Research Essay Assessment
Description:
This activity aims to improve students’ critical thinking skills and ability to evaluate research papers. It may be applicable to a range of disciplines across undergraduate and postgraduate units. However, it might be most useful for students early in their degree who are still learning about peer-reviewed academic sources/ research methodologies and research essays. The information presented here has been in part adapted from TeachHQ and assessments from some units.
Learning Objectives:
To gain deep understanding of features of research papers
To critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of data-based research and their impacts/implications
Summary of assessment:
The assessment consists of two tasks: Task 1: Annotated bibliography and Task 2: Research essay. The acknowledgement of and reflection on GenAI use is integrated in each task.
TASK 1: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Use GenAI to generate a topic and key areas (outline) that you are interested in exploring for your research essay. The topic needs to match your weekly content covered in the unit.
For example: Craft this prompt to ask GenAI:
Suggest a topic on an education issue relating to internationalisation of higher education
Useful tips:
You can learn how to create effective prompts when using GenAI from this LearnHQ.
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When you have chosen a particular issue, use GenAI to search for 5 peer-reviewed journal articles.
For example: Craft this prompt to ask GenAI:
I need to write an essay on The Role of Internationalisation in Enhancing Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education Institutions for a second-year education unit. Provide a list of 5 peer-reviewed journal articles between 2015 and 2024 in APA7th that I could integrate into this essay
Useful tips: Make sure you cross-check and fact-check, and search for the sources in the Monash library databases.
For example, the following journal article suggested by GenAI is a hallucination:
Marginson, S. (2018). National/global debates in the internationalisation of higher education. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 15(22). doi:10.1186/s41239-018-0104-7
There is no article titled “National/global debates in the internationalisation of higher education” written by the author, although the information about the author and the journal title is correct. There is also no result matching the search of the doi link from the library databases.
In this case, you may need to ask GenAI to suggest other sources, or consider searching further from the library databases.
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Without using GenAI, provide a brief summary of each article by yourself (200 word- summary/each article).
Useful tips:
This resource on LearnHQ may be helpful for you to write an annotation - article summary.
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Use GenAI to create a summary of each article (200 word-summary/each article).
Useful tips:
This resource on LearnHQ may be helpful for you to know how to use GenAI to create a summary.
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Compare and contrast your own summaries with the GenAI summaries. Verify, and edit the two summaries of each article to create your final summary. Focus the summary on how each article is related to and supports your chosen issue.
You may consider prompting AI to further enhance this process of finalising the summary to include more relevant information.
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Provide a brief explanation (no more than 1 page) of the ways that you have used GenAI in the production of this Task 1. This should include the following:
Explain which AI tools you have used to generate the topic that you chose. Include the prompt(s) that you created.
Specify which AI tools were used in searching for the peer-reviewed articles in conjunction with the library resources).
Include descriptions of how the search was generated with the help of AI in finding your chosen articles - provide all final prompts used to obtain your search results (conducted through the library databases).
Explain how you used GenAI in creating the final summary of each article:
Did you prompt AI to improve the summary to address your topic query?”
Describe what output from the GenAI tool has been included in your summary, and where
Summarise how you have altered, adopted, or built on the AI output for developing each of your article summaries.
Provide snapshots of at least 3 significant/relevant parts of your own summary and compare it against screen-shots of AI-generated summary.
Reflect on what you have learnt from the skills and techniques from creating your own summary versus generating GenAI summary.
Consider using the following formula/syntax to summarise AI use:
I used <ADD AI tool> (<ADD link if needed>) to <ADD how used> (<ADD number> iterations/drafts). I modified the outputs in <ADD ways>.
You might also wish to include screenshots of process work as an attachment (excluding from this one page of brief explanation).
Useful tips:
This resource on LearnHQ about how to write a reflection might be helpful for your reflection and acknowledgement of GenAI use.
TASK 2: RESEARCH ESSAY
Suggestion on this task can be: Write a 1500 word literature review essay on the articles that you have searched. You may integrate more academic sources from the unit readings/ the library databases.
In this assessment, you can use GenAI to assist you in generating ideas and integrating the sources that you have searched.
Acknowledgement of and reflection on the use of GenAI
Provide a brief explanation of how you have used GenAI in assisting you in this Task 2 - research essay (no more than ½ page). This should include the following:
Provide the explanation considering any the following categories that you have used GenAI:
in generating ideas or structure suggestions, for assistance with understanding core concepts, for searching for materials or other substantial foundational and preparatory activity for the assessment.
in generating text, rewrite, rephrase and/or paraphrase a portion of this assessment.
in generating some other aspect of the submitted assessment.
Write a brief reflection on what you learned through collaborating with AI tools in the production of this essay assessment.
Include an appendix of the draft essay, with track changes and comments on where and how you have used GenAI along the essay writing process. This appendix is excluded from your word count.
