Course code and name

HSC6060 | Research Project Design

Assessment item and name

Assessment 1 | Interim Report

Due date and time

Week 5, Tuesday 24th June 23:59 hours AEST

Marks out of: Weighting: Word count:

20 Marks

20%

1,500 words (+/- 10%)

Assessed Course Learning Outcomes (CLO)

CLO1, CLO2 and CLO3.

Rationale for assessment task

The independent project begins in HSC6060 and concludes in HSC6090. Providing updates on your study progress allows for monitoring of the research proposals development and helps identify any issues that may hinder timely completion.

Brief Task Description

This is an interim report of your study progress for research proposal development, and you need to provide evidence of satisfactory progress with your research project and reflect on this process. You will need to show how the following has been met:

Clearly propose a research topic and define a specific research question

Comprehensively and critically review and engage with relevant literature to understand the background information of the research topic

Clearly justified the rationale and significance of the research topic/question

Task detail

Instructions for completion:

Student is to provide a 1500-word (+/-10%) summary and reflection on their progress to date, including progress to date ((what has been done)) in relation to your timeline; any challenges that you have had or that may impact on timely completion of your research proposal; any resources or support you think you need to ensure a timely completion; and you action plan for the coming weeks to complete the entire research proposal.

Include the following in the student summary and reflection:

Report of what has been done: Research question, literature review and significance ( 1,100 words +/-10% )

Include your research question, and outline what is already known about this topic, and include how the review you are undertaking may potentially add to the current literature. References are required in this section. Following is the recommended structure:

1. Research Problem (100 words +/-10%)

o What is the important problem you are addressing?

o How did you come to be interested in this problem/issue?

Acceptable AI Use

For this Assessment Item, acceptable AI use is set at:

Level 1: AI Assisted Structure Checking

Description: Students may use Artificial intelligence (AI) tools to organise and check the structure and flow of their Assessment Item. This includes grammar checks, coherence, and flow of arguments but excludes using AI to generate new text and/or new content.

Additional Information Required: Indicate the AI tool(s) used for structure checking at the beginning of the Assessment Item and include the prompts you have used. Save copies of your drafts and content before/after AI was used, to produce upon request.

It is your responsibility as a student to ensure the work you are producing is your own. Therefore, you should be cautious when using any websites, apps, or tools to write your assessments, as often these tools are powered by

artificial intelligence programming and incorporate the same generative capabilities of AI language models which can unintentionally lead to Academic Misconduct if used to alter any of your own work.

Turnitins AI writing detection model is utilised in this course, and any assessments that potentially contain AI- generated content will be referred to the Academic Integrity Unit for review. Find out more about the Academic Misconduct process here.

Important:

Do not copy and paste generative AI responses as your own work.

Academic Integrity

Students should be familiar with, and abide by, policy on Academic Integrity and the definition of Academic Misconduct. Penalties apply to students found to have breached these policies and procedures. Please ensure you have completed the mandatory Academic Integrity training and have familiarised yourself with Academic Integrity at UniSQ.

You are required to complete the Academic Integrity module, before you submit your first assessment. Please access the module here if you have not already done so.

Relevant Information and Resources

Available on study desk:

o Assessment task sheet and marking rubric/guide

o HSC6060 Interim Report template

The assessment is to be written in essay format, with intext citations only included if needed, reference list (if needed) and headings for each section.

UniSQ academic writing https://www.unisq.edu.au/library/study-support/assignments

Assessment needs to be submitted in Word format no PDFs

Assessment references need to be in APA 7 format for all in-text citations and the reference list.

APA 7^th Edition writing style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format You are required to use APA 7th Edition referencing style throughout.

Format for report:

Use the template provided on the Study Desk.

Line spacing 1.5 including reference list.

Indent the first line of every paragraph. For consistency, use the tab key.

Font (e.g., Times New Roman 12pt.)

Headings need to be used to logically structure the report.

Include a page number on every page.

First person is ONLY acceptable in the section of A brief reflection and action plan (200 words +/-10%)

Support for academic writing and referencing is available from the Learning Advisor and Liaison Librarian, you can contact them via their site: https://www.usq.edu.au/library/usq-libraries/contact

Study Support can be found at: https://www.usq.edu.au/library/study-support

Artificial Intelligence Guide : https://usq-qld.libguides.com/artificial-intelligence-students

Plagiarism How to avoid plagiarism https://www.unisq.edu.au/library/referencing/plagiarism

Study and Support for Health and Community Program students can be found at: https://open.usq.edu.au/course/view.php?id=321

Assessment Marking Criteria and Moderation of Assessments

Total of 20 marks available for this assessment item.

This task will be marked against the marking criteria available on HSC6060 StudyDesk.

All Markers assessing your work meet to discuss and compare their marking before marks are finalised.

Final release of grades will normally be three (3) weeks from the due date of submission unless extensions have been granted.

Refer to the Marking Rubric for this Assessment item.

Submission Information

Use a Microsoft Word (.docx) document. Footer must include Course code, trimester and year, assignment number, student name, student number for example:

HSC6060 T2 2025 A1 Joe Brown 00123456

File name conventions : Save your document with the following naming conventions:

surname_initial_studentnumber_HSC6060_A1_T2_2025.docx

Submit to the Assessment One Submission Portal titled Assessment 1: Interim Report Submission Portal via Turnitin. If you do not receive a Turnitin % report, please contact ICT on 07 4631 1900.

Note: This assessment must be submitted in electronic format as a Microsoft Word document ( not pdf ) via Turnitin. The Turnitin process may take up to 24 hours to produce a report. Therefore, allow adequate time to do this and address any issues of plagiarism detected by Turnitin before final submission. You can submit your assessment as a draft to check similarity percentage. *Any percentage that relates to plagiarism detected by Turnitin is a concern and requires you to address this. The following link provides information on Turnitin: https://www.unisq.edu.au/current- students/ict/systems/turnitin

Marking and moderation

This assessment will be marked against the marking criteria available on the HSC6060 StudyDesk.

Extensions and Penalties for Late Submission

Information on extensions and late penalties can be found here.

Assessment requests must be requested through the online portal before the due date: https://www.unisq.edu.au/current-students/academic/assessments/assessment-extensions Marks lost for late penalty:

https://policy.usq.edu.au/documents/14749PL

Assessment Items given marked Grades and submitted after the published due date without an approved extension or submitted after the revised due date where an extension has been granted, will incur a penalty of 5% of the Mark awarded to the Student, for each Calendar Day late.

Assessment Items submitted more than 10 Calendar Days after the published due date without an approved extension, or more than 10 Calendar Days after the revised due date where an extension has been granted, will receive a Mark of zero.