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HSC Society and Culture Marking Guidelines — Personal Interest Project

HSC examination overview

The HSC examination for Society and Culture consists of a written paper worth 70 marks and a Personal Interest Project worth 30 marks.

Task: Personal Interest Project (PIP) (30 marks)

The Personal Interest Project enables students to demonstrate the development of their interests, research skills and personal experiences concerning the interactions between persons, societies, cultures and environments across time. In particular students will be able to demonstrate the development and application of social and cultural research methodologies in completing their Personal Interest Project.

The Personal Interest Project is to:

• be a topic of the student’s own choice
• be related to the course
• use appropriate methodologies
• include a cross-cultural perspective.

Guidelines for the Personal Interest Project

• The project must be the student’s own work and have a substantial amount of subject matter brought together on the basis of their reading, research and personal experience.
• A range of methodologies should be applied that are suited to the topic.
• The project must be individually produced by the student.
• A Personal Interest Project Diary should be maintained and used to form the basis of the PIP Log.

In the presentation of the Personal Interest Project, the following components must be presented:

• an introduction of no more than 500 words that gives a brief description of the topic and methodologies used
• a log of no more than 500 words that should be based on the student’s Personal Interest Project Diary
• central material of the Personal Interest Project between 2500 and 5000 words which may be accompanied by photographs, tables, graphs and/or diagrams. The central material must contain a cross-cultural perspective – that is, a perspective different from the student’s own.
• a concluding statement of no more than 500 words stating what the student has learned from the Personal Interest Project
• a resource list that contains annotated references used in the Personal Interest Project.

Assessment criteria

• Evidence of achievement of the course outcomes.
• The clarity of the topic, and the purposes and procedures of the PIP.
• A demonstrated understanding and application of the fundamental concepts and other concepts of the course.
• The appropriate use of methodologies essential to the course.
• The accuracy and relevance of the subject matter for the purposes of the PIP.
• A demonstrated knowledge and understanding of viewpoints different from the immediate culture of the student.
• An integration of various aspects of the course in a coherent structure.
• Conclusions proceeding from the stated introduction and arguments presented in the PIP.
• Evidence that personal experience is related to public traditions of knowledge.
• Effective communication of the student’s ideas to a wider audience.
• Evidence of originality in design, execution and analysis.
• Evidence of social and cultural literacy.

Outcomes assessed: H1, H6, H7, H8, H9, H10, H11

MARKING GUIDELINES

Criteria	Marks
Demonstrates a thorough understanding of the interactions between persons, societies, cultures and environments over time Effectively applies and integrates social and cultural terms and concepts throughout the PIP Effectively applies social and cultural research methodologies and makes informed judgements on the usefulness, validity and bias of information that contributed to the PIP Demonstrates a thorough and sustained synthesis of accurate and relevant ideas, issues and information relating personal experience and public knowledge and draws from a number of perspectives and resources Presents a clear, coherent and well-structured PIP that effectively communicates the student’s ideas, incorporating appropriate language, and where applicable, photos, tables and/or diagrams	25–30
Demonstrates a sound understanding of the interactions between persons, societies, cultures and environments over time Applies social and cultural terms and concepts throughout the PIP Applies social and cultural research methodologies and makes appropriate judgements on the usefulness, validity and bias of information that contributed to the PIP Demonstrates elements of synthesis of appropriate ideas, issues and information relating personal experience and public knowledge and draws from a number of perspectives and resources Presents a clear and well-structured PIP that effectively communicates the student’s ideas and incorporates appropriate language, and where applicable, photographs, tables and/or diagrams	19–24
Identifies a variety of interactions between persons, societies, cultures and environments over time Uses social and cultural terms and concepts throughout the PIP Uses social and cultural research methodologies and makes some judgements on the usefulness, validity and/or bias of information that contributed to the PIP Demonstrates ideas, issues and/or information relating some personal and/or public knowledge and draws from more than one perspective and resource Presents a clear PIP that communicates the student’s ideas, and includes the appropriate use of language, and where applicable, some use of photos, tables and/or diagrams	13–18
Identifies some interactions between persons, societies, cultures and/or environments over time Uses some social and/or cultural terms and concepts throughout the PIP Uses at least one social and cultural research methodology and makes some judgements on the usefulness, validity and/or bias of information that may have contributed to the PIP Demonstrates some ideas, issues and/or information which relates to personal and/or public knowledge Presents a PIP that communicates the student’s ideas and includes some use of appropriate language, and where applicable, some use of photographs, tables and/or diagrams	7–12
Identifies at least one interaction between persons, societies, cultures and environments Limited use of social and/or cultural terms and/or concepts Uses at least one social and cultural research methodology States an idea, issue and/or gives some information which relates to personal and/or public knowledge Presents a PIP that communicates the student’s ideas, and may include some use of photographs, tables and/or diagrams	1–6