ECON5004: Communication in Economics
Semester 2, 2021
Instructor: Russell Toth
1

Assignment: Essay 1: Academic

Assignment Outline
Students are required to draft an academic essay over the course of the first 9 weeks of the
semester. The paper will be drafted in phases, with opportunities for detailed feedback, revision
and improvement at each phase. Since it is not possible to write a full academic paper in 1500
words (and the research required for a full academic paper would exceed the workload
requirements for this course), the essays will follow one of the following formats:
1. Persuasive essay. Students use academic literature to backup an argument about an issue
of economic interest. This could be a public policy issue, a business issue, or a more
academic issue. In any case, the essay should be grounded in supporting a particular
argument using economic reasoning, and supported by credible academic economic
literature.
2. Literature review. Students can write a review of the literature in a specific topic area.
This will need to be more than just a summary of various papers – it will need to have a
central thesis (argument) and cite academic literature to support that argument (most
likely, arguing what the main takeaway of the literature is). So, ideally, for this kind of
essay the student would identify an area of literature where there is some debate, with
multiple papers taking different sides of an issue. The student’s essay would then argue in
support of one side of the debate, citing and acknowledging literature on both sides of the
debate, but ultimately coming down in support of one side.
3. Research proposal. Students can write a proposal for a specific research project. You can
think about this in a number of ways – as the narrative section of a research grant, as a
proposal that one would write to receive permission to conduct research in a public sector
or professional context, or as the proposal for a masters or PhD thesis. If you are
choosing this option, please make it clear in your essay (e.g., in the title, or with a quick
note just below the title).

Students are encouraged to select an essay format that best fits their personal and professional
interests. The potential subject matter is broad. The core requirement is that the essay use
economic reasoning and evidence to support its main argument, and be based on credible
academic literature in economics.

What is “credible” academic literature in economics? While there is some debate on this, a good
starting point would be to draw most citations from journals ranked in the top 500 in the world
on this listing of journals for IDEAS/RePEc:
http://ideas.repec.org/top/top.journals.simple.html
and at least a couple recent citations from the top 200 journals. It is not enough just to cite papers
from these journals (e.g., as secondary citiations), as it is critical that you identify multiple
papers from this set of journals that are directly relevant to your main argument (i.e., you should
be speaking to an issue that has been debated in such journals). An argument that is so general
that it would never be debated by academic economists (e.g., “trade affects the economy”), even
if you can cite papers on trade, is not acceptable. An argument that is so specific it would not be
directly debated in academic journals (e.g., something about new goods that are being imported
to Sydney) is not acceptable, though it’s fine to use a specific example as motivation for a
broader issue. Given academic publishing lags, it may be hard to find published research on
ECON5004: Communication in Economics
Semester 2, 2021
Instructor: Russell Toth
2

important and current economic issues. For example, there’s now a lot of literature on the early
impacts of COVID-19, but less on the recovery from COVID-19. If debate on the issue has not
yet emerged in the academic literature, such that you can find papers on either side of the debate,
then it is not an acceptable topic.

In general the essays will have the following format: short introduction (1 or 2 short paragraphs
max), evidence/exposition, short conclusion. The introduction will motivate the central argument
(the “hook”), outline the main aspects of the essay, and argue for the importance of the topic of
the essay. The evidence/exposition is the meat of the essay – it will bring the student’s research
to bear, in outlining the evidence for the main argument or point of the essay, while the
conclusion will succinctly tie up the essay.

The final submission will be capped at 1500 words, not counting literature references. Format:
double spaced, 12-point font, 2.5 cm margins.

Phases and due dates
The assignment will be completed in phases. The phases are meant to build on each other.

Phase 1 (750 words; 2/30 points): due Thursday 2 Sep 6:00 pm
Students will write about half of the essay for a first draft (maximum 750 words). This should
involve a first attempt at an introductory section, and at least one section of the supporting
evidence. It is understood that students may not have completed all the background research by
this stage, so the evidence/exposition section may be incomplete. However, it will present a first
attempt to giving the hook for the essay and outlining the main arguments.

A good guideline is that the typical student should expect to put at least 5-10 hours of research
into the essay. Largely writing the essay based on your own opinions, and finding a few loosely-
related citations to sprinkle in, is not acceptable. The best approach is for the student to start with
research, first familiarizing themself with the research topic they will focus on (e.g, rapidly
skimming 20-30 or more papers in the topic area), and honing in on a key debate or disagreement
in the literature that will form the basis of their main argument.

Phase 1 will be capped by having students bring a soft copy of their first draft to a live peer
review session during the lecture period on 2 Sep (2 points), and submitting a soft copy online
through Canvas so the course instructor can give quick feedback on the main topic.

Phase 2 (1500 words; 10/30 points): due 19 Sep 10:00 pm
Students will fill out the full essay for the second draft.

Phase 2 will be capped by (1) having their essay read and receiving detailed written feedback
from a course tutor through submitting the essay in soft copy through Canvas (4 points), (2)
bringing a soft copy to a live peer review session during class on 23 Sep (2 points), and (3)
attending a consult hour (in week of 4 Oct) before which the students revise their essay in light
of the tutor’s written feedback, and meet the tutor to discuss their revision and any further
changes (4 points).

ECON5004: Communication in Economics
Semester 2, 2021
Instructor: Russell Toth
3

Phase 3 (1500 words; 18/30 points): due Friday 15 Oct, 5:00 pm
This is the final submission of the essay, to be submitted in soft copy online through Canvas, to
be graded by the course instructor, and course tutors.

Grading Weight
The academic essay carries 30% of the grading weight for the course.