TM05 TMA 04 The assignment Important These pages provide guidance on how to write your assignment. Please ensure you read all of this information right through until the checklist at the end. Further assessment guidance for this module, including advice on plagiarism, referencing and the marking system, can be found on the module website under ‘Assessment’ (at the t ...[Show More]
TM05
TMA 04
The assignment
These pages provide guidance on how to write your
assignment. Please ensure you read all of this information right through until
the checklist at the end.
Further assessment guidance for this module, including
advice on plagiarism, referencing and the marking system, can be found on the module
website under ‘Assessment’ (at the top of the module home page).
Please consult your tutor if you are unsure about anything related
to assessment, as failure to comply with relevant guidance could result in the
loss of marks, or other penalties.
(80 per
cent of the mark for this assignment)
Choose ONE of
the following two options:
Option
A (Weeks 14 and 15)
Evaluate the roles of states and international organisations in
managing environmental challenges involving common resources.
Option
B (Weeks 16 and 17)
Evaluate the view that indigenous people’s rights to their land
can best be protected by assigning private property rights.
Word
limit: 1200 words
(20 per
cent of the mark for this assignment)
Produce a short slide presentation, based on your essay, for a
group of Open University level 1 students who are about to start studying
DD103.
Your
presentation should be based on the option you selected to answer for Part 1.
For Option
A your presentation should aim to present, in summary form, an evaluation
of the roles of states and international organisations in managing
environmental challenges involving common resources.
For Option
B your presentation should aim to present, in summary form, an evaluation
of the view that indigenous people’s rights to their land can best be protected
by assigning private property rights.
Word
limit: five slides, with the first slide to be a title slide.
What to
submit for TMA 04 (zipped together):
•
a 1200-word
essay (80 per cent of the mark)
•
a slide
presentation (20 per cent of the mark).
Before
you complete your assignment, make sure you read these guidance notes carefully
so that you can follow the advice and instructions they contain.
On the
following pages, you will find:
•
student notes
for each part of this assignment
•
the learning
outcomes addressed by this assignment
•
a checklist to
ensure you have done everything required for this assignment.
In this essay, you are being asked to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the roles of states and international organisations in managing environmental challenges involving common resources. The first thing to note here is that this is an evaluation-type question. In evaluating the above view you therefore need to provide an account of its strengths and weaknesses. Following this, you should also aim to provide a final conclusion which summarises your evaluation of the statement.
In
Week 13 you were introduced to PROMPT as a way of guiding your approach to
evaluation. PROMPT is an acronym; each letter stands for one in a set of
related criteria that you can apply to the particular argument you are
evaluating, in order to help you weigh up its strengths and weaknesses.
When
evaluating in your essay you should not apply PROMPT in a rigid and systematic
way by proceeding through each of the criteria in turn, as this will not make
for a very engaging essay. Instead, try to use PROMPT as a way of scrutinising
and questioning the claim in more detail at the planning stages of your essay.
In order to do this successfully, you will need to explain the two main
concerns that are contained within the essay question. These are:
•
how states and international organisations manage environmental
challenges involving common resources
•
an evaluation of their roles in doing so.
These
concerns are discussed in Weeks 14 and 15.
In
Week 14 both the module website and Chapter 2 of Investigating the Social World 2 offer a range of examples of
international cooperation over environmental challenges involving common
resources involving individual states and international organisations. Chapter
2, Section 2, discusses the emergence of a global environmental imagination and
how this has both influenced government action on common resource issues and
given rise to cooperation within international organisations, such as the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
In
Week 15 a number of examples of the way that states and international
organisations manage common resources are highlighted. Chapter 3, Section 2,
addresses the issue of government responses to environmental challenges and how
governance of common resources presents a particular challenge. Section 3
considers the specific issue of state sovereignty and how existing models of
sovereignty have been challenged and adapted to meet the threat of environmental
damage. The case studies in Sections 4 and 5 (hydropolitics in Central Asia,
and the South and East China Seas respectively) also provide useful material in
highlighting how states can be drawn into conflict over common resources, and
the role of international organisations such as the United Nations (through
UNCLOS) in resolving disputes in order to address these challenges.
In
evaluating the roles of states and international organisations in managing
environmental challenges involving common resources, you will need to consider
the available evidence around the claim’s strengths and weaknesses.
