Your completed investigation of a contemporary issue

Your investigation should explore and critique evidence relating to your chosen EMA Project question, where possible focusing on contemporary examples.

You should write using appropriate academic conventions and in an objective style that discusses and answers the EMA Project question. You should use the sections and sub-headings shown below to structure your work. Further details on what should be covered in each section can be found on the next pages.

Use the full EMA Project question as the title to your work.

Sections and sub-headings

Title

Clearly title your work with your chosen EMA project question, in full.

Section A – Scope, context and approach (Suggested word count – 500 words)

To include:

• The focus and boundaries of the question
• Justification and the social context
• The approach taken

Section B – Evidence and discussion (Suggested word count – 3500 words)

• This section represents the main bulk of your investigation and should critically evaluate the evidence relating to the EMA project question. You may find it useful to use appropriate sub-headings to structure this main section.

Section C – Conclusion and implications for practice (Suggested word count – 500 words)

• In this section you should draw together the evidence you have discussed in Section B and provide a conclusion that answers the EMA project question and considers the implications for professional practice.

References

Provide, in OU Harvard style, a full list of references used.

Guidance for part 2

General

• Your EMA Project question was first confirmed in iCMA 42. The final confirmationthat you were answering this question was on submission of TMA 03, for which you received feedback from your tutor and which you must include at the top of your EMA document. It is compulsory that you answer the same EMA question as that submitted in TMA 03. Make the most of your development opportunities by ensuring you thoroughly address the TMA 03 feedback in your final submission.
• When writing up your EMA you should discuss and critique what the academic literature and media sources say about the question and subject area, including any debate or controversy that makes it a contemporary issue.
• You should structure your answer using the specific section headings provided above, with appropriate secondary sub-headings as you see fit. The headings will help you meet a specific learning outcome for the module, which states that you should be able to organise and present evidence of independent enquiry drawing on ‘appropriate academic conventions’.
• In terms of the level at which you pitch your writing, it should be aimed at a knowledgeable peer who has read the EMA introduction material so has an introductory understanding of the subject area.
• In this EMA your narrative should have a clear direction: just like in Study Topics 1, 2 and 3 you are working towards a clear, focused and reasoned conclusion to answer the question.

Guidance for each section

Section A: Scope, context and approach (500 words)

Advice about each aspect that should be covered is given below.

• The focus and boundaries of the question

In this introductory part you are setting out the foundation for your work. First you need to define precisely what the focus of your answer will include, your interpretation of the question wording and clarification of terms where appropriate. You have already developed an early version of the scope or boundaries of what you are addressing in TMA 03 and with tutor feedback and further reading you can develop this still further.

Note that as you saw in Activity 23.1 there are different types of focus that can be used for answering the same question, so you do have some flexibility in the focus and boundaries you choose.

• Justification and the social context

Next, provide a justification of why the issue is important and has value in the way it connects with the interests of different social groups and/or the wider public. For instance a question might be particularly relevant to groups such as ‘those playing team sport’, ‘young people’, ‘those with certain health conditions’ and/or certain practitioners (e.g. coaches, teachers, managers of organisations). In the EMA Project introductions (Study Topic 4) each author explained in brief why they considered the issue is important. You should try to build upon this and add your own justifications; backing up any claims you make with references will help build the credibility of your argument.

• The approach taken

This part answers the question of ‘how are you going to tackle the question and organise your work?’ Here you need to address the direction and perspective of your argument in detail. You might also include a brief explanation of how you selected your academic and media sources and signpost here the sequence in which you organise your evidence and discussion in the main section, Section B.

Section B: Evidence and discussion (3500 words)

• In this main section you are demonstrating your familiarity with arguments in the literature and any underpinning background knowledge needed to discuss and critique the topic area.
• The EMA wording refers to ‘explore and critique evidence relating to your chosen EMA Project question, where possible focusing on contemporary examples.’ This means that there is an expectation that some (i.e. at least a couple) of the academic references should be relatively recent. We normally expect this to mean coverage of academic literature made available in the last two years (e.g. if you are writing in 2018 this would mean anything in 2016 and onwards). However, subject areas are built upon key research that is more dated and these would also be included in the discussion: the skill is in recognising how knowledge has developed over time from the early literature.
• You may find it useful to revisit the section on how to search for and evaluate academic literature in Unit 29.
• You should use sub-headings, where appropriate, to help structure your evidence. They will also act as signposts for the reader.
• You should also address some non-academic evidence – media representations for instance, though you should always make clear your awareness that this is not academic material and is secondary to it. You may choose to do this mainly in one sub-section or distribute throughout your narrative. It is recommended that you consider the credibility of different media sources.
• You may find it useful to revisit Unit 30 on using media evidence.

The guidance for words used in this section is about 3500 words.

Section C: Conclusion and implications for practice (500 words)

• This final section is all about clearly stating the main conclusion and implications for applied sport and fitness and/or coaching/instructional practice. When thinking about this section it might help if you consider these three prompts:
  1. What does the evidence point to in answering the EMA Project question? (the conclusion)
  2. How is this information of any value to those working in sport and fitness? (the implications for practice)
  3. Are there any future research directions or technological developments that mean the subject area is likely to evolve further?

This section represents your interpretation of the main findings arising out of your investigation. This end point should not come as any great surprise to the reader as the main body of your work should have been guiding them to this point.