2008-1-SSK13.Essay.1

Globalisation Essay

Method

• get the instructions
  • get the essay question
  • get the lecture notes
  • get the readings
  • get info on "how to write an essay"
  • go over the chat sessions
  • do the library tut
  • research the topic
    • Google Scholar
    • Swinburne Library
    • Papers from Dicky

• need to know:
  • topic
  • how to cite
  • tone to use (third person, etc.)
  • position to take

• follow the instructions

1st Essay

Write an 800-1000 word academic essay on globalisation. When did globalisation begin? Where did it start? What were the main changes in the world that supported its development? Is it restricted to certain countries? These are areas that you should cover in your essay.

Then linked to that question is the Group Presentation collaborative assignment.

Group Presentation

Produce a Group Presentation based on your 1st essay and expand it to include an analysis of globalisation as it is today. The 1st essay material that each group member brings along is combined to form an introduction to a discussion/presentation of what are some of the manifestations of globalisation. So the idea is to take the early research and build on that by showing some of the areas where it has grown into. The topics that I suggest that you can look at are: Movements like make poverty history; Live aid (including considerations of celebrity e.g. Geldof and Bono); Music; Sport; Business; Crime (drugs, corporate and Internet scams); e-Commerce/Business; environmentalism & global warming; politics; & media. In the course of presenting these topics you will consider their historical development, their success or influence and their durability in a global context.

Write a conclusion summing up the evidence that you have produced and point to what you think may be future developments in these areas.

Cover at least four from this list so that you can divide the presentation into 500 word units (including the introduction: the introductions will need editing together so that is an nearly equivalent job if you are dividing the work up amongst each group member.

Research

What is an academic essay?

• contains a Bibliography or Reference List section at the end
  • Bibliography: everything ever read
  • Reference List: everything cited in essay

What are the specific requirements of *this* essay?

• treat the first essay as an introduction to the topic:
  • stay general
  • in the conclusion point to the application that will be used to expand on it (i.e. as globalisation applies to the environment)
• include a minimum of
  • 5 references
  • 1 quote
• no need to take a position in the essay
  • will take a position in the group wiki
• any reference you cite in your text (McIntosh, 2008, p. 3) goes in the Reference List at the end
  • no need for Bibliography for this essay

What is globalisation?

Chat Mar 26, CM: Two key areas for background. Build a picture of a world looking for opportunities to buy things, consume things and be entertained:

• the emergence of business as the dominant form of economic and social organisation.
  • post-fordism
  • death of the welfare state
  • shift from production to consumption (virtual world is about consuming rather than producing in the manufactured goods sense)
• the internet revolution and the electronic demand for content:
  • celebrity
  • world sport
  • global social movements (make poverty history)
  • etc.

When did globalisation begin?

• Colonisation
• Taylorism
• Fordism

Group Presentation

Here are some notes that will apply when I get to the group presentation.

Take a position:

• Globalisation as it applies to the environment is a big hairy intractible-looking issue, essentially:
  • We need to burn stuff to supply energy to create wealth to remove poverty, BUT,
  • If we burn stuff we'll wreck the environment which will affect everyone even those not burning stuff, AND
  • Developing nations have the greatest and poorest populations who will be demanding they burn stuff.
• All sorts of nasty outcomes could eventuate. Lots of thinking needs to be done to manage the intersection of these two issues to avoid war and environmental destruction.