You
should bear in mind that the module theme of rights will be also be useful to
your argument, particularly in relation to the state’s responsibility to effectively
cooperate with other states over environmental challenges involving common
resources. At the broadest level, this could refer to how states’ sovereign
rights might be challenged over a common resource issue, while at the more
localised or even personal level it could involve the degree to which
individuals’ rights are affected by environmental pollution
While
the module team doesn’t expect you to draw material from each study week in
equal proportions, it is important that, in order to fulfil the task set for
this assignment, you draw from material in both of the relevant study weeks for
this assignment.
All
of the assignments in DD103 assume that you will draw on the module material
you have studied in order to address the question. The main study materials for
Part 1 (Option A) are in Weeks 14 and 15. You must ensure that you draw on
material from both study weeks. The theme of rights is introduced and reviewed
in Weeks 13 and 18, where you will also find additional relevant material.
The
main sources of information for Part 1 (Option A) are summarised in the table
below.
|
Information source |
Summary |
|
Week 14 |
This week provides useful discussion of the emergence of
an environmental imagination and how this has influenced state action to
protect the environment, and driven the growth of environmental engagement
among states within international organisations. |
|
Week 15 |
This week discusses the role of states in relation to a
number of environmental challenges related to common resources. It highlights
a number of ways in which the role of the state is connected to the
protection of environmental rights. |
|
Week 13 and Week 18 |
Both the introductory and review weeks provide some
useful guidance on considering the module theme of rights and examples of
common resources. |
The
Skills sections in Block 3 that deal with evaluation are also a key resource
for this TMA. You can review your understanding of the process of evaluation by
listening to ‘Evaluating arguments: an audio guide’ and reviewing ‘The
Investigative toolkit in Block 3: Evaluating arguments’, both in Week 18.
The
Skills sections ‘Introducing concepts’ (Week 14) and ‘Understanding and using
concepts’ (Week 15) also discuss the use of concepts in social science, so you
may also want to revisit these to consider the concepts highlighted in the
essay title.
Part
1 (Option A) requires you to write an academic essay. Although there is no one
right way of approaching this essay, the module team suggests that it will be
useful to bear in mind the following key points:
•
Before you start writing you should ensure that you have a clear
understanding of the module theme of rights.
•
Ensure that you have a clear understanding of the Block 3 topic of
common resources and the ‘analysis and evaluation’ elements of the
Investigative toolkit, which will help you to approach the task of analysing
and evaluating in this assignment.
•
Read the essay question several times, so that you know what you
are being asked to write about. Remember, if you are not sure, you can always
ask your tutor to help you work through
the requirements of the essay question.
•
Identify the material you need to use, including page numbers or
weblinks, for any study materials that you will need to reference.
•
Identify the arguments that relate to the TMA question and the
different elements that comprise them.
•
Organise the material into a logical order to answer the question.
For this essay, this will mean grouping a number of points under the headings
of ‘strengths’ and ‘weaknesses’, and then presenting your assessment of the question.
•
Create a plan to structure your essay, with an introduction, a
main body consisting of a number of paragraphs (each paragraph relating to an
aspect of the question), and a conclusion.
•
You should try to ensure that your essay does not become
repetitive (i.e. simply moving back and forth from one position to another).
Try to ensure that you have a strong and engaging narrative running through the
essay.
•
Remember to include a word count at the end of your essay. This
word count should include everything that comes after the title and before the
end references. It is acceptable for your essay to fall 10 per cent either side
of the word count, but it is important to observe these limits. If your essay
falls either side of these parameters you will receive a warning and guidance
from your tutor on complying with the word limit. However, if you have
previously received a warning, this part of TMA will be marked down by 10
percentage points.
•
briefly introduce what your essay will be doing, by way of a clear
introduction
•
present an account which evaluates the roles of states and
international organisations in managing environmental challenges involving
common resources.
•
demonstrate your understanding of the module materials studied so
far.
In
this essay, you are being asked to evaluate the claim that indigenous peoples’
rights to their land can best be protected by assigning private property
rights. The process word in the question is ‘evaluate’. This means that you
need to provide an account of the strengths and weaknesses of the view that the
assignment of private property rights is the best way to protect indigenous
people’s rights to their land. Following this, you should briefly give a final
conclusion which summarises your findings and states the degree to which you
think the view expressed is supported by sound arguments and evidence. Your
conclusion might support one side or the other, on the basis of evidence; or it
might say that different cases support different sides of the argument, making
a general conclusion difficult to draw.
