Faculty of Information Technology

Faculty of Information Technology

FIT5122 Professional Practice

Assignment 4: Critical Review of a Journal Paper

Review and Presentation (25%)

Individual

Submission:Please submit your review to Moodle. Presentations will be held during tutorial times. You will need to bring a printed copy with you to submit to your tutor as well as the notes you have made for the presentation part.

Value:The assignment is worth 25% of the total marks for the unit.

Aim:

The assignment is designed to demonstrate your

•understanding and knowledge of what I.T. Professional Practice means

•understanding of the many issues that contribute to Professional Practice

•critical analysis skills in reviewing an academic research paper

•ability to reflect on aspects of current Professional Practice literature and draw meaningful conclusions from your reflections

•ability to listen, discuss and draw connections and conclusions with other students’ articles

YOUR TASK:

Write a critical review of a published journal article that explores an aspect or aspects of professional practice as it pertains to the information systems industry. Each student will select a different paper and must get their choice of paper approved by their tutor during week 7 studio. The paper must be within the period 2005 to 2015 and should be chosen (ideally) from the so-called “basket” of top IS journals (peer reviewed). These include:

•Decision Support Systems

•European Journal of Information Systems

•The Journal of Research and Practice in Information Technology

•Information and Management

•Information Systems Research

•Journal of Information Technology

•Journal of Management Information Systems

•Journal of the Association for Information Systems

•MIS Quarterly

Also look at

•Communications of the ACM

•Journal of Business Ethics

•The Journal of Computer Information Systems

Ask your tutor if in doubt. Most importantly ensure that it is an area that you are particularly interested in. This unit covers a practical and theoretical understanding of what it means to be an IT professional today and how you will encounter a range of issues relevant to professional practice in the workplace, including ethical and legal challenges caused by technology use, communication issues across a wide range of very different stakeholders and cultures and team work. It is a large area and you should find something that really interests you.

Article Approval

Chose your article and then get it approved by your tutor during the tutorial in week 8.

Then, upload the bibliographic details (full reference) for the article on the provided wiki on

Moodle. DO NOT provide the URL for the article. The approval process will ensure that each student reviews a different paper. Please be aware it is also a process of “first in, best dressed”, that if someone selects your chosen paper before you do, you will need to select a different paper. If your paper is not approved, your tutor will let you know and you will need to select a different paper.

The Review

The review is to be written as an essay that reflects your understanding of issues with Professional Practice. It is up to you what aspects, issues or arguments you put forward but they must be relevant to Professional Practice as it pertains to Information Systems and must be grounded in current literature. The essay is an academic paper and all claims and assertions must be adequately substantiated with appropriate evidence. You are expected to use other literature and references, preferably from current journal papers, to substantiate your argument in the review. All references must be appropriately cited and referenced. The essay must be relevant academically and indicate implications for practice. The style and form of the essay should be consistent with review articles published in IS journals.

The most important aspect of the essay is that it must reflect your own thinking and understanding of Professional Practice in the Information Systems Industry. Please be aware of the plagiarism and collusion policies established by FIT and Monash University.

Deliverables

(See http://www.monash.edu/library/skills/resources/quick-refs - Citing sources)

Your review must contain at least:

An introduction

A summary

An analysis and evaluation

Discussion with reference to Professional Practice issues

using additional references to support the ideas you have, thus developing your argument

A conclusion

References

The reviewed article

NOTE: Make sure that you comply with academic requirements relating to citation of all your sources. Your references must adhere to the Style Guide (APA 6th) for citations and references.

Assessments

A detailed assessment guide will be available on the Unit website.

The assessment criteria will be based on

•Ability to summarise the reading meaningfully

•Clarity of the argument and its development

using both context and content

•Ability to synthesise and reflect on relevant Professional Practice issues.

•Depth and breadth of reflections

•Indication of conclusive understanding of a critical review.

•Use and relevance of current literature

•Layout, structure, spelling, etc. and adherence to style guides

•Adherence to citation and reference standards (http://intranet.monash.edu.au/infotech/resources/students/style-guide/referencing.html

•Ability to use class discussion to critically reflect on connections and conclusions between your review and other students’ reviews of articles.

Please Note: Assessment will be made on the assumption that students have attended the Learning Skills Unit lecture (week 7) and viewed the library website, referenced on Moodle, which discusses how to write critical reviews, good approaches to making presentations and referencing and citation conventions.

Submission details

Please submit your essay to Moodle before your tutorial, together with a copy of the article you are reviewing.

Word Limit

The essay should be about 2500 words.

Submission Requirement:

The essay must be submitted to Moodle and a plagiarism quiz on Moodle for that assignment must be completed. This requirement will assist us in confirming the originality of the content of the assignment and that appropriate referencing and citation standards have been observed.

Presentation Requirement:

You will present your findings during the week 11 tutorial. This presentation has two parts. Your class presentation of your review must be completed for your essay to be graded.

Part One

Your presentation will be to a small group within the tutorial and discussion should take place concerning your findings (approximately 10 minutes). Similarly you will listen to other members of your group and actively be involved with what they present.

For the group discussion to take place, each group member will need to bring a document (1-2 pages) that covers the following areas:

•An overview of the article under review (a short summary)

•In your view, what are the professional practice issues it addresses

•Any limitations of the article (about the actual article itself)

•What do you see as important and relevant about the the article, i.e. what have you learnt from the article?

This document will be given to the tutor at the end of your discussion.

Part Two

This part is about your group’s collective understanding and insights into how your group’s articles fit or do not fit together. At the end of the group discussion you will, as a group, attempt to draw conclusions and connections (if any) among the papers. The group will:

•summarise each paper (three sentences for each paper)

•identify any connections among the papers

•describe any conclusions or ideas drawn from all the papers

You will choose one member who will make a five-minute presentation to the whole class.

Plagiarism:

In addition students should also be aware of the plagiarism and collusion policies established by FIT and Monash University. This policy can be found at: http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/resources/student/assignments/policies.html.

Extensions:

Applications for extensions must be submitted and approved by your tutor at least 3 days prior to the due date. All applications for extensions must be made in writing (email application is acceptable) and provide convincing reasons for the extension. Where appropriate supporting material should also be provided. A draft of material prepared up to that point should also be available for your tutor’s consideration if requested. Late assignments will be penalised as explained in the unit guide. However, due to the presentation component of the assignment, it will be very difficult to grant an extension.

Please Note: requests for extension on or after the due date will only be considered in exceptional circumstances