MDIA2012

Promotional Cultures

Term Two, 2024

Assessment Task Two: Inquiry Summary

Below is the key information about the assessment task.

Below is further information about the assessment task.

Summary

This assessment task involves applying theory from weeks one to three (inclusive) in order to produce a professional inquiry summary of a current promotional culture.

Details

Here are the steps you need to take in order to complete the assessment task successfully.

First, choose a promotional culture that you would like to analyse. In 2024, we are using Aotearoa New Zealand to select promotional cultures for this assessment task. This means that you need to select an organisation from Aotearoa New Zealand whose promotional culture you would like to analyse. The organisation can be large or small, new or old. If you’re unsure about your choice of organisation, check with your tutor (during one of the tutorials before week six).

Second, head to the organisation’swebsite. (Aim to access the local website, rather than an Australian version of the website. If the local website can’t be accessed, then access the Australian version of the website.) Immerse yourself in the organisation’s currently available, online content to begin your investigation of its promotional culture. This means that you need to look at the  organisation’s website, the videos that the organisation has produced, publications (such as brochures) published online, and soon. What sorts of promotion-related activities does the organisation undertake and what do those activities tellus about the organisation’s promotional culture? What sorts of promotional collateral or materials does the organisation produce and what do they, too, tellus about the promotional culture of the organisation?

Third, undertake your inquiry into the promotional culture drawing on the approaches covered in weeks one to three, especially using: (1) qualitative content analysis or thematic analysis and (2)   semiotic analysis. These two sets of approaches provide the fundamentals for your analysis.

Qualitative content analysis or thematic analysis will help you to identify what is in the content.

Semiotic analysis will help you to uncover meanings. Once you can see what sorts of things are in the organisation’s promotional culture, and what those things mean, you’ll have a much better understanding of the promotional culture.

Fourth, write the summary of your inquiry. In a nutshell, the inquiry summary provides the results of, or findings from, the analysis that you have undertaken. In line with real inquiry summaries (used in industry), your summary should have, at minimum, the following components:

•    a title page,

•    an introduction (that briefly states the purpose of the document, succinctly introduces the

organisation and promotional culture, notes the scope of the inquiry summary, states its

limitations in terms of the methods and data, and outlines the structure of the remainder of the summary),

•    a methods section (that succinctly outlines the methods used to undertake the inquiry),

•    a ‘discussion’ or ‘insights’ section (that will be the main or longest part of the document, discussing the different things that have been found in the inquiry), and

•    a reference list.

If you wish to incorporate other components into your inquiry summary (such as an appendix,a list  of figures, and the like),you may; those other components are up to you. Recommendations should not be provided in this summary. The intended audience of your summary is a general readership. For this reason, you’ll need to provide brief explanations or definitions of key terms or theories.

Fifth,submit your inquiry summary. You’ll find the submission portalon the assessment task two section (of the course Moodle site).

Minimum requirements

This assessment task has minimum requirements. Your submission needs to:

•    bean inquiry summary (and not some other text type or genre),

•    provide an analysis of a promotional culture of an organisation from Aotearoa New Zealand,

•    use currently available, online content in the inquiry (rather than old or archival content),

•    be comprehensible (i.e., be able to be read and understood),

•    contain the minimum structural components (for inquiry summaries, as outlined above), and

•    adhere to academic integrity principles and, in particular, be free of plagiarism.

The outcomes for not meeting these minimum requirements are detailed in the marking rubric.

Formatting

Please remember to use 1.5-line spacing or double-spacing. Turnitin accepts most standard

document types: Word (.doc and .docx), plaintext (.txt), PDF, etc. It is best to submit this assignment as a PDF (because Turnitin sometimes distorts the formatting of Word documents slightly). (You’ll

likely find it helpful to make use of the template provided in the assessment task two section of the course Moodle site.) It is best to submit work early in order to check to ensure that Turnitin hasn’t altered the formatting of your document (and, if it has, submit the assignment again in a different format ahead of the due date).

Advance feedback

Although questions will happily be answered about the assessment task, advance feedback will not be given about drafts, as this would be unfair to everyone.

Extensions

If you find that you need to apply for an extension, lodge an application through the central UNSW Special Consideration portal. (The link is: https://student.unsw.edu.au/special-consideration.) All

applications need to be lodged through the portal, as individual teachers (lecturers and tutors)

cannot give extensions. Please be aware that the Special Consideration team does its best to review  applications quickly, but the turnaround times are usually three to five working days. Hence, you are strongly advised to start writing your reflection, if possible, while waiting for the team to send you

the outcome of your application.

Meeting the due date and deadline

As mentioned on page one, the due date and the deadline are two different things. The due date is the time by which a piece of work should be submitted without penalty. However, it can still be

submitted after the due date, though it will attract a penalty. (If a piece of work is late, but is

covered by an extension or an academic adjustment, no penalty will be applied.) The deadline is the absolute final time by which a piece of work can be submitted. Here, the deadline is the return of

the feedback; in other words, no further submissions will be accepted after the feedback has been returned. This applies to original assessment tasks and alternative assessment tasks, as well as

extensions and academic adjustments. A notification will be sent to anyone who has not submitted ahead of the return of the feedback (to give anyone with an extension or alternative assessment

tasks the opportunity to make a submission shortly before the deadline).

Generative artificial intelligence content

As the assessment task requires you to undertake an analysis of a promotional culture using currently available, online content, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to use generative artificial

intelligence (AI) to obtain an existing analysis. Indeed (and needless to say), you should always

develop your own work and build your own skills in thinking, writing and research. At the sametime, UNSW recognises that it is possible to use generative AI, such as ChatGPT, for tasks including simple   planning assistance. In line with the UNSW guidelines relating to the use of generative AI to

formulate initial ideas, you must develop or edit those ideas to such a significant extent that what is

submitted is your own work. That is, only occasional AI-generated words or phrases may form part of your final submission. (It is a good idea to keep copies of the initial prompts in case there is any  uncertainty about the originality of your work.) If the outputs of generative AI form a part of your   submission, it will be regarded as serious academic misconduct and subject to the standard

penalties, which may include 00FL, suspension and exclusion.

Submission and completion

As with all assessment tasks, it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that work is successfully submitted in its correct format/version. Not completing all assessment tasks will result in the awarding of a UF (Unsatisfactory Fail) grade for the course.