ARTS1810 Final Essay
One of this course’s main goals is to help you ‘see’ how power and politics are everywhere
and in everything. The Final Essay is your opportunity to explore how this in a concrete
case and expand on what you started with your Essay Plan. You can use anything you
wrote in your Essay Plan in this Final Essay but you can also adapt/tweak what you had in
mind. The Plan was meant to get you on track to research and write the Essay, not to
constrain you.
The Final Essay should demonstrate that you have engaged with the themes and issues
raised in the course and that you are able to construct a persuasive and well-evidenced
argument in relation to one or more of these themes or issues. You will be assessed on
your ability to demonstrate research skills (the ability to provide accurate and detailed
information about your chosen area of study), on synthesis and persuasive argument (in
bringing together ideas and data from several sources), on quality of presentation
(including accurate referencing) and on the clarity of your writing.
Simply put: the more you read and the more you think about what you read, the higher
your chances of getting a good mark. AI might be able to help you with some things but it
cannot replace this (at least no yet…). AI tools will do well with descriptive tasks, but not
with critical analyses based on academic research – which is the main thing markers will
look at when assessing the Essay.
REMINDER: Generative AI Permission Level - Simple Editing Assistance
“In completing this assessment, you are permitted to use standard editing and referencing
functions in the software you use to complete your assessment. These functions are
described below. You must not use any functions that generate or paraphrase passages of text
or other media, whether based on your own work or not. If your Convenor has concerns that
your submission contains passages of AI-generated text or media, you may be asked to
account for your work. If you are unable to satisfactorily demonstrate your understanding of
your submission you may be referred to UNSW Conduct & Integrity Office for investigation for
academic misconduct and possible penalties. For more information on Generative AI and
permitted use please see here.”

To write a good essay:
• Explain in the introduction the context of the question, your basic argument and how the
essay will proceed step by step (the structure)
• Signpost the structure throughout the essay, indicating the logical progression from
paragraph to paragraph and section to section (so linking sentences at the ends of
paragraphs and sections are important)
• Define all key terms, including 'power', using scholarly insights and your own analysis
and understandings.
• Provide persuasive analysis of evidence in support of your argument
• Ground your argument in the theoretical and conceptual debates of the discipline
Your essay must be properly referenced and accompanied by a bibliography. If you are not sure
about referencing conventions, please speak to your tutor. The UNSW Learning Centre provides
a range of resources to assist with referencing, available
at http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/ref.html.

You are welcome to see me, or your tutor, during consultation hours to discuss your ideas and
plan. We will not, however, respond to requests for research assistance, i.e. ‘ what should I
read?’ We also will not read or provide feedback on drafts of the Final Essays. The essay will be
graded /100 and will constitute 50% of your final grade for the course. Unless you explicitly
request detailed feedback (“I request detailed feedback”), your Final Essay will include only
general notes and marked rubric.


Basic information
☑ Don’t forget to checklist these elements before submission so you don’t lose marks
□ 2000 words max
o Note: Inform the word count on the paper’s first page (below your name)
o Note: References are excluded from this word count
□ Format: 11-12pt size font (any ‘common’ font is OK), 1.5 paragraph line spacing
□ Submit it in Word (or equivalent), not PDF.
□ Reference style: Harvard
o See https://www.student.unsw.edu.au/harvard-referencing and
https://www.student.unsw.edu.au/citing-different-sources
□ At least 10 academic references (basically peer-reviewed journal articles, books, or
book chapters)
o None of these ten can be ARTS1810’s mandatory readings. (Reasoning: part of
the assignment is to learn how to do academic research, and find material on
your own)
o Note: You can use as many references as you want ― including from news,
reports by think tanks and international organizations, legislation, public
speeches, information from company websites, etc ― but you must have at
least 10 academic references.
□ In addition to the (at least 10) academic references, you are expected to engage with at
least three of the courses' mandatory readings
o Reasoning: You want to show that you researched material on your own (the >10
academic references) and that you can connect your analysis to what was
discussed in class read (plus, this also shows that you read the course’s
required readings)

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