Background Information
Communication is an integral part of business conduct as it allows all stakeholders to understand what the business is about. Internally, people need to understand how they fit in and what is expected of them. Whilst externally, it helps to educate people on how the business (or products/services) may fit into their life.
This Assignment
You are required to write an essay on “The impact of social media on contemporary business communication.” How
have these changes impacted the way modern business operates today? Research, discuss and explain the fundamental opportunities and challenges that this creates for modern businesses.
For the purposes of this assignment you should also choose one core business as a case study and provide relevant
examples to support your thinking and analysis.
Maximum length 2000 words. (exceeding words will be penalised).
Guidance
This assignment has been designed to assess your academic writing, therefore you should focus on essay writing.
Research will be required on this assignment, and it is important to demonstrate the ability to reference (Harvard
Reference system) where information sources have been used.
To achieve higher grades, you will have to demonstrate the ability to use compelling arguments whilst making the
reading both visually pleasing and interesting.
Key Areas that Need to Be Addressed by Your Essay
• An understanding and explanation of how ‘business communication’ has changed over the last 20 years.
• What challenges businesses in the 21st century are facing with communication?
• Identification of a suitable business, company or organisation that can be used as a ‘case study’ for your essay.
• How changes in business communication have impacted the way that business is being done now?
• An 1 -2 examples of ways that this ‘case study’ business is utilising these new ways of communicating.
• Appropriate research and referencing to support your essay.
Assignment Format – Academic Essay
This assignment is required to be written as a formal academic essay. It should therefore include:
• A clear opening and introduction to the essay topic and subject, that clearly identifies the ‘topic sentence’ or
‘thesis statement’.
• The body of the essay that must be broken down into relevant paragraphs that explains, provides evidence
and research to support your key findings and understanding.
• A concise and clear conclusion that summarises your key findings and draws the essay to a suitable
conclusion.
Use of Referencing
Students will be required to use standard Harvard Referencing for both in-text citations and in the final reference list /bibliography.
While Harvard Referencing will be discussed in detail in Lecture 5 of this course, it is recommended that students visit the resource centre and obtain a copy of the Holmes Academic Guide to Harvard Referencing. This is also available in the student resources area of Blackboard.
Other
You should get to the point and avoid wordy repetitions (i.e. be succinct and clear). Any source references used in the
essay must be appropriately referenced (Harvard system).
However, try to avoid copying or stringing together lengthy quotes leaving little said in your own words. Finally it is
extremely important that you are familiar with the university policy on plagiarism that is included in the unit outline.
Assessment Guidelines
• Quality of Written Communication (4 marks)
(Clear, Logical, Concise)
• Quality of Content (4 marks)
(Demonstration of topic depth and knowledge)
• Use of Relevant Research, Theory and Content (4 marks)
• Format – Presentation, Spelling, Grammar, Layout (4 marks)
• Appropriate Referencing (4 marks)
