Evaluating the Effectiveness of Sustainable Strategies in [Industry/Location] SUS301

Assignment 1: Essay (Individual) 30%

Details of Assessment Task

Write an academic essay on the following topic:

Research and analyse the sustainable strategies implemented within a specific industry, field, or location of your choice. Evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies in promoting sustainability, taking into account their environmental, social, economic, and cultural impacts. Explore both successful implementations and shortcomings of these approaches, derive lessons learned, provide recommendations for enhancing existing strategies or propose alternative approaches to further sustainability goals.

GUIDELINES:

Weight: This assignment is worth 30% of your final grade

Word count: Approx. 2000 words (+/-10%)

Margins: Normal

Font: Times New Roman 12;

1.5 spacing

(List of References = single spacing, with a line between each entry).

Format: Please upload as a WORD file.

Sources: Include at least 10 scholarly sources in your assignment. Referencing: Citations and reference list must follow APA 7th reference style.

Structure a few tips!

Introduction:

Make sure it grabs attention, clarifies the issues. Your title, thesis and first paragraph are vital!

Body:

• Make sure each Main Point and indeed, each paragraph, focuses on one idea and flows from your

• Begin paragraphs with topic sentences, support assertions with evidence, and expound your ideas

• Use subheadings for each new topic / subsection to make your essay more reader friendly!

Conclusion:

Round off professionally; summarise the answer to your question, ending on some a final thought (quotation, another question, a challenge to think or call to action etc.).

Language:

Before uploading your essay be sure to

• Run it through a grammar / spelling

• Proofread it - polish structure, check vocabulary, consider alternative wording to give it more flow!

Style:

• Tone should be friendly; conversational but not too informal

• Speak to your reader as if theyre in front of Instead of writing the essay, try talking it!

General tips for writing essays Research:

Begin the essay writing process by researching your topic, making yourself an expert. Utilize the internet, the academic databases, and the library. Take notes and immerse yourself in the words of known experts in the field etc.

Analysis:

Now that you have a good knowledge base, start analyzing the arguments of the essays you're reading. Clearly define the claims, write out the reasons, the evidence. Look for weaknesses of logic, and also strengths. Learning how to write an essay begins by learning how to analyze essays written by others.

Brainstorming:

Your essay will require insight of your own, genuine essay-writing brilliance. Ask yourself a dozen questions and answer them. Meditate with a pen in your hand. Take walks and think and think until you come up with original insights to write about.

Use your essay as a springboard:

Pick your best idea and pin it down in a clear assertion that you can write your entire essay around. Your essay is your main point, summed up in a concise sentence that lets the reader know where you're going, and why. It's practically impossible to write a good essay without a clear essay.

Outline your essay first.

Sketch out your essay before straightway writing it out. Use one-line sentences to describe paragraphs, and bullet points to describe what each paragraph will contain. Play with the essay's order. Map out the structure of your argument, and make sure each paragraph is unified.

Introduction:

Now sit down and write the essay. The introduction should grab the reader's attention, set up the issue, and lead in to your essay. Your intro is merely a buildup of the issue, a stage of bringing your reader into the essay's argument. The title and first paragraph are probably the most important elements in your essay. In the first paragraph you either hook the reader's interest or lose it.

Paragraphs:

Each individual paragraph should be focused on a single idea that supports your essay. Begin paragraphs with topic sentences, support assertions with evidence, and expound your ideas in the clearest, most sensible way you can. Speak to your reader as if he or she were sitting in front of you. In other words, instead of writing the essay, try talking the essay.

Misc Points:

Explore the evidence. Any assertion you or others settle on requires a certain amount of evidence, be it in the form of studies, facts, reasoning, personal anecdotes, or authoritative quotations. First locate the assertion; then ask what evidence there is to believe it. Assess the strength of this evidence. What issues or flaws are associated with this evidence? How could it be stronger? Should you believe it? Why or why not?

Look beyond the obvious. Having an insight means to have an idea others don't already see or realize themselves. We almost always have some obvious observations about issues. Your job in writing an essay is to come up with something new, something original and exciting. Your job is to tell the reader: It's not about X. Instead, it is really about Y!

Identify assumptions. An assumption is any unstated assertion that one assumes to be true, but which may actually not be true. Every issue or problem has a few assumptions related to it. Usually these assumptions are part of the reason why the problem is a problem in the first place. Ask yourself what is being assumed in the topic or problem? What do people take for granted to be true? What if this assumption were false?

Define the problem. Figure out what the problem is. Until you figure this out, your brainstorming won't have any direction or purpose. Ask yourself not only what the problem is, but why it is indeed a problem. A problem for whom? When did it first become a problem? What is the root of the problem?

Ask questions. Write down ten questions about the problem or issue. They can be any ten questions, just write them down (e.g., What caused X?, How is X defined? What can X be compared to?). Asking these questions will generate answers that may contain useful ideas. Some questions won't lead to fruitful answers, but the few that do may lead you to a major insight that could form the basis of your paper.

Examine biases. Recognize that you have some unconscious biases in the way you view the world around you. These biases could be social, economic, religious, environmental, ethnic, or cultural predispositions that prevent you from seeing the issue in another light. Ask yourself how a person from another walk of life (a Buddhist monk in Nepal, for example) might view the same problem. What about an elderly person, or a child? An American versus an Egyptian? Step outside yourself.

Make it arguable

Your essay must make an arguable assertion. To test whether your assertion is arguable, ask yourself whether it would be possible to argue the opposite. If not, then it's not a essay -- it's more of a fact. For example:

• Not Arguable: "Computers are becoming an efficient mechanism for managing and transmitting information in large businesses." (Who's going to dispute this? It's not an arguable assertion -- it's a fact.)

• Arguable: "Heavy use of computers may disrupt family cohesion and increase divorce in " (This is arguable because many people may not believe it. It would make a good essay!)

Be specific

The essay must also be specific. Avoid broad, vague generalizations. Your essay should include detail and specificity, offering the reader the why behind your reasoning.

• Poor Specificity: "We should not pass the microchip bill." (Hey, not specific enough! It's just a value statement and doesn't provide enough reasoning for the reader.)

• Good Specificity: "Because the microchip insert causes serious health hazards such as cancer and brain tumors to those who use it, the microchip should not be passed." (Now the essay is much more specific, and the reader gets a clear idea of what the essay is going to be about.

GRADING CRITERIA: 100 marks (30%)