Okay, your assignment came back. You received a C-. The markers said you were writing descriptively. You're puzzled. What is descriptive writing? The marker also said that your paper was well-researched. How do you fix this problem and turn your C- paper into a B or possibly an A? What have you done wrong?
Well, the first answer is that you haven't done anything wrong. You've taken the first step but you've failed to complete the job that you began with your research. In short, your paper has lots of information but doesn't follow up that information with critical analysis and thinking. Thinking critically is the next step you must take. You need to explain the significance of every citation you put into your assignment.
You would be mistaken to think that your paper shouldn't have citations. Citations are there to provide support for your arguments. For example, let's say you are using Porter's Five Forces Model to discuss the textile industry in Egypt. You would need to use citations to advance your argument and support your claims about this industry. Your textbook will probably be the best source material on the Five Forces model itself but you would need to find out more about the textile industry in Egypt itself. If you wanted to make a point about "competitive rivalry within the industry", you would need to use journal articles and books and examples from the industry environment to back up any assertions you need to make about this "competitive rivalry."
At this point I need to say a word about the kind of information a student paper doesn't need. Many students, when faced with a topic such as the one above, are not sure what they should write for their three page assignment. This is their work cycle for the paper:
1. Read the assignment topic
2. Go onto the internet and look up Porter's Five Forces
3. Amass a battery of quotations on Porter's Five Forces
4. Look up basic information about an industry, in this case Egypt's textile industry
5. Begin writing
There are a number of problems with this research cycle. First and foremost, all the information you need on Porter's Five Forces is in your textbook and in your head. Information from a lot of internet sources is likely to result in "poor scholarship", "bad referencing", or even "plagiarism" on your assignment sheet. When the student is presented with a failing grade and the words "bad referencing" or "referencing problems", this student will usually try desperately to rewrite their assignment by changing the words or looking for more citations.
It is important to see here, in the bad work cycle I presented above, that the problem really is the use of the internet. Sure, there's lots of information on Porter's Five Forces on the internet. However, the question wants you to explain how each of these forces affect an industry. Internet information on the Five Forces is not going to help you here. What you need is your head, your textbook (that doubtless describes these forces) and good articles that you can reference on the textile industry in Egypt. You can see, by reading articles on this industry, what threats the textile industry in Egypt faces or the power of suppliers.
Students should know the purpose of every citation that is used in their assignments. The work cycle should look like this:
1. The student receives the assignment question
2. The student reads it over several times to understand every aspect of the assignment
3. The student takes a highlighter and marks the important terms
4. For terms they don't really understand, they use the textbook to understand the terms
5. Discuss the question on blackboard with other students
6. Make a mind map with the terms if you are confused. A mind map places the central topic in the middle on a blank sheet of paper and puts the other terms around it in a wheel structure. When you do this, you also try and think of things that you're going to need when you do this assignment. For example, if you were doing this topic, the Egyptian textile industry would be in the middle with the Five Forces all around it. You would have questions about each force in terms of the textile industry that would need to be addressed by good research. In short, you would need to understand how a force such as "power of suppliers" works in this industry. Note: that if you did research on the Five Forces, this wouldn't answer the question being asked and would probably provide a lot of confusing detail that the module tutor is assuming you know.
7. Begin your research on the Egyptian textile industry using a. The University of Leicester Digital Library and b. a search engine such as Google. Of course, you may be lucky and have a good academic library nearby as well.
The final step is to write an outline of the paper. We'll discuss this in another posting.
KB
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Referencing Problems: What do I do?
Your assignment comes back and you've failed. You have, the marker tells you, "referencing problems". You think, "No problem, I'll email the Skills Tutor and find out how to use Harvard style". This is a great idea but this isn't the whole problem. Allow me to guide you.
While I would strongly urge all students to use Harvard style, poor referencing is not about citations, it is about references. References inside your assignment link it to your readings on the assignment subject matter. When you do the assignment that the module tutor gives out, I suggest this paragraph format:
Paragraph Format
a) Topic sentence - First sentence to introduce any paragraph. This guides the reader through the same topic within this sentence.
b) References - The second sentences shows an example or quotation from an authority. For example: Johnston says in his 1919 article: "The best....."
c) Explanation this reference. Okay, what does Johnston say that is relevant to the subject you're writing about. Explain it. Use two sentences if you must, but explain why this is important. What does it say about the topic you're talking about.
d) Finish up and link it to the next paragraph.
