guide to writing assignments

8/13/2019 Guide to Writing Assignments

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OPEN UNIVERSITYof MAURITIUS

GUIDETO

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS



PROJECT COORDINATION

Open University of Mauritius

© Open University of Mauritius, August 2013

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means, with-

out prior written permission from the Open University of Maurititus. Commercial use and distri-

bution of this material is strictly prohibited.



2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Getting Started……………………………………………………………………………………………………….…… 3

1.1 Interpreting Assignments………………………………………………………………………..…3

1.2 Planning Your Research……………………………………………………………………………..4

2. Researching for Your Assignments………………………………………………………………………………4

2.1 The Research Process..……………………………………………………………………………..5

2.2 Where to Find Your Sources..……………………………………………………………………5

2.3 Citing Your Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism…………………………………………….7

3. Structuring Your Assignment ………………………………………………………………………………… 19

3.1 Creating Coherent Sections…………………………………………………………………….. 20

4. English Usage for Academic Writing ………………………………………………………………………..22

4.1 Punctuation for Disambiguation …………………………………………………………….23

4.2 Adopting the Appropriate Attitude ………………………………………………………..26

5. The Final Touch ………………………………………………………………………………………………………28

5.1 Proofreading and Revising the First Draft…………………………………………….28

5.2 Presentation and Format…………………………………………………………………….28

5.3 Submitting Assignments………………………………………………………………………29



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1. Getting Started

You are required to produce and submit assignments in partial fulfilment of your course of

study. Assignment briefs which include the topic/question, as well as other specifications,

will be provided. Different kinds of assignments are favoured within particular modules and

courses, hence assignments may include essays, case studies, reports and oral presentations.

Starting off with your first assignments can be quite mind-boggling. This hand-out provides

you with some basic guidelines and essential information to help you through the exercise.

1.1 Interpreting Assignments

Approaching an assignment question requires you to think academically. To ensure relevance

of your work, you must first try to understand the title and identify the purpose of the

assignment. It is always a good idea to underline the keywords, so you can be clear about all

aspects of the question. Some commonly used terms within assignment questions are:

Analyse/ Examine: consider different views and explore the relationship between them

Assess/ Evaluate: present a conclusion over an issue by stressing both positives and

negatives

Comment: make critical observations

Compare: look into both similarities and differences

Define: Set forth or state precisely the meaning of

Describe: Give a detailed account of, without interpreting or explaining

Discuss: consider from different points of view, then provide personal opinions

Explain: clarify and interpret facts

Outline: provide main points and essential information, while omitting minor details

Review: re-examine or re-evaluate and comment briefly on major points



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However, the assignment question may also have less obvious implications. Matching the

task with specific unit/s of the relevant module can help you understand what exactly you

are being invited to explore. Taking these initial steps should help you develop a clear sense

of direction. Note that you will be penalized if the assignment lacks relevance to the question.

Alternatively, you may be provided with the topic and asked to formulate a proper title for

your research work.

1.2 Planning Your Research

Once you feel confident that you have understood the assignment question, you may be

tempted to plunge straight into researching and reading a wide range of sources. You should

however avoid this trap. Instead, you should first devote some time to think over the

assignment question and decide what reading will be most relevant to answering the

question. Research can be quite time-consuming, especially when you are not sure what

exactly you are looking for. Your research material should support the points that you wish to

bring forth in your work. A lack of planning prior to starting your research may, on the other

hand, cause you to digress from the assignment question.

Brainstorming, that is randomly generating ideas and jotting down everything that comes to

your mind, supports a smooth transition from known to unknown. In other words, once you

have set down on paper everything that you already know about the assignment topic and

that you wish to include in your work, you will then be able to organize your ideas coherently,

which will help you focus your forthcoming research on the question. The ideas generated

through the brainstorming exercise will certainly be far from sufficient for completing your

assignment; but you would have thus planned the basic structure of your research, so you can

start searching for relevant material.



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2. Researching for Your Assignments

After you have rearranged you random ideas into an outline plan, you can use this same

outline to start gathering information. Research will obviously broaden your knowledge, so

you may wish to adapt your plan as you go along. You should, however, organize the gathered

information as per your plan so you need not devote extra time to sorting out the information

at a later stage. You can categorize the information according to how they might support

your different arguments. Colour-coding your notes may help you jot them down in a

selective and constructive manner.

You should bear in mind that your assignment must express your own views on the topic/

question. It should not be a mere patchwork of information gathered from different sources.