The
question talks about ‘assigning private property rights’ without specifying who
they are assigned to. So, when discussing the strengths and the weakness of the
proposition, you will need to be clear on which type of private property rights
assignment you are referring to. Property rights can be assigned, for example,
to individuals in the indigenous community, private companies set up by the
community, or individuals or private companies from outside the community. They
are an alternative to ‘communal’ property rights, which give ownership of land
to the community as a whole. They are also distinct from ‘public’ property
rights, which give ownership of land to a government that tries or claims to
act on behalf of the community.
In
Week 16 you were presented with some arguments supporting the idea that
assigning private property rights can improve the management of a scarce and
exhaustible resource (like land), in a way that can protect the rights of
indigenous people who use that land. You were also presented with some
counter-arguments, showing that indigenous people can live sustainably on their
land when it is communally owned - without private property - provided certain
rules and conditions are observed.
In
Week 17 you were shown examples of situations where indigenous people’s rights
to land have been threatened by other people, including those seeking to
exercise private property rights over it. These examples also contained some
counter-arguments from people (inside and outside the indigenous community)
claiming that assigning private property rights would promote economic
development, benefiting that community in the longer term.
You
may use examples from either week to illustrate the proposition’s strengths and
weaknesses, and your answer is likely to benefit from at least one example. It
is important that you do draw on material from both weeks in writing your essay, although you do not have to
draw on material from Weeks 16 and 17 in equal proportion. Answers that
identify more strengths than weaknesses in the proposition, and those that
identify more weaknesses than strengths, can earn equally good marks in this
Assignment. Your answer to Part A will be assessed entirely on how well you
evaluate the proposition, not on whether you end up supporting or rejecting it.
In
DD103, PROMPT is used as a way of guiding your approach to evaluation; you were
introduced to this in Week 13. PROMPT is an acronym; each letter stands for one
in a set of related criteria that you can apply to the particular argument you
are evaluating, in order to help you weigh up its strengths and weaknesses.
When
evaluating in your essay you should not apply PROMPT in a rigid and systematic
way by proceeding through each of the criteria in turn, as this will not make
for a very engaging essay. Instead, try to use PROMPT as a way of scrutinising
and questioning the claim in more detail at the planning stages of your essay.
All
of the assignments in DD103 assume that you will draw on the module material
you have studied in order to address the question. The main study materials for
Part 1 (Option B) are in Weeks 16 and 17. You must ensure that you draw on
material from both study weeks. The Block 3 topic of common resources and the
theme of rights are also introduced and reviewed in Weeks 13 and 18.
The
main sources of information for Part 1 (Option B) are summarised in the table
below.
|
Information source |
Summary |
|
Week 16 |
This week examines three alternative ways of managing
common resources – via communal use, private ownership or state control – and
empirical and theoretical arguments about which is best for economic development.
It contains examples which support the argument that communal management of
land can lead to its effective and sustainable exploitation, but also
counter-examples where assigning rights of private ownership promotes the
effective use of a resource for economic development. The use of theory and
evidence are also discussed in this week. |
|
Week 17 |
This week provides several examples of indigenous people,
and their experience with economic development when they were enabled to
protect their communal lands or when those lands were switched to other forms
of management. The Niyamgiri case provides a contrast between the Dongria
Kondh (who successfully defended their rights to their sacred mountain
against a mining company) and the lowland tribes whose defence was less
successful. These and other cases (such as the Awa and Surui) allow
consideration of how indigenous people’s right to economic development was
affected by the successful or unsuccessful defence of communal lands. |
|
Week 13 and Week 18 |
Both the introductory and review weeks provide some
useful guidance on considering the module theme of rights and the block topic
of common resources, both of which connect to this assignment question. The
additional material on the Niyamgiri struggle in Week 18 will also be useful
here. |
The
Skills sections in Block 3 that deal with evaluation are also a key resource
for this TMA. You can review your understanding of the process of evaluation by
listening to ‘Evaluating arguments: an audio guide’ and reviewing ‘The
Investigative toolkit in Block 3: Evaluating arguments’, both in Week 18.
