grant recommends this rough outline: TITLE = Your focus question INTRODUCTION - 300 words (details at bottom of this page) BODY OF REPORT - use Guiding Questions as sub-headings: Answer to Guiding Question 1- 375 words Answer to Guiding Question 2 - 375 words Answer to Guiding Question 3 - 375 words Answer to Guiding Question 4 - 375 words CONCLUSION - 200 words (details to be explained at a later stage) |
Who marks it?
How do they determine our grade?
The relevant assessment criteria are:
KU1 Knowledge and understanding of different aspects of and issues related to contemporary societies and cultures, in local and global contexts. KU2 Knowledge and understanding of the nature and causes of social change. KU3 Understanding of ways in which societies and cultures are connected and interdependent. IA1 Investigation and analysis of different aspects of and issues related to contemporary societies and cultures, in local and global contexts. EC1 Evaluation and use of evidence from a range of sources and perspectives, with appropriate acknowledgment of sources. EC2 Communication of informed ideas about societies and social and cultural issues. You should be aware of the performance standard required to achieve your desired grade for each of these criteria (outlined in this rubric):
What are the word count rules?
What are the penalties for plagiarism?
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Choosing and narrowing down your issue
There are four basic requirements for negotiating your issue:
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During Term 1 we brainstorm potential issues from a number of perspectives:
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From there we narrow it down to a focus question with four guiding questions.
Ms Grant's Research Project question refinement page helps with this: http://elspethgrant.weebly.com/question-refinement.html |
Writing your draft introduction
You are required to submit this by the end of Term 1.
At this stage aim for it to be 200-400 words long.
Your introduction should feature:
Submit your draft introduction via Turnitin.
At this stage aim for it to be 200-400 words long.
Your introduction should feature:
- A short hook
(i.e. some red hat thinking - a photo, quote, statistic or other way to wake the reader up and entice him or her to keep reading!) - Your focus question
(which forms the title of your report) - A definition of the key words in the focus question
(i.e. some white hat thinking - this sets the boundaries/parameters/scope of your report) - The global connection for your local, state or national issue
(identifying the relevant Global Goal/s or another global link, e.g. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child or the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) - A reason for your choice of issue, indicating an appreciation of its significance (aka why the issue is important)
(i.e. some more red hat thinking - remember the marker does not have an opportunity to meet you) - An outline of your methodology
(i.e. blue hat thinking - the way you are approaching your research. This may change as you proceed.) - The methodology should include your proposed primary and secondary sources
(see the SACE Board guide) - The methodology should also include consideration of ethics
(see the SACE Board guide) - Outline four guiding questions - dot points OK
(which form the sub-headings in the body of your report)
Submit your draft introduction via Turnitin.