Your research material should merely support your personal views and arguments. You need

not agree with all the sources you come across. You are rather encouraged to examine the

evidence presented within the various sources. Your research should include both

observation and evaluation of the researched material.

Some areas of study requires researchers to explore both Primary sources and Secondary

sources. A primary source is a document which was written during the time under study.Primary sources include:

Creative works: poetry, drama, novels, etc.

Original documents: diaries, speeches, historical records, autobiographies and other

personal narratives, legal documents, interviews, letters, manuscripts, etc.

A secondary source is a written piece which interprets and analyzes primary sources.

Secondary sources include critical analysis, commentary, textbook, research evidence,

article, etc.



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2.1 The Research Process

The research process starts with finding relevant sources, skimming and scanning thesesources, and in-depth reading of important parts of these sources. You need not study all the

sources in detail. Rather, you should brush up your critical reading skills. One effective

technique for skimming a text is to read the introductory and conclusive paragraphs, as well

as the first and last sentences of each paragraph. Scanning is basically skimming a text with

a more tightly focused purpose of finding particular facts or arguments. With a little bit of

practice, you should be able to develop your own skimming and scanning techniques to suit

your reading style.

Selecting parts of the material and note-taking will come next. You will have to make choices

about the information that you wish to quote, paraphrase or summarize in your own words.

Paraphrasing means re-stating the information in your own words, whereas summarizing

allows you to express an extensive amount of information in a concise form. However, if you

use even a few of the author’s words while summarizing a larger amount of information,

these words must appear in quotation marks. Although a direct quotation proves that you

have read source, you must avoid replicating large chunks of information from any one

source. In fact, as part of the research process, you should also devote some time to

analyzing and comparing the information gathered from different sources. Some of the

questions that you could ask yourself are:

What does the author say?

Why does the author say so?

What is the author’s approach to investigating the issue?

How convincing is the author’s argument?

How weak is the author’s argument?

What solution does the author provide?



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2.2 Where to Find Your Sources

Most students would begin their research for their assignments by consulting the manualsand hand-outs that are provided to them as essential learning tools for every module. A

reading list may also be included in the manuals and hand-outs.

The Open University Library also provides core facilities for academics and students who

need access to books and monographs and to digital resources. It caters for the needs of all

students across all courses offered at the Open University. Course materials and text books

are provided in the form of books, e-books, audio and video programmes. The physicallibrary has a seating capacity of around 60, where registered learners can consult books or

view audio-visual programmes.

In line with the philosophy of the Open University to facilitate the learning mode of the

students through technological tools, the Library has set up an e-library, hence students need

not travel to the physical library in order to consult the books. Registered learners can access

e-books, online journals, audio-visual programmes, past exam papers, dissertations andprojects from the internet at any time. They must contact the Academic Affairs Division for

their user name and password. A collection of some 86,000 titles of e-books is available. The

E-Library can be accessed from http://search.ebscohost.com

Registered learners can also access online journals from the following websites:

EBSCO: http://search.ebscohost.com Emerald: www.emeraldinsight.com

When consulting books, you may first scan the preface, table of contents and index, then

proceed with in-depth reading of sections relevant to the assessment topic. Journal articles

http://search.ebscohost.com/





http://www.emeraldinsight.com/







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usually outline their line of argument within the abstract. Reading the abstract will therefore

indicate the relevance of the article to your research.

Research over the internet is being increasingly favoured by learners. Despite being a

tremendous resource, the internet must however be used carefully and critically. With the

exception of academic research databases that can be accessed through providers such as

those mentioned above, most freely accessible online material are unedited and unverified;

hence the accuracy and reliability of online information is doubtful. It is not at all

recommended that you rely exclusively on internet resources for your research.

Also bear in mind that you must write down the complete bibliographical information for

each source consulted, as all research material included in your assignment must be properlyreferenced.

2.3 Citing Your Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism

Plagiarism means to represent the words, thoughts, ideas, arguments or expressions of

another person as one's own. Such misappropriation of another author’s writings into your

own work is not acceptable at university level. It is in fact considered a serious offence and is

heavily penalized.

You must therefore cite all your sources in every academic work you produce. However, there

are some rules and conventions that you must abide by for citing your sources in an

appropriate manner.

Referencing means to acknowledge all the sources you have researched and deemed right to

appropriate within your assignment. This includes quotations, paraphrases as well as

summaries. Your work should include a mix of all three.