The
Skills sections ‘Introducing concepts’ (Week 14) and ‘Understanding and using
concepts’ (Week 15) also discuss the use of concepts in social science, so you
may also want to revisit these to consider the concepts highlighted in the
essay title.
Part
1 (Option B) requires you to write an academic essay. Although there is no one
right way of approaching this essay, the module team suggests that it will be
useful to bear in mind the following key points:
•
Before you start writing you should ensure that you have a clear
understanding of the module theme of rights.
•
Ensure that you have a clear understanding of the Block 3 topic of
common resources and the ‘analysis and evaluation’ elements of the
Investigative toolkit, which will help you to approach the task of analysing
and evaluating in this assignment.
•
Read the essay question several times, so that you know what you
are being asked to write about. Remember, if you are not sure, you can always
ask your tutor to help you work through
the requirements of the essay question.
•
Identify the material you need to use, including page numbers or
weblinks, for any study materials that you will need to reference.
•
Identify the arguments that relate to the TMA question and the
different elements that comprise them.
•
Organise the material into a logical order to answer the question.
For this essay, this will mean grouping a number of points under the headings
of ‘strengths’ and ‘weaknesses’ and then presenting your assessment of the claim in the
question.
•
Create a plan to structure your essay with an introduction, a main
body consisting of a number of paragraphs (each paragraph relating to an aspect
of the question), and a conclusion.
•
You should try to ensure that your essay does not become
repetitive (i.e. simply moving back and forth from one position to another).
Try to ensure that you have a strong and engaging narrative running through the
essay.
•
Remember to include a word count at the end of your essay. This
word count should include everything that comes after the title and before the
end references. It is acceptable for your essay to fall 10 per cent either side
of the word count, but it is important to observe these limits. If your essay
falls either side of these parameters you will receive a warning and guidance
from your tutor on complying with the word limit. However, if you have
previously received a warning, this part of TMA will be marked down by 10
percentage points.
•
briefly introduce what your essay will be doing, by way of a clear
introduction
•
present an account which evaluates the proposition that indigenous
people’s rights to their land can best be protected by assigning private
property rights.
•
demonstrate your understanding of the module materials studied so
far.
Part
2 of TMA 04 expects you to create a short slide presentation based on the essay
you have written for Part 1. Slide presentations, such as PowerPoint, are often
used in the workplace environment, and elsewhere, when key information needs to
be expressed in clear and concise terms.
Before
beginning this part of the assignment, ensure that you have worked through the
Skills section ‘Creating a presentation using slides’ in Week 18, Section 8,
which takes you through the process of summarising a piece of text by focusing
on key points and then presenting these points using slides. Here you will also
find links to practical guidance on how to use slide presentation software to
design and produce your presentation.
If
you are unable to access any slide presentation software, such as PowerPoint,
please contact you tutor for advice.
Usually,
you would expect to deliver a presentation in person and be able to elaborate
on the points made in your slides. However, for the purposes of this exercise,
you should imagine that your presentation is not designed to be given with an
accompanying talk. Consequently, your individual slides will need to convey
sufficient information for your audience to grasp your main points. You should
make sure that the presentation is clear, easy to follow and contains all the
key information required.
To
create your presentation, you may find it useful to first create a summary of
your essay for the option that you chose. The essay plan that you drew up when
approaching Part 1 may be useful in creating this summary. You can then use
your summary as a guide for your presentation.
Your
presentation must be four
slides long, although you can use one additional title slide, which should
contain just the title of your presentation and your name. Please use a font
size of at least 24 points to ensure that the text on your slides is legible.
If necessary, references can be given in the footer of the final slide in a
smaller font. No additional information sources are required for this part of
the assignment.
Please
note that where you are using different software packages for the creation of
Parts 1 and 2 these will need to be zipped together prior to submission through
the eTMA system. Guidance on how to do this is provided in Section 10.1 of
Social Sciences Assessment Information.
