Dear Students,
By now you have browsed through the contents of this module and
noticed that there are six assignments and a Portfolio.
As students at a tertiary level of education, you are expected to
provide us with a scientific presentation of your assignment.
Firstly, create a Heading to your assignment. This should appear at
the top of your first page (or as a header on every page) and contain
your name, student number, module code, and assignment number.
Secondly, your assignment must have numbered headings for each
question, and if necessary, subheadings as well as the components
listed below.
When you write each answer under a separate heading for each
question, you ensure that you have answered all the questions and
therefore maximise your marks, as marks are awarded per question.
Thirdly, before submitting your assignment, run a spelling check (click
“Tools”, then “Spelling and Grammar” in Word). Also check your
grammar, punctuation and style and please do not use SMS/text style
in your assignments (e.g. do not write “u” for “you” or write in ALL
CAPITALS).
The most important elements of an essay for academic purposes are
identified and explained below.
1. TABLE OF CONTENTS
The table of contents lists what is included in your
assignment. This must also have the page/s of each item.
Subheadings must be included if you have used them. Please
use the same headings and numbering that is given in the
assignment.
2. INTRODUCTION
Your introduction starts your essay. The word “introduction”
implies that something or someone is going to be introduced.
This would be your topic, which you would get from the title
of your assignment.
Your introduction is used not only to present your topic, but
also to grab your readers’ attention so that they want to read
more. It should be reasonably concise, but long enough to
tell the reader what the body of your essay includes without
much detail.
3. BODY
The ‘body’ section contains the subject matter – the meaty
part of your essay. It is here that you will describe, explain
or analyse your topic andgive your answers to the questions
comprising the assignment. This should be the longest
portion of your essay.
Your topic may have different subtopics. Think for a moment
about the human body. It has different components, e.g.
heart, lungs and brain, which you will elaborate on in
subsections – and perhaps even further subsections.
4. CONCLUSION
This is the final section of your essay. Its purpose is to draw
all the parts of the essay together. In other words it is a brief
summary of what you have written in the above paragraphs.
You can also add your own opinions or final comments
here.
5. REFERENCES
If you do not show where you have taken your information
(material you have used to find answers to the assignment
questions) from, you will commit plagiarism. Therefore, you
need to include a Bibliography/References section. Please
read the document ‘Policy for Copyright Infringement and
Plagiarism’ and the ‘Plagiarism Brochure’, which you will find
in your Additional Resources folder, read
my announcement‘Referencing and Plagiarism’ and have a
look at the ‘Plagiarism’ discussion forum.
If you need more information on what constitutes plagiarism,
how to reference or how to complete the assignment, please
post a question in the forums or email me
at
[email protected]Your TA,
Ms Hayes