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If you have carried out extensive research, you might get the feeling, while writing your

assignment, that you have included too many ideas that are not your own. This does not

however lessen the credit you get for your own thinking. Rather, it indicates the amount of

reading you have done, for which you will receive extra merit points. In fact, supporting your

own arguments with those of esteemed academic sources adds value to your work.

Referencing comprises two components:

In-text referencing, i.e. acknowledging the parts that you cite from other sources within the

body of your work.

A Reference List or Bibliography at the end of your work, i.e. a list of all the sources cited in

your text, as well as all other sources you consulted and found helpful during your research.

There are different referencing conventions that are favoured across different fields of study

and educational institutions. Some of the most popular referencing formats are:

The Harvard System

The APA (American Psychological Association) format

The MLA (Modern Language Association) format

At the Open University of Mauritius, the Harvard System is recommended. Table 2.3 provides

examples, both for compiling the Reference List or Bibliography and in-text referencing, of

the different kinds of sources that you could use.



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Harvard Citation Style Examples

Material

Type

In-Text Example Reference List/ Bibliography Example

Books & eBooks

Book: Single

Author

(Holt 1997) or Holt

(1997) wrote that...

Holt, DH 1997, Management principles and practices, Prentice-Hall,

Sydney.

Book: 2 or 3

Authors

(McCarthy,

William &

Pascale 1997)

McCarthey, EJ, William, DP & Pascale, GQ 1997, Basic marketing,

Irwin, Sydney.

Book: More

Than 3

Authors

(Bond et al.

1996)

Bond, WR, Smith, JT, Brown, KL & George, M 1996, Management of

small firms, McGraw-Hill, Sydney.

Book: No

Author

(A history of Greece

1994)

A history of Greece 1994, Irwin, Sydney.

Book: Editor (ed. Jones 1998)Jones, MD (ed.) 1998, Management in Australia, Academic Press,

London.

Book: 2 or

More

Editors

(eds. Bullinger &

Warnecke 1985)

Bullinger, HJ & Warnecke HJ (eds.) 1985, Toward the factory of the

future, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

Book:

Translator &

Author

(trans. Smith

2006)

Colorado, JA 2006, Economic theory in the Mexican context: recent

developments on the ground, trans. K Smith, Oxford University

Press, Oxford.

Book:

Organisationas Author

(Australian

Bureau of

Agricultural andResource

Economics 2001)

Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics 2001,

Aquaculture development in Australia: a review of key economicissues, ABARE, Canberra.

Book:

Chapter or

Article in

Edited Book

A number of

disturbing facts

intrude'

(Milkman 1998, p.

25)

Milkman, R 1998, 'The new American workplace: high road or low

road?' in Workplaces of the future, eds. P Thompson & C Warhurst,

Macmillan Press, London, pp. 22-34.

Book:

edition

other than

first.

(Drafke, 2009)Drafke, M 2009, The human side of organizations, 10th edn.,

Pearson/Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J.

Books:

DifferentWorks by

Same

Author in

Same Year

(Bond 1991a)(Bond 1991b)

Bond, G 1991a, Business ethics, McGraw-Hill, Sydney.Bond, G 1991b, Corporate governance, Irwin, London.



11

E-book (Aghion &

Durlauf 2005)

Aghion, P & Durlauf, S (eds.) 2005, Handbook of economic growth,

Elsevier, Amsterdam. Available from: Elsevier books. [4 November

2004].

E-book:

Chapter or

Article inan Edited

Ebook

'Historical thinking is

actually a Western

perspective' (White

2002, p. 112)

White, H 2002, 'The westernization of world history' in Western

historical thinking: an intercultural debate, ed J Rusen, Berghahn

Books, New York pp.

111-119. Available from: ACLS Humanities E-Book. [14 May 2009].

Journals

Journal

Article: Print

(Conley &

Galeson 1998)

Conley, TG & Galeson, DW 1998, 'Nativity and wealth in mid-

nineteenth century cities', Journal of Economic History , vol. 58, no.

2, pp. 468-493.

Journal

Article:

ElectronicDatabase

(Liveris 2011) Liveris, A 2011, 'Ethics as a strategy', Leadership Excellence, vol. 28,

no. 2, pp.17-18. Available from: Proquest [23 June 2011].

Webpage:

No Author

(Improve indigenous

housing 2007)

Use first few words

of the page title

Improve indigenous housing now, government told, 2007. Available

from:

<http://www.architecture.com.au/i-cms?page=10220> [8 February

2009].

Webpage:

No Date (Jones, n.d.)

Jones, MD n.d., Commentary on indigenous housing initiatives.

