WSTA01: Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies
Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies
WSTA01: Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies
Written Assignment #2| Application of Course Concept | Aarzoo Singh
VALUE: 15%
DUE: Friday November 4, 2022 by 11:59pm on Quercus
FORMATTING: Double-spaced, 12-point font + works cited
LENGTH: Each section should be between 325 and 375 words (Please include your word count at
the end of each section), 650-700 words in total. You may go over word count by 10%, no more.
SOURCES: You must refer to min one course reading in your response, but you many use as many
as you might need—so no max (any from the first 7 weeks of class). Please do not use any sources
we have not seen in class.
For the second written assignment, you will choose one of the course concepts we have talked about and
apply it to a real-life situation you have experienced or witnessed.
In order to successfully complete this assignment, please follow the steps outlined below:
1. Choose one of the course concepts we have learned about in the first 7 weeks of class. Examples of
course concepts include (but are not limited to): intersectionality, the sex-gender binary, the
heterosexual matrix, heteronormativity, transgender identity, intersex traits, postfeminist media
culture, social determinants of health, ableism, settler colonialism. If you are unsure about whether
your idea is a course concept or not, please contact your tutorial leader for guidance.
2. Write a 325– to 375–word explanation of the concept you have chosen. Your explanation should be
clear and should not presuppose any prior knowledge on the part of your reader; pretend you are a
professor and you are explaining the concept to first-year university students. You are allowed to use
appropriate and useful quotations from any of the relevant articles we have read or video clips we have
watched in this section, if they help clarify your points. Please do not use any sources we have not seen
in class.
3. Write a 325– to 375–word description of how the course concept you have chosen and that you have
described above can be applied to a real-life situation you have experienced or witnessed. If you want
to relate the concept to an event in your own life, you are more than welcome to; if you would rather
not speak about your own life, then you may choose a real-life event that you have read about or seen
in the media. You may also choose to write about somebody else’s lived experience (a person that you
know or know of), but you must anonymise your text (ie, remove all identifying information about
this person). Again, you are allowed to use appropriate and useful quotations from relevant articles in
this section to establish the links between the lived experience you are describing and the course
concept; however, these should be brief, concise and limited. Please do not use any sources we have
not seen in class.
Please note that your written assignment must respect the following guidelines:
• Your first page should include the following information: the date, your name and student number,
the course number, your tutorial time and section, and the name of your tutorial leader.
• Your assignment should be typed in Times New Roman (or equivalent font) size 12, and double-
spaced.
• Your margins must be 1 inch, or 2.54 centimetres (the standard width when you open a Word
document).
You will submit this assignment as a Word document (.doc or .docx) on Quercus; you will have until 11:59
on November 4h to upload it to Quercus. Should you require accommodation around this deadline, advanced
discussion with your TA is necessary, otherwise a late penalty of 2% per day will be applied to your
assignment; we will not accept assignments uploaded after Friday November 11 at 11:59pm without valid
medical documentation.
Grading Rubric
Explanation of concept: /4
Links between concept and lived experience: /4
Quality of written expression: /3
Organisation of ideas /3
Material presentation: /1
Total /15
Please note that the grading rubric is appended to this document (page 3). Please read the rubric
categories carefully.
In papers and assignments:
• Using someone else’s ideas or words without appropriate acknowledgement.
• Submitting your own work in more than one course without the permission of the instructor.
• Making up sources or facts.
• Obtaining or providing unauthorized assistance on any assignment.
On tests and exams:
• Using or possessing unauthorized aids.
• Looking at someone else’s answers during an exam or test.
• Misrepresenting your identity.
In academic work:
• Falsifying institutional documents or grades.
• Falsifying or altering any documentation required by the University, including (but not limited to)
doctor’s notes.
All suspected cases of academic dishonesty will be investigated following procedures outlined in the Code of
Behaviour on Academic Matters. If you have questions or concerns about what constitutes appropriate
academic behaviour or appropriate research and citation methods, you are expected to seek out additional
information on academic integrity from your instructor or from other institutional resources .
Adapted from: Jeri English
GRADING RUBRIC
Written Assignment #2: Critical Response Paper
4 3 2 1 Score
Explanation
of course
concept
(4 possible
points)
- Explanation is between 325 and 375
words.
- Explanation presents all of the main
ideas and fundamental points of the
course concept.
- Explanation is clear, detailed and always
easy to follow.
- Quotations are well chosen and serve as
excellent illustrations of the course
concept.