Notice, this paragraph could be five sentences if necessary. One sentence is inadequate.
If you follow this model, you should never have referencing problems. What the module tutor wants is your opinion, backed up by evidence, not the opinion of someone else or diluted references to a number of internet sources. This is what causes referencing problems.
Referencing problems are really about NOT understanding that the use of any source materials inside your paper, without directly citing them, is a form of plagiarism. This includes any quickie materials you pick up from the Internet in a cursory search. The biggest problem with assignments that rely on quickie Internet searches is that they usually don't answer the assignment question. Instead, using a lot of material from a numbers of Internet sources, they skirt around the issue.
Writing using one citation for each paragraph, as in the model above, helps ensure that the citation is on topic. Citations that are not on topic have no place in your assignment and you should eliminate them. It is actually harder and more time consuming to write an assignment by stringing together citations from the Internet. It is easier to figure out what the assignment question is really asking and providing citations that are on topic.
It is also important that you note when a set of assignment questions is given in a particular order such as:
1. Pick out the main topic of the article you have been asked to find.
2a. What is the stated purpose of this research?
2b. What are any additional reasons the author might have for doing this research?
In this case, you should stick with the order of the questions provided in the module assignment. You don't have to restructure this assignment in any way. Answer all the questions in order, don't go off course and do something completely different. After all, why reinvent the wheel if you've been given a perfectly good one to use?
When you look at the assignment question(s), you should see a clear link between what you have written and the assignment question(s). Often, students have referencing problems because they did initial research to understand the question, for example on what SWOT analysis is, and then decided they didn't understand the actual assignment question. At this point, the lost student decides to use their research on the terminology of the question in the hope tta it will be enough to complete the assignment successfully. In fact, they are lost and should go to blackboard, the Module Tutor and the Skills Tutor to find out what to do now. They shouldn't write the thing they just looked up and which actually isn't the assignment in question.
An important point here. When you get an assignment back and the tutor has failed you and told you that you have a "referencing problem", don't revise your old assignment. Junk it and start again. It is likely that understanding the assignment is your first key and the old assignment is already compromised. Look at it from this perspective, if you've already been told that you have referencing problems do you really think the next marker won't comb through your assignment to ensure you've rectified this issue? Of course they will. To pass, you must fix this problem and do it right the first time. Why put yourself through this time and trouble? Do it right, do it once.
Until next time,
KB
While I would strongly urge all students to use Harvard style, poor referencing is not about citations, it is about references. References inside your assignment link it to your readings on the assignment subject matter. When you do the assignment that the module tutor gives out, I suggest this paragraph format:
Paragraph Format
a) Topic sentence - First sentence to introduce any paragraph. This guides the reader through the same topic within this sentence.
b) References - The second sentences shows an example or quotation from an authority. For example: Johnston says in his 1919 article: "The best....."
c) Explanation this reference. Okay, what does Johnston say that is relevant to the subject you're writing about. Explain it. Use two sentences if you must, but explain why this is important. What does it say about the topic you're talking about.
d) Finish up and link it to the next paragraph.
Notice, this paragraph could be five sentences if necessary. One sentence is inadequate.
If you follow this model, you should never have referencing problems. What the module tutor wants is your opinion, backed up by evidence, not the opinion of someone else or diluted references to a number of internet sources. This is what causes referencing problems.
Referencing problems are really about NOT understanding that the use of any source materials inside your paper, without directly citing them, is a form of plagiarism. This includes any quickie materials you pick up from the Internet in a cursory search. The biggest problem with assignments that rely on quickie Internet searches is that they usually don't answer the assignment question. Instead, using a lot of material from a numbers of Internet sources, they skirt around the issue.
Writing using one citation for each paragraph, as in the model above, helps ensure that the citation is on topic. Citations that are not on topic have no place in your assignment and you should eliminate them. It is actually harder and more time consuming to write an assignment by stringing together citations from the Internet. It is easier to figure out what the assignment question is really asking and providing citations that are on topic.
