Course Outline
SCS300 Social Sciences and Humanities Project
Course Coordinator:Kate Kirby (KKirby@usc.edu.au) School:School of Law and Society
2026Trimester 2
Online |
Online | You can do this course without coming onto campus, unless your program has specified a mandatory onsite requirement. |
Please go to unisc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
What is this course about?
Description
In this course you will undertake a research project in order to develop, refine and showcase your knowledge and command of disciplinary expertise. This project will enable you to develop skills of project development, management, coordination and delivery. This course allows you to demonstrate professional skills, academic expertise, and critical practice in a research project that represents the culmination of your learning in your program or major.
How will this course be delivered?
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Online | |||
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – 3 hour online tutorial/workshop. | 3hrs | Week 1 | 10 times |
Course Topics
Criminology and Justice;
Geography;
History;
International Studies;
Philosophy and Theory;
Sociology;
Sustainability - Enviroment and Society.
What level is this course?
300 Level (Graduate)
What is the unit value of this course?
12 units
How does this course contribute to my learning?
| Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | |
| 1 | Apply design/creative/critical project development and management skills to your chosen research |
Empowered Engaged Sustainability-focussed |
| 2 | Critically evaluate and use problem-solving strategies to address a problem. |
Creative and critical thinker Engaged Sustainability-focussed |
| 3 | Manage and produce work for academic/research/industry/community applications. |
Creative and critical thinker Empowered Engaged |
| 4 | Communicate knowledge, concepts and ideas to various audiences and stakeholders. |
Knowledgeable Creative and critical thinker Engaged |
| 5 | Demonstrate professional ethics and professional responsibly and conduct. |
Empowered Ethical |
Am I eligible to enrol in this course?
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
Pre-requisites
192 units
Co-requisites
Not applicable
Anti-requisites
Not applicable
Specific assumed prior knowledge and skills (where applicable)
Completed pre-placement activities stipulated by the Course Coordinator.
Microcredential Information
Not applicable
How am I going to be assessed?
Grading Scale
Standard Grading (GRD)
| High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Details of early feedback on progress
Students will receive regular consultancy and feedback on all tasks. Group work and collaboration will also be supported through mentoring and modelling.
Assessment tasks
| Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
| All | 1 | Written Piece | Individual | 20% | 1000 words |
Week 4 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 2 | Literature Review (or component) | Individual | 30% | 1800 words |
Week 7 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 3 | Oral and Written Piece | Individual | 50% | Presentation: 6 minute presentation and 2 minutes of questions. Essay/artefact: 3000 words. |
Throughout teaching period (refer to Format) | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check and in class |
| All - Assessment Task 1:Project Plan | |||||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | To introduce you to the research framework required for this course, this task is designed to demonstrate your project planning capability, including the design of project goals, research questions, and a schedule outlining the project's implementation viability. |
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| Product: | Written Piece | ||||||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Format: | Submit: Week 4. Students will develop a Project Plan for their proposed research project using the provided template. The Project Plan outlines the conceptual framework for the project and describes how the project will be implemented and reported on. Students must approach this assessment task in a manner that demonstrates active engagement with the SCS300 weekly tutorials. The Project Plan is an essential step to ensure the project is well thought out, considered in relation to the discipline and relevant literature, and realistic for the trimester approach. The Assessment Task submission must demonstrate active participation in tutorial discussions, academic integrity, using appropriate academic language and formatting. All sources must be referenced. The referencing style used should be Harvard, APA, or Chicago 17A. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Organisation |
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| All - Assessment Task 2:Annotated Literature Review | |||||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | To produce a comprehensive annotated literature review in the discipline and topic area, demonstrating a current and deep understanding of the subject matter and connection with project goals and research questions. |
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| Product: | Literature Review (or component) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Format: | Submit: Week 7. Students will develop an Annotated Literature Review for their proposed project. Students must approach this assessment task in a manner that demonstrates active engagement with the SCS300 weekly tutorials. This task provides an opportunity for students to: demonstrate a suitable critical thinking, deep reading and writing process for the task; analyse existing academic literature of relevance to their project/topic area and research question/s; and engage with relevant contemporary debates within relevant scholarly literature. The Annotated Literature Review must include a summary of the search strategy used, and a summary of identified key themes, theoretical issues, gaps, and future plans for engaging further in the literature. The Assessment Task submission must demonstrate active participation in tutorial discussions, academic integrity, using appropriate academic language and formatting. All sources must be referenced. The referencing style used should be Harvard, APA, or Chicago 17A. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Organisation, Applying technologies, Information literacy |
