CHNS3001 Chinese for Native Speakers 2
Guideline for Research Project
This research project requires you to organise a piece of mini research by library research
and develop logic arguments with detailed support. First, you will identify a piece/s of high
quality Chinese literary or media work that you have enjoyed reading for this project.
Second, you are expected to analyse some specific aspects of this piece of work in depth
from critical perspectives and maintain coherence and consistency throughout the whole
project. It is advised that it is your responsibility to select a topic of interest, identify the
exact piece/s of work, search previous research on this work through a range of academic
sources (esp. the Chinese database below) and develop your own findings/arguments based
on the research under the close guidance of your tutor in this unit.
To complete this project, you need to do three assessment tasks on the same Chinese
literary work or media articles:
1) a research proposal (5%) (due in Week 5)
2) an oral presentation (15%) (due in multiple weeks from Week 6-13)
3) a research project report (30%) (due in Week 13)
Detailed requirements for each task are listed below.
Research proposal
In Week 5 of the semester, you are required to submit a brief proposal for the research
project in 200 words (i.e., about 300 Chinese characters). Prior to your research on the
chosen topic, your proposal must be reviewed and approved by your tutor, who will provide
detailed feedback and suggestion for your project. You need to list your primary and
possible secondary data in the proposal.
Primary data: the text/s to be analysed for this project. In this unit, only literary/non-literary
work originally published in Chinese after May 4th Movement (1919) or media articles
published in the past 10 years can be used as primary data. Please be noted that any texts
discussed in the lectures and tutorials cannot be used as primary data for this project. Also,
translated work from other languages or works published earlier than 1919 cannot be used
for this project.
Secondary data: previous research literature on the topic chosen or the texts to be
analysed.
The following database fully available via the Fisher Library website would be extremely
helpful for developing this project as the source of secondary data.
CAJ: China Academic Journal Full-text Database via CNKI
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http://libguides.library.usyd.edu.au/az.php?a=c&s=95225
The proposal should include
1) preliminary title of the project
2) primary data
3) possible secondary data
4) possible research focus or research question.
All the contents in the proposal can be amended or changed due to your further reading
and thinking, but major changes of the primary data should be re-approved by your tutor.
Samples of research proposal can be found in the Course Reader.
Oral presentation
This is the opportunity for you to share your research in progress with your teachers and
peer classmates and to seek their feedback and suggestions. A 10-minute oral presentation
plus 5-minute Q & A with preparation of around 10-12 PPT slides will start in the tutorial
from Week 6. In the presentation, you are expected
- to demonstrate ability to establish and develop an argument and provide support for
the argument by exploring relevant references from different sources.
- to do their presentation in an effective manner, especially in terms of delivery skills
and audience engagement skills.
In the presentation, you are NOT expected to present a complete research project. You can
just present your work in progress and let us know what you have done so far for this
project. The teachers expect you to present clearly:
1) your primary data
2) your secondary data that you have collected from CAJ (China Academic Journal) Full-
text Database and/or other sources
3) the major aim or research focus of your project
4) the possible arguments you have developed and the key distinctions between these
arguments and those in the previous research
5) the details in support of your arguments.
Research project report
The report needs to be completed in Week 13 with 2,000 English words or about 3,000
Chinese characters. Sample reports are available at the end of the Course Reader.
Subheadings can be added for each section. Possible sections can include
1) introduction
2) analysis
3) discussion
4) conclusion
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5) bibliography
The reference style should be APA 7th. A complete guideline for APA 7th is available on the
Canvas site in the module for Week 1.
Possible primary data
Each research project needs to be 2000 English words or about 3,000 Chinese characters.
You can choose media articles from the following list or literary work from the Reading List
on Canvas to work on for the project. It is also possible to choose any other piece of work
beyond these lists, subject to the teacher’s approval. You are encouraged to find your own
interest and develop the research by reading and thinking around your own interest.
Possible Chinese media: 《读者》杂志，人民网，新华网，新浪网，联合早报，文汇
报，以及各种台港，海外中文媒体
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ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
This unit uses standards-based assessment for award of assessment marks. Your
assessments will be evaluated solely on the basis of your individual performance.
Assessment criteria for Written Assignment
A: Understanding of the Text
- How well has the student understood the thoughts and feelings expressed in the
text?
B: Interpretation of the Text
- How relevant are the student’s ideas about the text?
- How well has the student explored those ideas?
- How well has the student illustrated claims?
- To what extent has the student expressed a relevant personal response?
C: Appreciation of Some Literary Features
- To what extent is the student aware of the presence of literary features in the text,
such as diction, imagery, tone, structure, style, technique?
- To what extent does the student appreciate the effects of the literary features?
- How well has the student supported claims about the effects of literary features?
D: Presentation
- How well has the student organized the commentary?
- How effectively have the student’s ideas been presented?
- To what extent are supporting examples integrated into the body of the commentary?
E: Formal Use of Language
- How accurate, clear and precise is the language used by the student?
- How appropriate is the student’s choice of register and style, for this task? (Register
refers, in this context, to the student’s sensitivity to elements such as the vocabulary,
tone, sentence structure and idiom appropriate to the task.)