Assignment writing guidelines Overview of assessment requirements for this course Learning in this course is assessed by a number of 'assessment tasks'. Included in these assessment tasks is the requirement to write an academic essay, and a business report. These guidelines provide generic information regarding the basic requirements of both the academic essay and the business report. Assignment title page All written assignments require some sort of title page. For this course, the requirements for the title page are quite specific. A sample title page is provided in the assessment of learning section of the course website. The title page should be a plain document, with no graphics. It is best to avoid templates that have been provided with your word processor as these often create difficulties for the marker. The following information should be provided on the title page for both the essay and the report in this course: •course name and code •title of assessment piece (from the course profile) •title of essay (a meaningful title that you develop to describe your essay or report) •student name and id number •campus (Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Rockhampton, Flex, Singapore, etc.) •lecturer's name •tutor's name •actual word count of paper (counted from the first word in the introduction to the last word in the conclusion) •details of any extension that might have been granted (including the reference number, the number of days granted and the new submission date). •Each page of the assignment (except for the title page) should have a page number (there are specific requirements for page numbers for reports, refer to the report section below), student id and course code - these details can be included in a header or footer. Academic Essay Students often have difficulty coming to terms with the writing requirements of academia. This is understandable as writing skills have been declining in recent decades. Unfortunately, without adequate writing skills, students are unable to logically mount an academic argument. If you feel that your language skills need refeshing,it is strongly recommended that you consult with the LSU on metro campuses, and the ALC for distance and regional campus students. What is an 'academic essay'? One of the basic tools of assessment is the academic essay. Different academics will interpret this form of writing in different ways, so be sure you understand what your lecturer wants for each course you are doing. In this course, one of the major assessment tasks is an academic essay based on a hypothetical scenario (usually a realistic case study). The essay is expected to demonstrate your understanding of the issues involved in the situation, display your research skills, and show logical development of an argument. Students are often required to write an 'argumentative essay'. This type of essay requires that an argument be stated in the introduction, and developed through the body of the essay, and confirmed in the conclusion. An argumentative essay requires an argument or thesis statement in the introduction. This statement is usually a single sentence that forms the framework for the whole essay. An example of such a statement might be: 'Human activity is the cause of global warming.' or 'The root cause of the current operational problem is...' With a statement such as this, the purpose of the essay is to show, with proper use of evidence, that the statement is true. There is much material on the web regarding academic writing, and essay writing in particular. A very informative article is available at Deakin University. How should the essay be formatted? An essay, by its very nature is a 'sustained argument in prose'. Therefore, there should be no headings, but there should be three distinct sections: introduction, body and conclusion. If you are not sure what these sections should do, contact the Learning Support Unit (for metro campus students) or the Academic Learning Centre (for Flex and CQU regional students). Physically, the essay should be presented with the following features: •margins of at least 2.54cm (1 inch) - 3cm is ideal •typeface should be a serif variety such as Times New Roman and of reasonable size (11 is fine for Bookman Old Style, and 12 is good with Times New Roman). Times New Roman in 12 point is recommended. Avoid using a sans-serif font such as Arial as it is hard to read. •line spacing should be 1.5 lines - again, make it easy for the marker to read. Business Report Business reports are an important communications element in most organisations. The requirements of reports vary greatly. Many organisations have their own preferred formats, and the nature of the report often dictates how it is presented. For reports in this course, one of the basic requirements is that knowledge claims and other information must be properly acknowledged by correct referencing. The source of knowledge claims and information should also be critically assessed. How should the report in assignment 2 be formatted? In this course, the report should follow the 'short report' format. The Learning Skills Unit provides useful guidance in this regard. The report should be formatted using the following style guide. Font: A serif such as New Times Roman - this is because in print form it is easier to read, and comprehension is better. Font size: A typeface of 11 or 12 points is preferable, but depends on the type face. For Times New Roman, 12 point is ideal. Line spacing: 1.5 lines. Paragraph spacing: either 12 points if adjusting space after paragraph using paragraph formatting (this is for people who know how to use Microsoft Word properly), or a single blank line (that means two 'enters'). Headings: Two levels, maximum of three. You can use numbered headings if desired, but not essential. Using the heading system in Word allows you to automatically create your table of contents (same goes for tables and figures, if you use captions, word will automatically create your table of tables and table of figures if you ask it nicely). References: Harvard author/date referencing style as provided in the referencing guide. the reference list should be on a new page, and comes after the conclusion but before appendices (if there are any). The reference list heading should be "References". Appendices: Only include appended material if relevant. Do not expect the marker to read it all. If it is an essential part of your argument or discussion, the material should be included in the body, or at least summarised. Don't use appendices to manipulate word count restrictions. Title page: Although electronic submission does not require a coversheet, the assignment should have a title page. See the section above for specific instructions regarding the title page. Front matter: Standard front matter items include executive summary, table of contents, table of tables, table of figures. Front matter is numbered in Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv etc.), and the body is numbered in Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4,) with the first page of the introduction being page 1. To do this you will need to use section breaks in your document and stipulate different footers for each section. Letter of transmittal: The letter of transmittal is the letter that accompanies the report. It is addressed to the person that requested the report and may contain limited information. There is plenty of information about letters of transmittal in business communications textbooks as well as on the internet. In this course the letter of transmittal should come after the title page, but not numbered (it is really a separate document, but for our purposes it has to be included in a single report file). Executive summary: The report should contain an Executive Summary that is positioned after the letter of transmittal and before the table of contents. See below for more information regarding the Executive Summary. Page identification: Each page should have either student name or student number (best place to put this is in the header or footer in small type)and the course code. Reports should be presented in a professional manner; that does not mean clip art or fancy layouts and colours. It means that the paper looks good, everything is present and in the right place, headings are meaningful, and the language of the report is standard business English (using Australian spelling). How do I write an Executive Summary? The thing to remember about an executive summary is that it is not the introduction, and it is not a "teaser". It is a summary of the report. The main purpose of the executive summary is to allow a busy reader to get a good idea of what is in the report without having to read it. A properly constructed Table of Contents can often be used as the skeleton for the summary. As with the report introduction, the executive summary should be written at the end of the report writing process. The University of Woolongong gives some examples of good and poor executive summaries. Need to ask a question? Want to talk to other students? This course has four forums; a general forum where students can discuss whatever they like, a question and answer forum where questions can be posed and answered, and a forum for each of the written assignments. Use these forums as part of your regular study activities. You can access the forums via the links on the course website