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| All - Assessment Task 3:Presentation and Essay/artefact | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | To demonstrate discipline-specific expertise in scholarship, written and oral communication skills through articulation of project findings and outcomes. |
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| Product: | Oral and Written Piece | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Format: | Throughout the semester, students have undertaken an independently designed and negotiated research project. This learning and work culminate in a final essay/artefact and presentation submitted for Task 3. Students must approach this assessment task in a manner that demonstrates active engagement with the SCS300 weekly tutorials. The Assessment Task submission includes two components. (1) Presentation: Presentations are conducted live in allocated times during Week 10 and Week 11 tutorials. Students will develop a 6 minute presentation. Following the presentation, the student will answer questions asked by the tutor about the presentation for 2 minutes. The presentation should: present the project goal, design, and drivers to a designated audience/client; discuss the identified problem/gap the project addresses; update the audience/client on the annotated literature review process and findings; step through the project method; discuss possible findings/implications; outline the project significance for the audience/client and discipline; and reflect on project management experience and skills applied throughout the course. (2) Research essay/artefact: To be submitted in Week 12. Students will develop 3,000 words of new project work following the format advised in tutorials. The essay should: address the project plan and topic researched throughout the semester; respond to the research question/s; include an original and well-communicated argument/claim; be supported by sophisticated literature review evidence, analysis and synthesis; share original findings; contribute to a gap in the existing literature; and be appropriately referenced with academic language and formatting. The Assessment Task submission must demonstrate active participation in tutorial discussions, academic integrity, using appropriate academic language and formatting. All sources must be referenced. The referencing style used should be Harvard, APA, or Chicago 17A. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Organisation, Applying technologies, Information literacy |
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Assessment to competency mapping
| Programme Delivery Mode | Assessment Type | Title | Competency | Teaching Methods |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Education for Sustainable Development Goals | ||||
| All delivery modes | Literature Review (or component) | Annotated Literature Review | 4.1.4 | Practiced |
| 4.1.5 | Practiced | |||
| 4.2.4 | Practiced | |||
| Oral and Written Piece | Presentation and Essay/artefact | 4.1.4 | Practiced | |
| 4.1.5 | Practiced | |||
| 4.2.4 | Practiced | |||
Directed study hours
A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
What resources do I need to undertake this course?
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
Prescribed text(s) or course reader
Specific requirements
Students must have completed 192 EFTSL of study and have approval from course coordinator
How are risks managed in this course?
What administrative information is relevant to this course?
Assessment: Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Assessment: Additional Requirements
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying:
(a) The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4%; and
(b) The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale
Assessment: Submission penalties
Late submissions may be penalised up to and including the following maximum percentage of the assessment task’s identified value, with weekdays and weekends included in the calculation of days late:
(a) One day: deduct 5%;
(b) Two days: deduct 10%;
(c) Three days: deduct 20%;
(d) Four days: deduct 40%;
(e) Five days: deduct 60%;
(f) Six days: deduct 80%;
(g) Seven days: A result of zero is awarded for the assessment task.
The following penalties will apply for a late submission for an online examination:
Less than 15 minutes: No penalty
From 15 minutes to 30 minutes: 20% penalty
More than 30 minutes: 100% penalty
Links to relevant University policy and procedures
For more information on Academic Learning & Teaching categories including:
- Assessment: Courses and Coursework Programs
- Review of Assessment and Final Grades
- Supplementary Assessment
- Central Examinations
- Deferred Examinations
- Student Conduct
- Students with a Disability
For more information, visit https://www.usc.edu.au/explore/policies-and-procedures#academic-learning-and-teaching
Student Charter
UniSC is committed to excellence in teaching, research and engagement in an environment that is inclusive, inspiring, safe and respectful. The Student Charter sets out what students can expect from the University, and what in turn is expected of students, to achieve these outcomes.
General Enquiries
For course-specific questions, contact your teaching staff or Course Coordinator.
For other enquiries or to access support, please contact Student Central: