1. This is a group project; groups of 3 or 4 students will carry out this project. Please form groups by providing me with names and Student ID numbers and Course Code
( DT365 Group A/B/C or DT399) of all members of groups by email to siobhan.mccarthy@dit.ie by Wednesday 21st of October (your last lecture before reading week). I will send a confirmation email, please email again if you do not receive this. ANY STUDENT NOT SIGNED INTO A GROUP BY LATEST IN YOUR LAST LECTURE BEFORE REVIEW WEEK ON WEDNESDAY 21ST OF OCTOBER MUST COMPLETE AN INDIVIDUAL PROJECT ON THEIR OWN. ANY STUDENT ADDING THEMSELVES TO AN EXISTING GROUP WITHOUT EMAILING ME WILL NOT BE ELIGIBLE TO BE GRADED AS PART OF THE GROUP AND MUST COMPLETE AN INDIVIDUAL PROJECT ON THEIR OWN. Any individual student can complete the project on their own by choice but only with prior consultation with myself
2. Please note all projects must include proper references NOT ONLY AT THE END OF THE PROJECT BUT WITHIN THE PROJECT, please consult the Style Guide. Projects will be penalised if proper referencing procedure is not adhered to.
3. The final project should not exceed 5000 words in length. However any graphical analysis and interview transcripts will not be included in limit. The group will be required to hand up the project in your assigned lecture on Monday 2nd of November to Siobhan Mc Carthy in person, any project given any time after this will incur late penalties as lay out in the student handbook. All members of the group must sign their work in on Monday 2nd of November.
4. Worth 50% of overall grade and the project should be typed. It is vitally important that this is a group project, each student must work on the project, if any group member is not working or goes missing, contact me ASAP.
5. Please state the degree code that is DT365 or DT399 on the front of the project for each group member. Please list the group members names and student IDs on the front of the project as well.
6. ANY COPYING WILL BE TREATED VERY HARSHLY. STUDENTS SHOULD NOTE THAT THIS CAN AND DOES INCLUDE EXCLUSION FROM ALL EXAMINATIONS FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE ACADEMIC YEAR AND EXCLUSION OR REFERRAL FROM THE RESUMPUTION OF STUDIES
7. Each group member should keep a saved copy of the final version of the project. All material must be saved on a computer’s hard drive and several USB Keys. Students should note that difficulties often arise at the final stages of the project such as virus of keys/disks, corruption of keys/disks, loss of keys/disks and often difficulties as too many students have left printing to the last minute. The only way to avoid this is to keep many copies and leave yourself time for printing.
The causes and effects of the 1973-1987 recession in Ireland are still widely debated and the causes and effects of the most recent recession (2008 recession) in Ireland will be debated for many years to come. This project will focus on these recessions and one of the main effects of these recessions that is namely, unemployment. This project should be solely based on Ireland.
Each project should have a good structure
1. Introduction
2. Briefly compare and contrast the economic recession 1973-1987 and the most recent recession 2008 onwards in Ireland in terms of the effects of these recessions
3. Review the trend in unemployment in Ireland since 2008? Do you think the recent decrease in unemployment will continue. Why/ Why not?
4. If you were Minister for Enterprise and Employment, what NEW policies would you focus on to reduce the unemployment rate further in 2015. Review any problems that might be associated with such policies
5. Review one subcategory (type of people by subcategory for example occupation, education level, age, geographical location etc) which have a higher than average rate of unemployment currently in Ireland. Outline why your chosen subcategory has difficulty in attaining employment in your opinion.
6. Two or more interviews with people with personnel/professional knowledge of the subcategory above, this could include for example member(s) of the subcategory. The interview topic is the current high unemployment rate for this subcategory in Ireland. Write a summary of the interview findings including what new information your group learned from carrying out the interviews. Place the transcripts including interviewees’ contact details at the back of the project. (Each group must interview different people and you should not share interviewees)
7. The groups’ own insights, policy recommendations and ideas about the topic this should include the following (a) What lessons were learned from 1973-1987 and 2008 recessions? How do you think has this effected current economic polices (b). Do you think any of the causes of the recent 2008 recession remain in place and do you think these causes could slow/halt Ireland’s economic recovery, (c) briefly outline future challenges, in your opinion, for the Irish economy
Common mistakes made by students that lead to overall lower grade
1. Referencing: Lack of proper referencing will impact your grade All sources must be referenced in accordance with the Style Guide available on webcourses, this will be reflected in the achieved grade.
2. Be careful to use good quality sources as there is extreme opinion about the economics especially for far right and far left political parties, always check which organisation established websites you are quoting, avoid quoting from political view point websites, Wikipedia and blogs and stick to well established neutral/independent organisations/commentators. In the words of Upton Sinclair ‘It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” Therefore be careful to check which organisation is paying the bills for the website you are looking at.
3. A common mistake is for students to use a limited number of sources for example one section is all based on one/limited source(s) or word-for-word from one/limited number of website(s), this will result in a poor grade for this section/overall project. An important part of the project is to find and locate good reference material for this project and your work will be graded accordingly therefore no project/ or section of a project should not be over-dependent on limited number of sources
4. Although not advisable some groups divide up the project and do not read each others’ work and therefore either repeat or contradict points made in previous sections, this again can reduce your overall grade
5. This project should be solely based on Ireland, therefore any material not about Ireland will not suitable
