The Assignment

Write and submit a (single) report in a professional style, conforming to the rules (esp. on referencing) given below.
Your report should answer the question on your designated country. There is a specific question for each case-study country (in this document)Links to an external site.. Answer only the one on your designated country. The word limit is 5000 words (+/- 10%).
Create a full reference library using reference software (preferably Zotero) containing entries for and copies of all sources used to research the report; to be inspected by the challenge prof during the preparation of the report and which will be available for inspection if required as part of the authentication checking of grading process.
The subject matter
The assignment questions have been crafted to

engage with key themes and debates specific to each country case and
to combine themes from the Macro and PPE elements of the course. You must show you have understood and can intelligently apply that material in your answer (which means paying attention to the readings and class content of Macro and PPE sessions).
Reading and Research
For each country there is also a document containing a core list of required reading, as well as recommendations for further materials that will help you. You should consult these as well as doing your own research. See below.

You must read these required sources and show detailed knowledge of and engagement with them in your answer.

USALinks to an external site.
GermanyLinks to an external site.
ChinaLinks to an external site.
IndiaLinks to an external site.
Assessment criteria
Here is a summary of key assessment criteria (as reflected in the rubric)
Proven mastery of the subject—both relevant concepts and facts.
Proven comprehension and direct engagement with the required core research materials.
Evidence of extensive, thoughtful further research using good quality source material.
Quality of analysis—sound logic and strong evidence for all claims made.
Clarity, good structure, professional tone, and polish.
Full detailed referencing using the standard school (APA) system. References must give all information in the correct format and must include page numbers (or text links for ebooks or timecodes for any video material). (This stipulation also includes the creation of a full reference library created in an appropriate app like Zotero, which will be available for viewing by faculty).
Please consult the notes below on “referencing as a required certificate of authenticity”.

Note on referencing as a required “certificate of authenticity” (important…please read carefully)
Because of widespread abuse of AI, the policy on referencing is used in this assignment not merely as part of the skills rubric but as an essential proof (a “certificate”) of authenticity for the entire report.

A submission lacking this will not receive the normal written feedback and will automatically be downgraded (normally to D or F). It may also be referred to the Academic Integrity Committee, which has the power not merely to penalise the grade but to impose an honours code violation.

Therefore, you should read the following guidance very carefully:

Referencing and AI use
Detailed referencing is standard practice for all professional (business and academic) work (and transparent, authentic public discussion). Its purpose is to allow checking sources for accuracy.

But it can also be a prophylactic measure to ensure the authenticity of your writing–as will be done in this assignment.

Rules on AI use may differ slightly depending on the discipline. Automating mechanical tasks, e.g. in business management, may be quite acceptable (like using a calculator). However, using it to avoid research, reading, thinking, and writing in academic work is unacceptable. It negates the learning process and is blatantly dishonest and outright cheating.

What is acceptable and unacceptable use of AI academically:
Use of AI to help brainstorm and find research is acceptable. However, it should not replace use of recommended sources given to you by your tutors—whose material is selected by quality judgments that AI is incapable of making. Tutor-recommended material will integrate with the assignment and course materials in ways AI queries cannot.
One sure sign that a student has abused AI is that the submitted text answers the question in overly generalised terms—offering a series of claims lacking concrete detail, evidence and argument, and lacking engagement with required readings and themes that are central to the course material and classes.

What is not acceptable AI use is ….

Using it to generate your submitted text (you must do your own writing).
Using it to generate bogus ‘references’ you do not consult. (This is why the rules below will be applied, to prove you have not done this).
Using it to automatically rewrite your text. AI editing tools such as Grammarly are useful and acceptable because they require you to make still edit your own text. Automating the rewrite means it is not your work, and you learn nothing. Indications of possible AI prose will influence your grade and may lead to an AIC referral.
Referring to AI as an authentic source. Because of how they work, chat-bots are not original (and not academically acceptable) sources. They are prone to misinformation and synthesise (scraping the web indiscriminately) claims of all kinds which are not selected for quality or veracity. You must only cite and use original sources of good quality (your challenge prof will advise you on this).
However, if you use AI as part of your research strategy, you should ‘cite’ it, and in an appendix, state the exact queries used,
Proper referencing and citing to avoid penalty
You should cite one or more sources for every point you make in your report. This means you will have a citation for every one or two sentences. If you use only one source for an entire paragraph or more, this must be because that source makes all the points you make in your preceding text. If this is not so, that text will be considered to lack the certificate of authenticity and subject to the action described above.
You references must be detailed. For a journal article or book with pages You must cite page numbers. Do not cite without such detail [so don’t write “Jones, 1967”, but “Jones, 1967, p156”].
Many ebook items (such as in Perlego) still have page numbers. But for those that do not, Perlego allows you to highlight and provide a link to the specific piece of text you are referring to. (You can provide his as link ‘beneath’ the text that contains the citation in your word document—see the insert link function).
Webpages and articles without pages must have the weblink in the bibliography but also you must have a copy inside you reference manager so you can show a faculty member precisely which text segment you got your point from …see below.
As part of this ‘certificate of authenticity’, all students are required to create and maintain a reference library (using relevant software; Zotero, which is free, is recommended). This should contain all the references you have used in your research. You must download into this library copies all academic sources you refer to (usually pdf format). You must also copy the text of all the non-paginated websites and articles you use (this can be done automatically or cutting and pasting via the snapshot function in Zotero). You are advised to highlight those parts of this snapshot that you have used as the basis for point you make in your writing.
This library must be available for faculty to review. If you do not supply this proof, your text will be considered suspect, and you will be presumed to be referring to sources you have not consulted…and again will be subject to the action described above (refusal of feedback and automatic low grade).

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