Available from: <http://www.architecture.com.au> [6 June 2009].

Web

Document

(Department of

Industry,

Tourism and

Resources 2006)

Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources 2006, Being

Prepared for an Influenza Pandemic: a Kit for Small Businesses,

Government of Australia, Available from:

<http://www.innovation.gov.au> [28 February 2009].

Website

(Australian

Securities

Exchange 2009)

Australian Securities Exchange 2009, Market Information. Available

from:

<http://www.asx.com.au/professionals/market_information/index.

htm> [5 July 2009].

Blog (Newton 2007)

Newton, A. 2007, Newcastle toolkit. 16 January 2007. Angela

Newton: Blog. Available from:

<https://elgg.leeds.ac.uk/libajn/weblog/> [23 February 2007].

Computer

Software

(OpenOffice.org

2005)

OpenOffice.org, computer software 2005. Available from:

<http://www.openoffice.org> [11 January 2005].

Web Based

Image /

table

/ figure

(The Lunar

Interior 2000)

The Lunar Interior , 2000. Available from:

<https://reader010.{domain}/reader010/html5/0622/5b2cba9536b70/5b2cba

[28 November 2000].



12

Cases and Legislation

Cases (R v Tang (2008)

237 CLR 1)R v Tang (2008) 237 CLR.

Acts of

Parliament

(Corporations

Act 2001 (Cth) s

3)

Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).

Delegated

Legislation

(Police

Regulations 2003

(Vic) reg 6.

Police Regulations 2003 (Vic) reg 6.

Bills

(Corporations

Amendment Bill

(No 1) 2005(Cth)

Corporations Amendment Bill (No 1) 2005 (Cth).

Company Information

Company

Report

(Aspect Huntley

2009)

Aspect Huntley DatAnalysis 2009, National Australia Bank Limited

Company Report . Available from: Aspect Huntley DatAnalysis. [20

May 2009].

Company

Profile

(Datamonitor

2009)

Datamonitor 2009, Wesfarmers Limited Company Profile. Available

from: Business Source Premier. [20 May 2009].

Financial

Data

(Datastream

2009)

Datastream, 2009, S&PASX200 daily index data 2000-2009.

Available from: Datastream. [20 May 2009].

Conference Papers & Proceedings

Conference

Proceeding

Paper: Print

(Riley 1992)

Riley, D 1992, 'Industrial relations in Australian education', in

Contemporary Australasian industrial relations: proceedings of the

sixth AIRAANZ conference, ed. D. Blackmur, AIRAANZ, Sydney, pp.

124-140.

Conference

Proceeding

Paper:

Electronic

(Fan, Gordon &

Pathak 2000)

Fan, W, Gordon, MD & Pathak, R 2000, 'Personalization of search

engine services for effective retrieval and knowledge management',Proceedings of the twenty-first international conference on

information systems, pp. 20-34.

Available from: ACM Portal: ACM Digital Library. [24 June 2004].



13

Conference

Proceeding

Paper:

Unpublished

(Brown & Caste

1990)

Brown, S & Caste, V 2004, 'Integrated obstacle detection

framework'. Paper presented at the IEEE Intelligent Vehicles

Symposium, IEEE, Detroit MI.

Newspapers

Newspaper:

Print (Ionesco 2001)

Ionesco, J 2001, 'Federal election: new Chip in politics', The

Advertiser 23 October, p. 10.

Newspaper:

Electronic

Database

(Meryment

2006)

Meryment, E 2006, 'Distaff winemakers raise a glass of their own to

their own', The Australian, 7 October, p. 5. Available from: Factiva.

[2 February 2007].

Newspaper:From a

Website

(Hilts 1999)Hilts, PJ 1999, 'In forecasting their emotions, most people flunkout', The New York Times 16 February. Available from

<http://www.nytimes.com> [19 February 2000].

Newspaper:

No Author

(The Sydney

Morning Herald 7

January 2011, p. 12)

Not required.

Multimedia

Video

(Effective

performanceappraisals 1994)

Effective performance appraisals 1994, (video recording),Melbourne, Educational Media Australia.

Television

Programme (Crystal 1993)

Crystal, L (executive producer) 1993, The MacNeil/Lehrer news hour

(television broadcast) 11 October 1993, New York and Washington

DC, Public Broadcasting Service.

Audio

Podcast (Van Nuys 2007)

Van Nuys, D (producer) 2007, 'The anatomy of a lobotomist [Show

84]', Shrink Rap Radio (podcast). Available from:

<http://www.shrinkrapradio.com/> [11 April 2007].

