Unit Synopsis
This unit will guide you through the process of writing an academic essay. You will be introduced to the culture of academic writing at university and the common features of academic essays. You will develop strategies to read, evaluate and summarise information, and then use that information to develop and support an academic argument. Throughout the unit, you will develop critical thinking, note-making, formal writing and referencing skills necessary for academic writing.
Details
| Level | Non-award |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | Not Applicable |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
There are no pre-requisites for the unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2026
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Term 3 - 2026 Profile
Term 1 - 2027 Profile
Term 2 - 2027 Profile
Term 3 - 2027 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Non-award unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Annotated bibliography | 20% |
| 2. Portfolio | 30% |
| 3. Essay | 50% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: Unit Coordinators and teaching team
Students value practical guidance that enables them to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) confidently and ethically in their assessments.
Create a one-page, student-friendly pamphlet guide to using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in assessments, including sample prompts and clear academic integrity guidelines.
Students were provided with a one-page ‘How to use AI in EWU assessments’ summary, with clear advice about approved and unauthorised AI uses. Sample prompts and guidance about academic integrity were included. A ‘pop-up’ tutorial was arranged with guest lecturer Darren Swanson, well known in the SAE for his AI expertise. This tutorial was recorded and made available on Moodle for all students to revisit throughout the term. In the tutorial, Darren stepped through what GenAI is and how it works, covering various platforms for different uses, and he discussed the responsible use of AI, including verifying/validating outputs and not copy pasting Lectures have regularly discussed using AI for finding sources, alerting students to potential hallucinations. A statement was also added at the end of the assessment 2 & 3 templates to encourage students to check their sources for validity and not rely on AI outputs.
Source: Unit Coordinators and teaching team
Students value engaging research topics that support access to reliable sources and structured writing.
Trial two new research topics that are current, and designed for use of accessible sources and distinct subtopics for paragraphing.
Two new research topics (examining Artificial Intelligence and sleep) were trialled in T2, 2025. Both proved popular with students, so the topic of Artificial Intelligence was explored again in T1 2026. However, in T1 2026, the topic of AI was given a slightly different focus than in T2 2025. In the latter term, students were asked to discuss AI in relation to responsible use of AI in their future work/profession or in higher education. In Term 2026, a creativity topic was trialled with the focus on Creative Thinking and/or Creativity in the students’ future professions or in the 21st century more generally. Based on student feedback, the creativity topic was popular.
Source: Unit Coordinators and teaching team
Students value clear, concise rules and reminders that help them avoid unintentional breaches of academic integrity.
Update Academic Integrity breach warnings on assessments and add a “3 Simple Rules for AI Use” infographic in the unit Moodle site.
The ‘3 Simple Rules for AI Use’ infographic was used on multiple pages in the EWU Moodle site, including assessment pages and as part of relevant weekly modules. In addition, an Academic Integrity section was added in Moodle with links to CQU policy and some explanations and expectations. Finally, wording was added to the templates for assessments 2 and 3 reminding students to check the validation of their sources, prompting them to guide themselves and asking them to affirm (with a signature and date) that they did check each source they used in both assignments for validity.
Source: Unit Coordinators and teaching team
Assessment resources and instructions could be clearer and more streamlined.
Streamline assessment instructions and resources so that they are not dispersed amongst several different documents and places in Moodle. In the streamlining process, ensure that instructions are aligned amongst the different resources, providing clarity.
In Progress
Source: Head of Course, Unit Coordinators, and teaching team
Assessment(s) could be designed to mitigate irresponsible AI usage and encourage responsible usage.
Create at least one assessment that requires students to present their learning to a tutor/marker in a live, interactive environment.
In Progress
Source: Unit Coordinators, teaching team and students
In some cases, feedback could be more specific.
Provide specific, actionable feedback that students can use to improve in future assessments.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Evaluate information for relevance, authority, objectivity and currency
- Paraphrase, quote and summarise information using appropriate referencing conventions
- Plan and write an academic essay that integrates sources to support a reasoned argument.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Annotated bibliography | • | • | |
| 2 - Portfolio | • | • | |
| 3 - Essay | • | • | |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 2 - Communication | • | • | |
| 3 - Information Literacy | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | |
| 6 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • |
| 8 - Ethical Practice | • | • | |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | |
| 2 - Portfolio | • | • | • | • | • | |||||
| 3 - Essay | • | • | • | • | • | |||||
| 1 - Annotated bibliography | • | • | ||||||||