It is also important that you note when a set of assignment questions is given in a particular order such as:
1. Pick out the main topic of the article you have been asked to find.
2a. What is the stated purpose of this research?
2b. What are any additional reasons the author might have for doing this research?
In this case, you should stick with the order of the questions provided in the module assignment. You don't have to restructure this assignment in any way. Answer all the questions in order, don't go off course and do something completely different. After all, why reinvent the wheel if you've been given a perfectly good one to use?
When you look at the assignment question(s), you should see a clear link between what you have written and the assignment question(s). Often, students have referencing problems because they did initial research to understand the question, for example on what SWOT analysis is, and then decided they didn't understand the actual assignment question. At this point, the lost student decides to use their research on the terminology of the question in the hope tta it will be enough to complete the assignment successfully. In fact, they are lost and should go to blackboard, the Module Tutor and the Skills Tutor to find out what to do now. They shouldn't write the thing they just looked up and which actually isn't the assignment in question.
An important point here. When you get an assignment back and the tutor has failed you and told you that you have a "referencing problem", don't revise your old assignment. Junk it and start again. It is likely that understanding the assignment is your first key and the old assignment is already compromised. Look at it from this perspective, if you've already been told that you have referencing problems do you really think the next marker won't comb through your assignment to ensure you've rectified this issue? Of course they will. To pass, you must fix this problem and do it right the first time. Why put yourself through this time and trouble? Do it right, do it once.
Until next time,
KB
Monday, October 4, 2010
Remember the Small Stuff: Writing Assignments that Work
People always say, "don't sweat the small stuff." However, in my experience the small stuff makes or breaks a good assignment. Misspellings, poor grammar, disorganized information and off-topic answers make an assignment look carelessly done, whether or not the writer spent a short time or hours preparing and researching if before handing it in. So, let's look at some of this 'small stuff' that can take just minutes to fix.
1. Always reread your assignments
Of course, you are tired when you hand in an assignment. You are also probably very sick of looking at your work. However, you must re-read it before submitting it. Careless mistakes, especially in opening titles and headers, create a bad impression. Your submission, that you have just laboured over, is worth a final re read and edit. Do this and get better grades...automatically.
2. Always paginate
If a marker gets lost when reading your assignment because it isn't paginated, you have a major problem. A lost marker is a cross marker and you don't want a marker who is cross reading your papers and grading them. It takes a few minutes to paginate your assignment; it takes the same amount of time for a marker to get lost when marking your assignment and conclude that your assignment is too disorganized to pass.
It should be easy for anyone to get from the top of page one to the bottom of page three in your assignment. Sometimes, students have the mistaken impression that a lost marker will give up trying to find the point of your assignment and simply assign you a passing grade. This might have happened at some point before university; this won't happen in your MBA/MSc. If a marker can't read or find the cogent points in your assignment, they won't stop looking and pass you just because they like you. If your assignment doesn't come up to scratch, you will simply fail. Don't fail because your assignment lost the tutor.
2. Make it legible.
Gone are the days, if they ever existed, when markers cheerfully give up trying to read your illegible writing and give you a passing grade. Markers must find the relevant points to give you the marks you deserve. So, if you know your handwriting is poor, do something about it. In fact, make every effort to make your handwriting neat and easily legible. If you can't, then always use printing instead of cursive writing for your assignments and exams.
3. Fix your grammar
If you have a problem with this, ask for help. There are excellent manuals and books to assist you to fix grammar problems. Don't suffer in silence! Poor grammar leaves a bad impression in any assignment. Never be too embarrassed to fix your problems!
Good grammar is a building block of excellent writing. When you have good grammar, you can state your points clearly every time. I caution students not to rely on the grammar checkers in word processing software alone. Buy manuals and grammar books. Get other people to read your assignments and look for grammar errors (make sure their grammar is excellent of course).
4. Stick with the question that was asked
If a marker can't understand the points you're making, then they can't give you credit for your work. One of the most common mistakes in both assignments and exams is not answering the question that was assigned. Frequently, students DO know the answer to the actual question but think - for some reason - that an argument that is unique and different will be more interesting than answering the question that was actually asked. Nothing could be further from the truth! Markers can only give credit to answers that really stick with the questions that were asked in the first place.