VideoPodcast

(Kloft 2006)

Kloft, M (producer/director) 2006, The Nuremberg trials (motion

picture), in M.Samuels (executive producer), American experience

(podcast). Available from:

<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rss/podcast_pb.xml> [4 March

2006].

Music Track

from an

Album

(Shocked 1992)Shocked, M 1992, 'Over the waterfall', on Arkansas Traveller (CD).

New York, Polygram Music.



14

Video Blog

Post (Norton 2006)

Norton, R 2006, 'How to train a cat to operate a light switch' (video

file). Available from:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vja83KLQXZs> [4 November

2006].

Standards & Patents

Patent (Cookson 1985)Cookson, AH 1985, Particle trap for compressed gas insulated

transmission systems, US Patent 4554399.

Standard:

Retrieved

From a

Database

(Standards

Australia 2008)

Standards Australia 2008, Personal floatation devices - General

requirements. AS 4758.1-2008. Available from: Standards Australia

Online. [1 December 2008].

Standard:

Published

(Standards

Australia/New

Zealand

Standard 1994)

Standards Australia 1994, Information processing - text and office

systems - office document architecture (ODA) and interchange

format: part 10: formal specifications, AS/NZS 3951.10:1994,

Standards Australia, NSW.

CMO

CMO Article (Jennings 1997)

Jennings, P 1997, 'The performance and competitive advantage of

small firms: a management perspective', International Small

Business Journal , vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 63-75. Available from: The

University of Western Australia Library Course Materials Online. [1

September 2004].

Lecture Notes

Lecture

Notes (Foster 2004)

Foster, T 2004, Balance sheets, lecture notes distributed inFinancial Accounting 101 at The University of Western Australia,

Crawley on 2 November 2005.



15

Theses

Thesis:

Unpublished (Hos 2005)

Hos, JP 2005, Mechanochemically synthesized nanomaterials for

intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell membranes. Ph.D.thesis, University of Western Australia.

Thesis:

Published (May 2007)

May, B 2007, A survey of radial velocities in the zodiacal dust

cloud. Bristol UK, Canopus Publishing.

Thesis:

Retrieved

From a

Database

(Baril 2006)

Baril, M 2006, A distributed conceptual model for stream salinity

generation processes: a systematic data-based approach.

WU2006.0058. Available from:

Australasian Digital Theses Program. [12 August 2008].

Personal Communication

Telephone

Call,

Interview,

email, etc.

If the information you are referencing was obtained by a personal communication such as a

telephone call, an interview or an email that fact is usually documented in the text and are

not added to the reference list. If desired you can add the abbreviation pers. comm. to the

reference.

• When interviewed on 6 June 2008, Mr. M Ward confirmed...

• Mr. M Ward confirmed this by facsimile on 6 June 2008.

• It has been confirmed that he will be touring Australia in the middle of next year (Mr.

M Ward, 2008, pers. comm., 6 June).

Citing Information Someone else has Cited

Citing

Information

that

Someone

Else has

Cited

(O'Reilly, cited in

Byrne 2008)

In the reference list provide the details of the author who has done

the citing.

* Book titles, as well as online and multimedia sources are written in Italics. You may also opt for underlining instead of italicizing

the titles of such sources, but only of these two methods must be used throughout your work. Also pay attention to how

punctuation marks have been used, and how page numbers, editions, volumes and dates of publication for different types of

sources have been included.

Table 2.3 Examples of Harvard System of Referencing



16

Here is a list of abbreviations used in the Harvard System of Referencing:

c., ca. Approximate dates; e.g. c. 1800

ch. Chapter

ed., eds. Editor/s

edn., edns. Edition/s

et al. And others; e.g. Jung et al. [used when several

persons have authored the work]

et seq. And on the following pages, chapters, etc.

l., ll. Line/s

n. d. No date

no., nos. Number/s

p., pp. Page/s

pers. comm. Personal communication

rev. Revised, reviser

[sic] Used to indicate that the quote is exact,

though it may not seem to be so; for instance,

if the quote contains grammatical mistakes or

incorrect spellings.

trans. Translator/s

vol., vols. Volume/s



17

Note that some rules also apply to in-text referencing. There are three types of quotations:

Direct , General and Secondary . The Harvard Convention of Citation is given below for each

type of in-text quotation.

Harvard Convention of Citation

Direct

a) If your quotation is no more than two lines long, it can remain within single quotation marks

within your text.

