Communicate Social Issue Using Technology

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Final assignment – Communicate social issue using technology

DUE August 13th 2020, 23.59 via Quercus
Your final assignment must include the following sections:
(1) Executive summary of the assignment
(2) Mini-literature review
(3) Description of social issue & technology
(4) Case study
(5) Conclusion/ recommendations
(6) List of References
(7) Appendices (if any)
(1) Executive summary of the assignment
What is the purpose of an executive summary?
It aims “to persuade readers to read the entire report and to provide a summary of the
entire report for busy readers.”
When should you write it?
After you finish writing the entire assignment, otherwise you will not know what to put in
your summary.
How long should it be?
One paragraph: clear and concise!
How should you write it?
-“Define the purpose” of your assignment
-Briefly describe the social issue you are focusing on and the use of technology in this
case.
-Mention the pros and cons and identify the position you are taking. Motivate it in a
sentence.
(e.g.): The use of CCTV in schools
Pros: increased feeling of safety
Cons: surveillance issues
I am in favour of …. / I am against….because…..
-Mention the case study you will be referring to
Adapted from The Report, available here:
https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/twc/sites/utsc.utoronto.ca.twc/files/resource-files/Report.pdf
(2) Mini-lit review
How long should it be?
Approximately 1 ½ – 2 pages, but you may slightly exceed this limit, if you need. APA
formatted
How many sources do you need?
IMPORTANT: To the at least 5 (five) peer-reviewed NEW scholarly sources annotated in
your proposal, you must add at least 3 (three) peer-reviewed NEW scholarly sources. In
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all, you should have at least 8 (eight) new scholarly sources in your lit review.
NEW = not included in your course bibliography
Can I use sources from course and/ or non-scholarly sources (i.e.: newspaper/ magazine
articles, blog entries, social media posts, etc.)?
Yes, absolutely. As long as you have at least 8 (eight) new scholarly sources in your
literature review, you may use any other source you need. Please make sure that you
include all the sources you use in a “Works Cited” list at the end of your assignment.
Why do you need a literature review?
The literature review demonstrates how your research fits in the academic conversation
on the topic you are exploring. What research has already been conducted? What are
you bringing new?
Also, the lit review allows you to strengthen your abilities to:
-read selectively (identify the key points of a text without reading it line but line) and,
-present your findings clearly and concisely
How should you organize your literature review?
Organize in themes the works you are reviewing. You don’t need to summarize in detail
the entire reading. Look instead for the research question(s), key findings, discussions of
findings and see how they relate to the similar items in the other sources you are
annotating. Then, you need to explain how your research project relates to the literature
you annotated.
NOTE: As this is a B-level course, chances are you have never written a lit review
before, so this is a good point to start. Here are the steps you should follow:
(1) Go back to your annotated bibliography and look for common themes in the sources
you chose.
(2) Look for at least three more sources that touch on these themes.
(3) Label each theme.
(e.g.): The use of CCTV in schools: confidentiality issues
NOTE: Since you are only using eight sources (at least), you must have at most three
themes.
This clip may be useful to you:
Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students

You could also look at the articles you read for this course or for others to see examples
of literature reviews organized thematically.
Is there a wrong way to do a literature review?
Yes, by transforming your review into a list of summaries (summary after summary after
summary), without identifying any common themes.
(3) Description of social issue & technology
Aim at 4 pages for this section, but please feel free to write more if you need.
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-Describe in detail the social issue you are referring to (e.g. the use of CCTV in schools)
and present the social and economic context (e.g.: what country are you referring to? are
there any particularities that should be taken into consideration regarding the schools in
this country?)
-Present in detail the pros and cons of using the technology in this context (e.g.: the pros
and cons of using CCTV in schools).
-In case of the cons: is there any way of mitigating the risks/ negative aspects?
(e.g.: the use of CCTV in schools: surveillance issues; but is there a way to minimize the
negative aspects, and to make the benefits outweigh the risks?).
Depending of the topic you have chosen, it may not be possible to mitigate the
negatives. In this situation, explain why.
-What side do you take?
(e.g.: Using CCTV in schools is a positive/ negative thing, because….)
Important: There is no right or wrong perspective here, and it doesn’t matter if my
colleague TA or I agree with your pro or con. What matters here is to build a solid
argument for your point of view.
(4) Case study
Aim at approximately ½ page, but you may slightly go over this limit, if you need.
Present an example from another city or another country – or a different institution, if this
applies- where the technology you are writing about is used in a similar context.
(e.g.: if you wrote about CCTV in the schools from Singapore, look for a similar example
from Canada, China, Argentina …or any other country)
What are the similarities and differences between the city/ country/ institution you
analyzed and the one in your case study? Based on the points made in the source your
are citing or your own observations, is the ‘case study’ doing a better/ worse job than the
one you described at (3)?
(5) Conclusion/ recommendations
Aim at ½ page or slightly more/ less.
-Summarize the social issue & technology you described throughout the assignment; in
a sentence, re-state the pros and cons.
-Think of a future research direction for the topic you chose. If you were to approach it
from a different perspective, what would that be?
(6) List of References
The list must include all the works you used in your proposal, scholarly or non-scholarly.
Do not forget to include all the works in your literature review.
The list of references must be APA-formatted.
The entries in your list of references do NOT need to be annotated.
(6) Appendices (if any)
Here you include all the appendices to you work, such as photos, charts, statistics,
infographics, etc.