Sometimes, students don't understand the question. In an effort to find the correct answer, they go off on several tangents hoping one will be the correct answer. It is better to spend your time analyzing the question and finding the correct answer the first time. Look in Blackboard to see what other students are saying about the assignment. Start a thread and ask the module tutor relevant questions to find out what the question actually says. Then you will have more confidence in your answer. Confidence also equals concentration. This concentration means what you write is on target. Thus, you will get better grades when you understand what you are doing from the outset.
5. Organize the material in your answer carefully
When a module tutor provides you with an order to use in your assignment, use it. Don't feel you must be original and hide the points you are trying to make. Markers like assignments that make the main points clearly. Don't hide your main points inside large swatches of unrelated data.
I advise all students to use an outline. In an outline, you can see how your argument develops without actually committing pen to paper. Moreover, you can reorganize your argument by reordering your quotations. This helps you to build a stronger argument step-by-step. While it is true that some arguments unfold easily, it is much easier to revise an outline than to revise a full-length paper.
If the tutor has provided a set of questions, use these questions to predetermine the order inside your paper. After all, why make it harder to write your paper? Additionally, markers will be looking for these points when they assign a grade to your paper. Why make your life harder?
6. Spell check
Use your spell checker. Don't rely just on the one taht comes with your word processing software. Read over your work to make sure you used the correct version of words with several meanings that sound the same but are spelled differently such as there/their/they're. Always, always check your spelling! Never hand in any work that is not spell checked. It takes a few minutes to check your work. It may take a complete rewrite to fix a paper that is filled with spelling errors and detract from the argument you have made. Don't take a chance with any assignment, spell check it every time. Do not fail to have a good English dictionary such as the Oxford Concise. The University of Leicester is an English university and you should therefore use English spelling, not American.
7. References
All students should know that any reference to the words or ideas of another person's writing and ideas must be duly referenced. See:
http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ssds/sd/ld/resources/study/avoiding-plagiarism?searchterm=help%20with%20plagiarism
for the University of Leicester's policies on plagiarism and referencing. When a marker comments on 'referencing', please read U of Leicester's policies on this subject to clarify what you must do. I am also available to assist any student who is confused on this point. I would also strongly suggest that any student who had failed to pass their MSL/MSc thesis or an assignment because of a "referencing problem" should reread the material at the addy (http address) above and contact me.
Additionally, students should go to this addy:
http://www.le.ac.uk/li/research/harvard.html
to find out exactly how Harvard style referencing works. I can assist students with more specific inquiries. Please note that the style must be done precisely as it is illustrated on that page. Your bibliography will still be in alpha-order at the end of your assignment. The word count on your bibliography never counts in the overall accepted size of your paper.
I also suggest that students use the U of Leicester's free bibliography formatting tool, Refworks, available here:
http://www.le.ac.uk/li/research/refworks.html
This tool will be very helpful when you need to format your bibliography for your thesis.
Take care, until next time,
KB
1. Always reread your assignments
Of course, you are tired when you hand in an assignment. You are also probably very sick of looking at your work. However, you must re-read it before submitting it. Careless mistakes, especially in opening titles and headers, create a bad impression. Your submission, that you have just laboured over, is worth a final re read and edit. Do this and get better grades...automatically.
2. Always paginate
If a marker gets lost when reading your assignment because it isn't paginated, you have a major problem. A lost marker is a cross marker and you don't want a marker who is cross reading your papers and grading them. It takes a few minutes to paginate your assignment; it takes the same amount of time for a marker to get lost when marking your assignment and conclude that your assignment is too disorganized to pass.
It should be easy for anyone to get from the top of page one to the bottom of page three in your assignment. Sometimes, students have the mistaken impression that a lost marker will give up trying to find the point of your assignment and simply assign you a passing grade. This might have happened at some point before university; this won't happen in your MBA/MSc. If a marker can't read or find the cogent points in your assignment, they won't stop looking and pass you just because they like you. If your assignment doesn't come up to scratch, you will simply fail. Don't fail because your assignment lost the tutor.