E.g. A clause in the contract states that the shipper “reserves to itself complete freedom in

respect of the procedure to be followed in the handling and transportation of the goods ” (Evans J, 1976).

b) If the quote is longer than two lines, it should be indented and written in a block rather than

placed in quotation marks, and separated by a space above and below your text. Indented

quotations need not be in italics, bold or underlined, unless the original source contains

these styles.

E.g. In his earlier published work An Outline of Psycho-analysis, Freud states that:

"However much the analyst may become tempted to become a teacher, model and ideal for

other people and to create men in his own image, he should not forget that that is not his task

in the analytic relationship, and indeed he will be disloyal to his task if he allows himself to be

led on by his inclinations. If he does, he will only be repeating a mistake of the parents who

crushed their child's independence by their influence, and he will be replacing the patient's

earlier dependence by a new one." (Freud, 1940).

General

This style of in-text referencing is used for general references, paraphrases and summaries,

rather than direct quotations.



18

E.g. The debate on National Socialism was reinvigorated in the late 1980s by Victor Faria (Faria,

1987).

Secondary

If you refer to an author who is cited in a secondary source, both sources must be

referenced.

E.g. Neville (1990, cited in Wilson 1998, p.89) devised the standard criteria for food tasting

surveys.

Also, your quotations must be inserted within your text in a coherent manner. Here are a

few ways to introduce quotations:

- As discussed/ observed/ stated/ pointed out/ suggested by …

- According to…

- [Author X] argues/ states/ suggests/ points out that…

- As discussed in [X book]…

- Considering [Author X’s] point of view…



19

3. Structuring Your Assignment

Unlike essays which you are probably more used to writing, well-researched academic papers

sould contain many more sections and subsections, which you will have to number coherently

and present in a Table of Contents in the beginning of your work. It is also advisable to include

a Title Page, an Abstract and a Literature Review in the beginning of your assignment; as well

as the Reference List or Bibliography at the end, as discussed in the previous section. The

order in which these sections should be arranged is as follows:

1. Title Page

2. Abstract

3. Table of Contents

4. Literature Review

Abstract: a summary of the most important points to be discussed in the assignment, as

well as the intent and/ or purpose of your research. It is usually presented on a single page

and framed, i.e. you should include a page border. Your abstract may contain such

information as the problem statement (i.e. what issue you are trying to look into), your

motivation and approach to this research, as well as the results and conclusion.

Literature Review: The aim of a Literature Review is to place your research in context of

the existing body of research that you have come across. It is very likely that you will be

formulating your arguments and claims within your assignment based on the sources you

have read, agreeing with certain claims of other authors, disagreeing with some of them, or

further elaborating on certain other previous research work. This is what you should present

in the Literature Review, so that you demonstrate cognizance of previous research carried

out on the assignment question/ topic and acknowledge your inspirations. The Literature

Review should however be written in a neutral and descriptive tone, such that you merely

catalogue the lines of arguments of your sources rather than debate on them in this section



20

of your assignment. Debating should come at a later stage in the body of your assignment,

not in the Literature Review.

Reference List or Bibliography: A Bibliography is usually more extensive than a Reference

List, and may contain sources which you have consulted but not referenced in the body of

your assignment. Opt for a Reference List if you do not have too many sources to cite.

3.1 Creating Coherent Sections

Other than the sections discussed above, your assignment should be structured in such a way

that it includes an Introduction, a Conclusion at the end, and different sections andsubsections, each of which may contain several paragraphs. These sections and subsections

must be organized in a logical and coherent manner, so that your ideas and arguments are

clearly articulated; hence the importance of research and planning before you start writing

your assignment. Since your research would have helped you draw a conclusion regarding the

assignment question even before you start writing, the points discussed within the body of

your work should logically and rationally lead towards that conclusion. The Conclusion may

re-state the main points discussed in your work, but must not be a mere summary. You should

also avoid introducing any new idea or argument in the Conclusion.

The Introduction may include such information as:

- definition of key terms

- chronological overview of topic under study (from past to present)

- hypothesis; i.e. an assumption made as a basis for further research

- problem statement; i.e. a concise description of the issues to be addressed

You should however avoid presenting any opinion or argument in the Introduction.



21

The titles and subtitles within each section of your assignment also serves the purpose of

distinctly expressing your various ideas and arguments, hence they should be punchy, precise

and concise. Also make sure that you limit yourself to a single umbrella idea per section, and a

single argument per paragraph. Your paragraphs must however be well-developed; i.e.

containing extensive evidence in the form of cited facts, figures, examples, comparisons,

illustrations, quotations, paraphrases and anecdotes. If you use visual illustrations such as

charts, graphs, tables and pictures, they should be labeled and briefly explained.