Your
presentation is a visual explanation that will be assessed on its ability to
convey the key points of a longer piece of academic work in a condensed format
that is clear and thought-provoking. To make a good slide presentation, you
should:
•
ensure that you summarise the key points of your essay and present
them in a clear and logical sequence
•
structure the presentation to include some brief introductory and
concluding points
•
make sure that you do not crowd your slides with too much
information, as this will make them appear messy and hard to follow
•
ensure that the font used is at least 24 points, so that it could
be read from across a large room when projected
•
try to avoid including too many additional features that might
detract from the content.
Keep
in mind that the audience will be a group of students about to start studying
DD103. They will not have any familiarity with the material in Block 3, or
earlier blocks, so your points will require clear explanation. However, you can
expect them to be engaged and ready to understand the subject matter. Your
presentation should provide your audience with a clear idea of how your essay
explains and evaluates – as required by the essay question. It should be
self-contained and self-explanatory.
•
provide a clear and succinct presentation that communicates your
topic to an audience that is not familiar with the Block 3 module material
•
provide a self-contained and self-explanatory account of the topic
of your presentation.
All
the examples of references below are simply indicative, as you may be drawing
from different chapters, activities and audios/videos.
In-text citations, which you might include in the body of your assignment, should
look like this:
Book
chapter: (Smith, 2015, p. 42)
•
For module videos/audios: (The Open University, [year of module
start])
•
For module online activities: (The Open University, [year of
module start])
Full references, which you might include in the reference list at the end of your
assignment, should look like this:
•
Smith, J. (2015) ‘The politics of the environment’, in Drake, D.,
Morris, A., Shipman, A. and Wheeler, K. (eds) Investigating the Social World 2, Milton Keynes, The Open
University, pp. 29–67.
If
you wish to reference an activity, you should do so as follows:
•
The Open University ([year of module start]) ‘Activity
14.2’, DD103 Investigating the
social world [Online]. Available at
https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1050395§ion=3
(Accessed [date]).
If
you wish to reference a video, you should do so as follows:
•
The Open University ([year of module start]) ‘1979: Life on Earth’
[Video], DD103 Investigating the
social world(Extract). Available at
https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=1050395§ion=5.2
(Accessed [date]).
NB: ‘Year of module start’ refers to the year in which you begin the
module. So if you begin in 2018, this is the year you would insert into the
reference; for example, ‘(The Open University, 2018)’.
For
book chapters, where you cite a source that is mentioned in the module
materials, but that you haven’t actually read yourself, this should be
presented as a secondary reference. An example of an in-text citation for
a secondary reference is:
•
Carroll (2014) cited in Smith (2015, p. 41)
For
the full reference, you simply show the publication details of the source that
you have read:
•
Smith, J. (2015) ‘The politics of the environment’, in Drake, D.,
Morris, A., Shipman, A. and Wheeler, K. (eds) Investigating the Social World 2, Milton Keynes, The Open
University.
Elements
of the following module learning outcomes are addressed by TMA 04:
•
an understanding of the social sciences and their development
through processes of evaluating questions and data, leading to readiness for
study at level 2
•
an understanding of selected concepts, theories and debates within
the social sciences generally, and within the specialised fields of
international studies, environmental studies, politics and economics, and
social policy and criminology in particular
•
an understanding of the different processes and forces of social
change, and the ways these are interpreted using the social sciences
•
an ability to construct and present social science arguments using
appropriate concepts, models, theories and evidence
•
an ability to use examples, illustrations and case studies in
presenting and assessing an argument, and an understanding of the use of
abstraction and empirical investigation in this task
•
an ability to compare and evaluate different theoretical positions
or arguments and to apply social science concepts to real-world examples and
cases
•
an ability to access, and make notes on, information from a range
of sources including written, audio-visual and Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT)
•
an ability to effectively communicate information accurately and
appropriately to the subject, purpose and context
•
an ability to use skills, developed through ICT, for study through
structured activities
•
an ability to plan, study and manage a sequence of work that meets
a deadline
•
an ability to recognise the relevance of skills learnt on the
module to other contexts, such as the workplace
•
an ability to plan a study pathway to link learning with personal
and/or career goals, as well as an ability to recognise and develop independent
learning skills.
[Show Less]
Published: 3 years ago
Published By: Chelsea Kim
University of Kabianga > Essay > indigenous Land and territories page(s)
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| Category: | Essay |
| Published By: | Chelsea Kim |
| Published On: | 3 years ago |
| Number of pages: | 1 |
| Language: | English |
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