Guide to writing an assignment

1. Producing your assignment
If you need help with any part of preparing an assignment, you can use support through various sources:

• The Student Handbook

• Your Student Support Officer (SSO)

• Your Module leader and tutors

Assignments at Masters-level have to demonstrate a high level of academic rigor as well as knowledge. You need to demonstrate that you can think critically about your and other work in the topic, have a comprehensive understanding of the research and practice related to the topic, and are able to apply the knowledge to complex situations. And you need to be able to present your work in an appropriate form (structuring your assignment, citing and referencing your sources etc.).

Some basic steps you need to take are:

1. Read the question and analyze its every part.  Check that you have read all parts of the question and sub questions.  What exactly are you asked to do? What are the important words?

2. Also read the Marking Grid carefully – what are the different themes you have to address in your assignment?  You must make sure your assignment addresses all the points in the Marking Grid which will be used to mark your assignment.

3. Search the literature for evidence on the different themes. Keep a list of all references you use - you need to decide whether to use the Vancouver or Harvard referencing style.

4. Write a plan for your assignment, with key headings and bullet points of all key points that you need to include in each section and paragraph.  Your headings should demonstrate very clearly to the markers that you are addressing all sections in the Marking Grid.  Sections which attract more marks are likely to need more work and a more detailed response from you.

5. Make sure your assignment structure has a logical order, as if you were presenting the information (telling the story) to your colleagues.

6. You can send a plan of the assignment to your tutor or SSO - this should be done 3 weeks before the submission deadline, otherwise you will not get feedback in time. It should not be longer than 2 pages, and only include headings and key points, not full sentences.

7. For each section, think carefully about each point or assertion you are making; most of them will need to have evidence cited to back up your claim, or qualify it (see Evidence based section for top tips on how to do this), or qualify them.

8. When writing the full assignment, make sure you write in objective language and structure your paragraphs well.

9. Check your work at the end, including spelling, referencing, logical flow.

To avoid plagiarism:

If an idea you present is not your own, you must reference it, otherwise this constitutes serious academic misconduct (=plagiarism).

• Please refer to the relevant section on Student Handbook to learn about Plagiarism and how to avoid it.

• It should be clear in your text which are your own thoughts and which are of another author. You need to cite and reference each and every source of an idea which is not your own, including research papers, websites, opinions etc.

• Don’t forget also to reference sources of any tables or figures you present.

• You must include a complete list of references at the end of the assignment, correctly and comprehensively presented using either the Harvard or Vancouver referencing system.

• You must NEVER directly copy other people’s text that you did not write, or just make minor modification to other people’s sentences you use (e.g. replacing “faster” with “more rapid”).  You need to paraphrase others’ texts, not just adapt them slightly.

BEFORE you submit your assignment, please check that your assignment has:

• A word count at the beginning of the assignment (the word count does not need to include tables and reference lists)

• Title, and subheadings where appropriate

• A course cover sheet

• An answer to every question (and sub questions)

• The correct file name:

  • Your assignment file carries the correct file name following this format: “SURNAME”“COURSE CODE”“DATE” e.g. Dick Heller’s submission will have the name HellerPUEBP13a23_3_13.

  • For resubmissions, please name your file using this format: “SURNAME” ”COURSE CODE” “DATE” “Resubmission” e.g. HellerPUEBP13a23_3_13Resubmission.

2. Submitting your assignment

Submission deadlines
The timetable for submission is posted in Topic 5 of your course and also here. You must submit your assignment on the Moodle system by the Due Date. If you submit up to ten days after the Due Date, your submission will only receive a maximum mark of 50% (a Masters pass).  You will not be able to submit later than that without having requested an extension before the Due Date.

Extension requests
You should only request an extension if you are facing serious unforeseen circumstances.  You are expected to plan your work so it is ready for submission a few days before the Due Date, to protect against some unforeseen circumstances (e.g. IT problems, or sudden illness). If you do need an extension, you need to request this before the Due Date by emailing latesubmissions@peoples-uni.org, giving cogent reasons for your request.

Checking for plagiarism
The plagiarism checker software (Turnitin) is configured to automatically check  your submission for copied text.  You can check your submission yourself.  In order to check, you need to submit your assignment before the Due Date, so you have time to revise it if necessary (please see here for more information on how to submit your assignment, and here to check for plagiarism (you need to be logged in to view this). If the Turnitin similarity check score is over 20%, the marker may consider that the work includes too much material not written by yourself. The important point is to NEVER copy other text without putting it into direct quotation marks and citing the source correctly. Even a score below 20% can be associated with other evidence of plagiarism (e.g. it is clear that you copied text or did not reference other sources).  Remember, not even a score of 0% is a guarantee of adequate referencing!

You can find guidance on referencing here and in many other internet sources.

Remember: If markers judge it likely that the detected plagiarism is unintentional, a warning will be given, and you may be asked to resubmit. In more severe cases, an assignment will be graded “0” and the student will normally be given the opportunity to resubmit the assignment, or may be permitted to re-take the course in a later semester.  Repeat occurrence of plagiarism may result in the student being barred from any further opportunity to submit assignments within Peoples-uni.

Failing modules, and resubmission
You will be allowed a resubmission if your assignment mark is below the Masters pass grade of 50% on your first attempt. In any resubmission, you have to demonstrate you have taken all comments of your markers into account.  Please note that the resubmission may not be marked in time for the start of the next semester.  For rules on resubmissions and Peoples-uni Regulations generally please see here

More information in the Student Handbook:
For more information on assignments and assessments, please see http://www.peoples-uni.org/book/assignments-and-assessments.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION!
As a result of the recent upgrade on our eLearning system, a few changes have been made to the Final assignment process. When you are ready to submit your assignment, please ensure that you follow the new steps as described in the Student Handbook at http://www.peoples-uni.org/content/using-moodle-platform#Howtosubmityourassignment OR the Course orientation and helpful hints for students at https://mphcourses.nextgenu.org//mod/page/view.php?id=11319&inpopup=1#Assignment%20-%20How%20to%20submit%20an%20assignment (you need to be logged in to view this). Also read the following sections in both resources: How to check originality report, How to check assignment grades and feedback comments, How to resubmit assignment.