You should also plan in advance the ordering of your sections; i.e. the rationale behind your

sections and paragraphs being organized in a particular order. For instance, you may order the

sections of your work from cause to effect or from problem to solution, or following the time-

sequence pattern of the topic under study. You may in fact devise any sequence for presenting

your arguments – such as every argument followed by its counter-argument – as long as it has

a rationale behind it.

Every section or subsection of the assignment may be developed in five phases: definition,

description, explanation, demonstration/ evidence and conclusion. These phases may

determine the various paragraphs that each section or subsection would comprise. As you

write, you need to work towards a smooth transition from one section or subsection to the

next. For this reason, each section should have a very brief introduction and conclusion of its

own; which can be achieved using a Topic Sentence and a Summing-up Sentence. A Topic

Sentence is the first sentence of a paragraph or section, which succinctly yet clearly states the

main idea or argument discussed within that section or paragraph. The Summing-up Sentence

is the last sentence of a section or paragraph, which in brief concludes the discussion within

that section or paragraph.



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4. English Usage for Academic Writing

Assignments must be written in formal language; avoiding colloquialism, i.e. words, phrases

and expressions employed in conversational or informal contexts. Colloquialism includes such

words as gonna or wanna, phrases and expressions such as pouring cats and dogs, and

contractions such as let’s, don’t or can’t . Slang expressions such as SMS language and

‘chatspeak’ (for instance words like LOL orROLF ) as well as words pertaining to specific dialects

and jargons must not be used in academic writing.

Clichés and generalizations through the use of such words and expressions as nowadays, these

days, first and foremost , modern society or slowly but surely must also be avoided. On the

other hand, it is highly recommended that you use politically correct terms such as physically

challenged instead of handicapped , least developed country instead of Third World country ,

or low income earner instead of poor .

Also make sure that all your referents are clear. For instance, when you write this theory , that

point , this idea, that argument , or simply it , this or that , you need to make sure that your

reader’s attention is drawn to what you want it to. You must also be certain that you have

used grammatically correct language, and that your sentence structures are comprehensible.

In fact, you should be consistent with the verb tenses you have decided to use.

The first time you use an acronym [abbreviation formed from the first components in a phrase

or word], the whole set of words must be written out and the short form placed in parentheses

immediately after; e.g. World Trade Organization (WTO). You may then go on to use just the

acronym. You may also find it useful to include a Glossary and a List of Acronyms at the end

of your assignment if you have included a wide range of technical terms and acronyms in your

work.



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4.1 Punctuation for Disambiguation

Punctuation disambiguates language and contributes significantly to achieving clarity of

expression. Here is a guideline for using the different punctuation marks.

Capitalization

- First alphabet of a word at the

beginning of every sentence or after

a colon

- First alphabet of names of people,

places, organizations, days of the

week, months, brands, academic

subjects (e.g. Mathematics)

- Titles of people (e.g. Dr., Mrs., Prof.)

- Titles of books, essays, articles, films,

historical events (e.g. The French

Revolution)

- Acronyms

Full Stop (.) - At the end of a sentence

- After an abbreviation

Comma (,)

- To separate a list of words

- To separate subordinate clauses of a

sentence from the main statement

(e.g. It is little wonder that students,

especially first-years, find writing

assignments so traumatic.)



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- To mark off words and phrases

[conjunctions and transitional words]

such as however , certainly , moreover ,

without any doubt

- To separate nouns in apposition (e.g.

Pinky, our kitten, has disappeared.)

Semi-colon (;)

- To demonstrate a longer pause than

denoted by a comma

- To separate a list of phrases, where

using commas may create confusion

Colon (:)

- To create a list of words

- To introduce a subordinate clause

that further explains a main sentence

(e.g. In short, this is what Pythagoras

Theorem infers: the square on the

hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the

squares on the…)

Question Mark (?) - At the end of interrogative sentences

Exclamation Mark (!) - For emphasis



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Single Quotation Marks (‘…’)

- To mark off paraphrases

- To mark off particular words and

expressions from the rest of a

sentence

Double Quotation Marks (“…”)

- To enclose direct speeches

- To mark off quotations

Dashes and Hyphens (- , _)

- To set off a clause from a main

sentence (e.g. It is reported that there

have been at least 10 road accidents

– perhaps more – since last night.)

