ECS2603 ASSIGNMENT 1 FOR 2ND SEM 2025 - DUE 15 AUGUST 2025

Assignment 2 ECS questions Question 1: A report writing assessment – (40 marks) (400 to 600 words) The following provide information on economic growth rates for Sub-Saharan Africa: Year Real GDP growth rate 2013 5,17 2014 4,88 2015 2,87 2016 1,25 2017 2,50 2018 2,75 2019 2,67 2020 -2,00 2021 4,33 2022 3,65 2023 2,80 Source: World Bank Group World Development Indicators | DataBank Compile a report to compare growth rates in South African to growth rates for SubSaharan Africa. focusing on the period spanning a decade from 2013 to 2023. The report should include the following: • Introduction: Why it is important to monitor economic growth in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa and how is it measured. • A review of the annual economic growth rates for South Africa for each year spanning 2013 to 2023 and how it compares to the growth rates for Sub-Saharan Africa. • An analysis of the reasons for the fluctuations in economic growth and the reasons why the growth rate in South Africa differs from that of the Sub-Saharan Africa through the sample period. • Conclusion • List of references 5 This document should provide a brief, to-the-point report on economic growth in South Africa, providing an overview of actual growth rates for the sample period and reasons for fluctuation, and also compare how growth rates in South Africa differed from that for the Sub-Saharan region, and the reasons for the difference. Such a report typically outlines and examines a situation or issue, frequently suggesting courses of action for the future. The report should be clear, well-structured, and based on information that can be verified; thus, you must indicate the sources of your information. In this report we are interested in your opinion and analysis and not that of other individuals or students. This assessment must be a presentation your own efforts. Please adhere to the plagiarism policy of university - do not plagiarise or cheat by presenting the works of others as your own. Reference all sources of information that is included in your report by using the Harvard referencing style. Question 1: Assessment marking rubric The following rubric will be used to mark your report: SSA=Sub-Saharan Africa SA=South Africa Excellent Good Average Not so good Poor Not done The reason why economic growth should be monitored and how it will be measured is explained clearly (5) An excellent explanation is provided (5) A quite good explanation is provided (4) An average explanation is provided (3) A poor explanation is provided (2) An attempt to provide an explanation is done but not successful (1) No attempt is made to provide an explanation (0) The growth rates for the period are correct (5) At least 80% of the growth rates are correct (5) At least 60% of the growth rates are correct (4) At least 50% of the growth rates are correct (3) At least 40% of the growth rates are correct (2) At least 20% of the growth rates are correct (1) The growth rates are not correct (0) The growth rates for SA and SSA are presented neatly in a table and/or diagram that is easy to understand (5) Data is presented in a format that is extremely appealing and easy to understand (5) Data is presented in a format that is quite appealing and easy to understand (4) Data is presented in a format that is rather appealing and easy to understand (3) Data is presented in a format that is a bit appealing and easy to understand (2) An attempt is made to present data in a visually appealing manner but it is not very successful (1) Data is not presented in any format that is appealing and easy to understand (0) Clear and correct explanations for the changes in the economic growth rates from year to year are provided (10) Excellent and correct explanations are provided for the annual changes in the economic growth rates (10-9) Quite good and correct explanations are provided for the annual changes in the economic growth rates (8-7) Rather good and correct explanations are provided for the annual changes in the economic growth rates (6-5) The explanations for the changes in the annual growth rates is a bit good and more or less correct (4-3) An attempt is made to explain changes in the annual growth rates but it is not very successful (2-1) No attempt is made to explain the changes in the annual growth rates. (0) Compelling reasons for the difference in the growth rates for SA and SSA are provided (5) Excellent and correct explanations are provided for the differences (5) Quite good and correct explanations are provided for the differences (4) Rather good and correct explanations are provided for the differences (3) The explanations for the differences are a bit good and more or less correct (2) An attempt is made to explain the differences but it is not very successful (1) No attempt is made to explain the differences (1) 6 Excellent Good Average Not so good Poor Not done A well written conclusion regarding the growth performance of SA for the decade is provided (5) An excellent conclusion that reflects the content of the report is provided (5) A quite good conclusion that reflects the content of the report is provided (4) An average conclusion that reflects the content of the report is provided (3) The conclusion is not very good but does reflect on the content of the report a little bit (2) An attempt is made to provide a conclusion, but it is not very successful (1) No attempt is made to provide a conclusion (0) The resources are correctly listed in the reference list and correctly referenced in the text (5) Referencing is fully correct (5) At least 80% of referencing is correct (4) At least 60% of referencing is correct (3) At least 40% of referencing is correct (2) At least 20% of referencing is correct (1) Referencing is not correct at all (0) Question 2: Use and critical analysis of an answer generated by Artificial Intelligence - (20 marks) 100 to 200 words Section 2.1 (7 marks): Use an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool (ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, or any tool you prefer) to explain the reasons or causes why South Africa’s growth rate from 2013 to 2023 was lower than that of the Sub-Saharan Africa region. Indicate which tool you used, paste the question that you asked and the answer that was generated in the space provided (not part of your word count). Section 2.2 (13 marks): Critically discuss and reflect on the answer that was generated using AI, indicating what you think is good in the generated answer and what you think could be improved on. You can use the information that you collected for Question 1 to inform the critical discussion. Tips for analysing AI text include the following: • Do a quick fact check – ensure that the facts included in the passage are correct. • Do cross-referencing – if you are unsure, verify information by referring to other sources. • Analyse the context carefully – AI generated text is usually aimed for a specific audience, e.g. experts or novices. • Check for bias, i.e. make sure that the passage does not reflect viewpoints of a specific group. • Check that the passage does not include misleading information. 7 These tips were collected from the following article: Evaluating AI Generated Text: How To Check for Accuracy. Please read it to obtain more information on how to use AI generated text. It is also important to acknowledge the use of AI tools. You should indicate how, why, and when you used the different tools. You can do this by including a brief statement after your reference list that include the following: • A list of the AI tools and why you used them (e.g. to generate information, to edit language, to generate images, etc.) and to assist you with the critical analysis. Question 2: Marking rubric The following rubric will be used to grade your answer: Excellent Good Average Not so good Poor Not done Tool was indicated (1) Yes (1) No (0) Passage was pasted (1) Yes (1) No (1) A wellstructured question was asked (5) The question was excellently structured to provide a thorough answer (5) The question was well structured to provide a thorough answer (4) The structure of the question was average (3) The structure of the question was not too good (2) The structure of the question was poor (1) No appropriate question was pasted (0) A critical discussion of the generated answer was provided, indicating the strong and weak points of the generated passage. (10) An excellent critical discussion was provided. (10-8) A good critical discussion was provided. (7-6) An average critical discussion was provided. (5) The critical discussion was not too good. (4-3) The critical discussion was poor (2-1) No attempt was made to provide a critical discussion (0) A correct reference list was included with a reference to the AI tool that was used and the reason(s) for using it. (3) A complete and correct reference list was included, with a correct reference to the AI tool(s) that was/were used (3) A reference list was included, with a reference to the AI tool(s) but it was not fully correct or complete (2) An attempt was made to provide a reference list but it was poorly done (1) No reference list was included (())