2. Make it legible.
Gone are the days, if they ever existed, when markers cheerfully give up trying to read your illegible writing and give you a passing grade. Markers must find the relevant points to give you the marks you deserve. So, if you know your handwriting is poor, do something about it. In fact, make every effort to make your handwriting neat and easily legible. If you can't, then always use printing instead of cursive writing for your assignments and exams.
3. Fix your grammar
If you have a problem with this, ask for help. There are excellent manuals and books to assist you to fix grammar problems. Don't suffer in silence! Poor grammar leaves a bad impression in any assignment. Never be too embarrassed to fix your problems!
Good grammar is a building block of excellent writing. When you have good grammar, you can state your points clearly every time. I caution students not to rely on the grammar checkers in word processing software alone. Buy manuals and grammar books. Get other people to read your assignments and look for grammar errors (make sure their grammar is excellent of course).
4. Stick with the question that was asked
If a marker can't understand the points you're making, then they can't give you credit for your work. One of the most common mistakes in both assignments and exams is not answering the question that was assigned. Frequently, students DO know the answer to the actual question but think - for some reason - that an argument that is unique and different will be more interesting than answering the question that was actually asked. Nothing could be further from the truth! Markers can only give credit to answers that really stick with the questions that were asked in the first place.
Sometimes, students don't understand the question. In an effort to find the correct answer, they go off on several tangents hoping one will be the correct answer. It is better to spend your time analyzing the question and finding the correct answer the first time. Look in Blackboard to see what other students are saying about the assignment. Start a thread and ask the module tutor relevant questions to find out what the question actually says. Then you will have more confidence in your answer. Confidence also equals concentration. This concentration means what you write is on target. Thus, you will get better grades when you understand what you are doing from the outset.
5. Organize the material in your answer carefully
When a module tutor provides you with an order to use in your assignment, use it. Don't feel you must be original and hide the points you are trying to make. Markers like assignments that make the main points clearly. Don't hide your main points inside large swatches of unrelated data.
I advise all students to use an outline. In an outline, you can see how your argument develops without actually committing pen to paper. Moreover, you can reorganize your argument by reordering your quotations. This helps you to build a stronger argument step-by-step. While it is true that some arguments unfold easily, it is much easier to revise an outline than to revise a full-length paper.
If the tutor has provided a set of questions, use these questions to predetermine the order inside your paper. After all, why make it harder to write your paper? Additionally, markers will be looking for these points when they assign a grade to your paper. Why make your life harder?
6. Spell check
Use your spell checker. Don't rely just on the one taht comes with your word processing software. Read over your work to make sure you used the correct version of words with several meanings that sound the same but are spelled differently such as there/their/they're. Always, always check your spelling! Never hand in any work that is not spell checked. It takes a few minutes to check your work. It may take a complete rewrite to fix a paper that is filled with spelling errors and detract from the argument you have made. Don't take a chance with any assignment, spell check it every time. Do not fail to have a good English dictionary such as the Oxford Concise. The University of Leicester is an English university and you should therefore use English spelling, not American.
7. References
All students should know that any reference to the words or ideas of another person's writing and ideas must be duly referenced. See:
http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ssds/sd/ld/resources/study/avoiding-plagiarism?searchterm=help%20with%20plagiarism
for the University of Leicester's policies on plagiarism and referencing. When a marker comments on 'referencing', please read U of Leicester's policies on this subject to clarify what you must do. I am also available to assist any student who is confused on this point. I would also strongly suggest that any student who had failed to pass their MSL/MSc thesis or an assignment because of a "referencing problem" should reread the material at the addy (http address) above and contact me.
Additionally, students should go to this addy:
http://www.le.ac.uk/li/research/harvard.html
to find out exactly how Harvard style referencing works. I can assist students with more specific inquiries. Please note that the style must be done precisely as it is illustrated on that page. Your bibliography will still be in alpha-order at the end of your assignment. The word count on your bibliography never counts in the overall accepted size of your paper.
I also suggest that students use the U of Leicester's free bibliography formatting tool, Refworks, available here:
http://www.le.ac.uk/li/research/refworks.html
This tool will be very helpful when you need to format your bibliography for your thesis.
Take care, until next time,
KB
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