Parentheses or brackets

- To set apart or interject parts of a text

(e.g. He finally answered (after five

long minutes of silence) that he did

not understand the question).

The use of commas and semi-colons often presents a dilemma. One easy way to know where

to use these punctuation marks is to read aloud a sentence. Comma should be used where

you would pause naturally to draw a breath. If a longer pause is required, semi-colon may be

used. However, what follows the semi-colon must stand as an independent clause, i.e. a

complete sentence on its own.



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Furthermore, you should be familiar with the conventions regarding the use of punctuation

marks in referencing.

- An Ellipsis […] is used to show that parts of a quotation has been omitted, whether in the

beginning, middle or end. E.g. “Bohr used […] the analogy of parallel stairways […]” (Smith

1987).

- You may use Square Brackets to insert your own words into a quotation. E.g. As Chitson

(1981 pp. 23 – 5) points out, “In a world [where everything changes], it would be odd if

language remained unchanged.”

- Square Brackets should also be used when inserting [sic] into a quotation to draw

attention to an error originally present in the quotation. E.g. Smith (1992 p. 27) suggests

that, “pathetic fallacy in a novel refleacts [sic] the mood of the main protagonist.”

4.2 Adopting the Appropriate Attitude

The writing style you adopt for your assignment will depend both on its context and its

content; i.e. the research topic/ question as well as the research aims and objectives. You may

opt for an Analytic Style of writing if your work focuses more on explaining certain concepts

rather than on debating a topic. The analytic style is marked by extensive evidence of various

forms, but a limited number of arguments. The Argumentative Style, on the other hand, may

contain several points of view or opinions that are debated, but are not always backed by

evidence. Whatever approach you choose, you should keep your language and writing style

simple, clear and precise; avoiding bombastic words and complex expressions. Your writing

should convey a sense of maturity, hence you should avoid exaggerations, emotive language,

and expressions that infer prejudice of any kind.



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Academic research is most effectively presented in a detached and neutral tone. To create a

sense of objectivity, an abstraction of oneself and of any personal, biased opinion, you should

keep your writing style impersonal. Writing Impersonally infers that you present your

arguments objectively and rationally, while being impartial, unprejudiced and emotionally

uninvolved. Here are some tips for writing impersonally:

- Avoid using the ‘I’ pronoun.

- Use the Passive Voice instead.

- Or use the impersonal pronouns ‘it’ or ‘one’: e.g. It seems that , one could argue that .

- Avoid using an informal tone, such as using contractions (don’t , won’t , etc.). Keep your

language as formal as possible.

- For introducing personal comments and observations, used such expressions which

convey a sense of detachment as: interestingly , predictably , understandably , etc.

- Make Tentative Statements using modal verbs (such as could , may , might ) and adverbs

of probability (such as perhaps, probably , possibly ).



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5. The Final Touch

5.1 Proofreading and Revising the First Draft

Running computerized spelling and grammar checkers will save you a lot of time. However, you

should also read the whole document at least once before you submit, so that you may catch

the kinds of errors spell-checkers cannot find. These include fragmented sentences that you

may have created while deleting parts of what you wrote earlier, as well as wrong words used

in the like of homophones [words which sound similar but a written differently] – for instance

there and their , oral and aural , illicit and elicit , or its and it’s. Other than these common spelling

mistakes, subject verb agreements and mixed of verb sentences also often present challenges

to many writers. These are some of the issues you should bear in mind while revising your draft

assignment. However, you should also look into whether clarity of arguments, flow of ideas and

coherence in structure have been achieved, as well as try to spot repetitions and paradoxes.

5.2 Presentation and Format

Although it is not mandatory, you are advised to type and bind your assignments. Presentation

of your work reflects the amount of time and dedication you have put into preparing it. Try to

achieve consistency with regard to the fonts, margins, indents and line spacing. For the

typeface, you should opt for a simple font and a twelve-point font size. Fancy fonts must be

avoided. Line spacing should be either 1.5 or double-spaced. You may also wish to justify your

paragraphs. Ease of reading and reference are the goals, and for the same purpose you may

also consider such extra formats as page and line numbers, headers and footers, as well as

footnotes and end-notes. If you intend to bind your assignment, you should take this into

consideration when deciding on the sizes of margins.



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5.3 Submitting Assignments

Assignments may be submitted in soft copy to the tutor/ lecturer and programme coordinator,

or in hard copy to the programme coordinator. You will be advised on the preferred mode of

submission for each assignment in due course.

guide to writing assignments

Documents