Melbourne Business School Assignment and Referencing Guide

Nicole Gillespie This guide aims to give you helpful tips on how to write a good assignment. This guide is based on material from the Learning Skills Unit, at the University of Melbourne. 1) Plan and structure your assignment Your experience of assignment writing will be faster and much less frustrating if you first spend time planning what you want to say! This is the essence of the creative writing process. Let your plan be guided by the requirements of the assignment. Often a natural structure for the assignment becomes evident as you start to write down your ideas for each of the requirements. Ensure the structure is clear and logical. It is important that you think through your arguments and the flow of the essay before you begin writing your first draft. Reports will vary in how they are organized and structured depending on whether they are a case analysis, an essay, a research report, a consultancy-type report etc. Accordingly, the structure and section headings should fit the type of report you are submitting. The following broad structure often works well, however dont let this limit your creativity. Introduction This is usually 5% to 10% of the length of the assignment and can comprise several paragraphs. Your reader gains his or her first impression of your assignment form this section so a good introduction is vital. It should focus your readers attention on the central theme of the assignment. It should clarify how you intend to interpret or limit the question and provide a clear but brief overview of the issues to be addressed and the order in which they will be covered. You may also define the key terms in the question. Body This section contains your responses to the task, questions, or issues specified by the assignment. You should refer to theories, concepts and examples where relevant. Use paragraphs, headings and sub-headings to further structure the report. Conclusion This brief section brings together and synthesizes your main points. It should not contain any new material that has not already been alluded to in the body. It should not however be a mere summary. Rather it should refer to the implications of the key findings and points raised in the body of the report, any limitations in the approach you have taken, and any other factors which need to be looked at but which were outside the scope of the assignment. Appendices This section includes material that is referred to but is not essential for addressing the assignment topic. For example, if you are reporting on interviews you conducted with senior managers, you may wish to include the interview questions in the appendix. 2) Drafting 1

Once you have a complete outline of what you want to say, it is time to write a rough draft. The main aim is to get your thoughts and the main content on paper. Dont worry about grammar, formatting, punctuation, complete sentences etc at this stage. 3) Check Content Quality Ensure you have addressed all aspects of the question. See the taxonomy of educational objectives at the end of this report for guidelines on what is required when instructors ask you to analyse, apply, synthesise and evaluate. Arguments and key points should be supported by examples and evidence. Have you done sufficient research and/or analysis to address the key issues in depth? Have you identified alternative perspectives or interpretations and identified assumptions? Have you shown evidence of independent, critical thought or original work? 4) Edit your work Once you have a complete rough draft and have check the content quality, it is time to start editing. At this point you should be concentrating on the writing process rather than the content. The assignment is your attempt to communicate your ideas to the reader. The better the communication, the easier it will be for the reader to understand your points and hence award marks. Look for how you can improve the communication. Have you have used a simple and direct style of writing? Is your writing focused, relevant, and coherent? Do your arguments flow logically? Are the connections and the logical flow between paragraphs clear? You will typically have a strict word limit so it is important to be succinct. Are there words or ideas that are redundant or lack relevance? Ensure to correct punctuation, grammar and spelling. Use bullet points sparingly, if at all. Always define abbreviations the first time you use them. Then you can simply use the abbreviation through out the rest of the assignment. Avoid starting sentences with And or But. You are expected to avoid the use of racist or sexist language. 5) Referencing All sources of information and ideas which are not your own should be acknowledged and referenced using the Harvard referencing system. This system cites the authors name and date of publication in brackets in the text of the report, not as a numbered footnote. For example: Gillespie, Winefield & Stough (2002) reported that the strongest predictor of job satisfaction was procedural fairness. or A recent study reported that procedural fairness was a strong predictor of job satisfaction (Gillespie, Winefield & Stough, 2002).

The best way to get a handle on using references is to look at your readings. The following are key points to remember: When there are more than two authors, the first citation should be Gillespie, Carty, Winefield, Dua & Stough (2001) identified five common antecedents of occupational stress In subsequent citations, only the first authors name need be given. Gillespie et al., (2001) also found that staff cope with occupational stress by If you use a quote, always indicate the page number/s on which it occurs. For example: Brown, Wienckowski and Bivens (1987, p. 257) stated that before an appraisal can take place, the employees performance must be defined in measurable terms. Secondary sources: When you do not have access to the original material that has been cited in anothers work, the citation is Hyman and Fryer (1975, cited in Deery & Plowman, 1991) ague that rather than there being a symmetry in the distribution of power The reference list appears on a separate page at the end of the assignment and includes all references that you have actually cited (i.e. named) in your assignment. Do not include material which you have read but not referred to in the assignment (this is a bibliography). List the references alphabetically by authors surname and provide the full citation. For example: Bates, D. & Sharpe, P. (1996). Student writers handbook: how to write better essays. Sydney: Harcourt Brace. (FOR BOOKS) Gillespie, N., Carty, M., Winefield, A., Dua, J., & Stough, C. (2001). Occupational stress in universities: staff perceptions of the antecedents, consequences and moderators of stress. Work and Stress, 15 (1), 53-72. (FOR JOURNAL ARTICLES)

6) Presentation Typed, 11 or 12 font, 1.5 or double spaced, 4 cm margin on the left hand side, and numbered pages. Complete and attach the Assignment Cover Sheet to the front of your assignment Plastic covers, fancy bindings etc. are not necessary. A stapled report (left hand corner) is sufficient. For further assistance with writing skills visit the Learning Skills Unit on main campus or look at the resources at www.services.unimelb.edu.au/lsu/resources/ Plagiarism It is the policy of the University of Melbourne that attention be drawn to the nature and serious consequence of cheating and plagiarism. The following are classified as plagiarism; a) The submission of an answer that is substantially similar to an answer submitted by another student in the same, or earlier years, either at this or another University; b) The submission of an answer that is not substantially the students own work (or, in the case of joint work, not substantially undertaken by the individuals named as having undertaken the joint work); 3

c) The submission of an answer that contains substantial quotations from other works, such as books or journals, without appropriate reference to the source. The consequences of plagiarism are serious. Any student who (i) copies or otherwise uses the work of another person, or (ii) allows another person to copy or otherwise use his or her answer when both are completing the same or similar assessment, will either lose credit for that assessment, the subject, or be disciplined in some other way.