Motivation
Activity 5
Topic 6: Motivation and rewards In this topic you have covered an important theory of motivation called Expectancy Theory. Let's apply this theory to your university study, specifically the upcoming essay assessment. There are three expectancy factors that will affect your motivation to succeed: * Expectancy is your belief that working hard on your essay will result in the production of a good quality piece of work (i.e. a least a high pass or credit although more able students may have higher expectations) * Instrumentality is that your successful performance according to the marking criteria will attain a desired mark.You just need to trust your lecturer with this one. * Valence is the value you place on having strong written communication skills. Take this as given. Employers are telling us that this is one of the most important skills they are looking for in graduates. This activity is addressing the first factor - expectancy. I have found many students don't work hard on essays because their past efforts did not seem to bring much reward. If you follow the advice below carefully and continue torespond to feedback then you will, with practice, be a much better writer than you are now by the time you graduate. Time spent on the activities below will save you time and valuable marks when you go to write your essay. Complete Tasks A, B and C. Sample answers below. Task A - identifying a strong central argument Step 1: Watch the RMIT essay writing video overview and look at the tutorials if you would like more detailed advice on essay writing. Step 2: To ensure that you understand what RMIT mean by argument (or what can be called a ‘thesis statement') read this information sheet by Nancy Armstrong:Thesis statements. Step 3: For each of the following statements, identify whether the statement is strong, too narrow or too broad. If the statement is too narrow or broad, rewrite it to fix the problem.
Topic 6: Motivation and rewards In this topic you have covered an important theory of motivation called Expectancy Theory. Let's apply this theory to your university study, specifically the upcoming essay assessment. There are three expectancy factors that will affect your motivation to succeed: * Expectancy is your belief that working hard on your essay will result in the production of a good quality piece of work (i.e. a least a high pass or credit although more able students may have higher expectations) * Instrumentality is that your successful performance according to the marking criteria will attain a desired mark.You just need to trust your lecturer with this one. * Valence is the value you place on having strong written communication skills. Take this as given. Employers are telling us that this is one of the most important skills they are looking for in graduates. This activity is addressing the first factor - expectancy. I have found many students don't work hard on essays because their past efforts did not seem to bring much reward. If you follow the advice below carefully and continue torespond to feedback then you will, with practice, be a much better writer than you are now by the time you graduate. Time spent on the activities below will save you time and valuable marks when you go to write your essay. Complete Tasks A, B and C. Sample answers below. Task A - identifying a strong central argument Step 1: Watch the RMIT essay writing video overview and look at the tutorials if you would like more detailed advice on essay writing. Step 2: To ensure that you understand what RMIT mean by argument (or what can be called a ‘thesis statement') read this information sheet by Nancy Armstrong:Thesis statements. Step 3: For each of the following statements, identify whether the statement is strong, too narrow or too broad. If the statement is too narrow or broad, rewrite it to fix the problem.