EDUC1203

ASSIGNMENT

ADVICE (2015)

Exam ChecklistDo:• Check your personal timetable on the portal before your exam• Make sure your calculator (basic non-programmable) is allowed• Know where your exam is and arrive in good time• Remember your Student ID card• Read the Examination Agreement and sign it to show you understand it• Bring only that which is needed in the examThe following aren’t allowed in the exam room:• Talking, except to the invigilator• Mobile phones• Smart Watches• Blue Tooth• Any notes – including notes on the skin!• Pencil cases• Labels on drinks bottlesRemember:• Don’t turn over exam paper or start writing until told to do so• Don’t leave your seat once you’ve sat down• READ & FOLLOW the instructions on your exam paper carefully• Dictionaries are NOT permitted unless stated on the front of the exam paper, if unsure ask your module leader.

Exam FAQs can be found at: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ssc/examregs.htm

Format

• Your case study assignment should look like an essay.

• You should write in sentences and paragraphs; do not include bullet points and diagrams.

• You should take many opportunities to embed references (Smith, 2015) to support the points you are making.

Referencing

• You should not include the weekly assignment headings in your final submission.

• You reference list should include every citation you have mentioned in your 1500 word discussion.

• Your reference list should be at the end of your discussion, on a new page, under the heading ‘Reference List’

Paraphrasing

• Students generally score higher marks when they paraphrase ideas, rather than copy and paste direct quotations.

• Paraphrasing demonstrates skills of interpretation and application.

• Paraphrased ideas generally ‘sit’ more cohesively in your discussion.

Cut and Paste ‘Scholarship’

• When you are referencing you are acknowledging and respecting the ideas of another person; not the mere form of words that they use.

• Changing word order, or using alternative synonyms does not magically make someone elses work ‘yours’.

• Turnitin uses algorithms that can identify where words and sentences have been doctored from the original.

Formailities

• If you do use direct citations you must place them in “speech marks”; not ‘apostrophes’. Turnitin does not recognise ‘apostrophes’ as a citation marker.

• Initials are not necessary in embedded references (Smith, P., 2015): Should be Smith (2015) states… or initials are not necessary (Smith, 2015).

Coherence and Connectives

• Your submitted case study should not present itself as a disparate collection of 200 word ‘mini essays’: It should be a coherent piece of work that addresses the set question, “What might ‘the state’ do to support this family?”

• You should use English language devices; ‘connectives’ to link paragraphs and ideas in order to strengthen coherence.

Help the reader: Signpost

• To juxtapose an idea, use however, or on the other hand

• To build upon an established point, use furthermore

• Signposting: To convey that you are aware of where you have been and where you are going you can use devices such as, having identified the law which applies, establishing the level of need might be achieved through assessments which will be examined next…

Weekly Task: Politics

• You might demonstrate political awareness by being able to integrate some political discussion into your case study. In doing so you might demonstrate criticality.

• Rather than write a 200 word piece on ‘politics’ in the same manner as previous formative work, I am suggesting that you try to integrate political content at relevant points into your existing draft.

• Hence, there is no weekly task online submission this week or next week.

Next Week: Comparative Welfare

• Similarly to my advice on politics, I am suggesting that you score marks and demonstrate criticality by integrating comparative/international awareness into your existing draft.

• For example, if you discussed inequality and social exclusion with reference to Wilson and Pickett, this might be an apt point to integrate comparative/international content?

• Remember that the process of drafting your work is not lineal. You might go back to previous elements (such as weekly task 1) and ask yourself if you think the content that you wrote over 6 months ago is still relevant to the set question? In reading it with ‘fresh eyes’ does it still make sense to you?

This weeks’ weekly task

• Read and become familiar with the Parton seen exam journal article.

• Start highlighting points of interest in the article.• Revisit the weekly reading packs to see if you can

identify similar ideas’ or contradictory ideas to Parton’s.

• Begin annotating your Parton article.• You might start drafting an essay plan – however, you

will have to memorise this plan – as you cannot take it into the exam with you!

• Can you integrate this week’s political content into your emerging draft or essay plan?

For Next Time:

1. Bring your case study essay plan or draft for discussion in the session/seminar.

2. Bring any questions regarding the seen exam and understanding of the Parton article.