GUIDELINES FOR WRITING ASSIGNMENTS 1 1. INTRODUCTION Students in the Faculty of Business Sciences are required to undertake and document research in partial fulfilment of their degree. The purpose of such projects (assignments) is inter alia to provide the student with a learning opportunity to integrate the theory and concepts learned across a range of subjects and apply them to a specific problem and an opportunity to demonstrate that he/she can apply theory to a practical situation. In addition students must demonstrate that they can design, execute, analyse and report on such work to specified standards. They must show that they can do this in a logical and coherent way and meet the standards for writing reports in an academic environment. 2. LITERARY STYLE Formal writing with good, appropriate and correct use of language is an important business skill. All assignments must be written in a formal academic literary style in the third person. British and not American conventions of spelling should be followed (in Microsoft Word this is signified by the English (U.K.) setting). A lecturer is not responsible for the correction of language, spelling or grammatical errors, but could point out to the student that there are such errors in his/her work. The student is responsible for the language editing of his/her project. Poor use of language could result in a reduced mark. 1 The contents of this document was mainly sourced from Integrative Business Research Project Guidelines, Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria, 2007, with the kind permission of Prof Margie Sutherland.
2 Slang and colloquialisms should be avoided at all times; the rules of grammar should be followed. Do not begin sentences with numerals. All words that are in a language other than English should be typed in italics e.g. et al. The first person should not be used, i.e. you may not say I conducted 15 interviews you need to say Fifteen interviews were conducted. The use of footnotes is discouraged. 2.1. References It is important that the work undertaken by other researchers and writers is formally acknowledged. Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of published materials. Plagiarism is unacceptable and will not be condoned and if found will lead to disciplinary procedures. The method of referencing shown at the end of this document must be adopted and applied consistently throughout the assignment. References are used to enable readers to consult the original sources for further reading and to acknowledge the authors from which the information was taken. This is done by clearly identifying the sources and precisely stating where the information was found. Essential components of a reference are: author, year of publication, title of book or article and journal; edition, place of publication, publisher, numbering, and pagination. Referencing systems are the bane of students lives, but the onus rests on the student to master the system. 2.2. Tables and Figures All tables and figures must be numbered in numerical order and must have the table and figure number and heading at the top. Tables are usually presented in single spacing. Figures take the form of models and graphs.
3 3. LAYOUT AND REQUIREMENTS OF AN ASSIGNMENT The body of the report should as prescribed by the lecturer. Ensure that you understand what the minimum and maximum number of pages are. This excludes any front pages, appendices, table of contents, references, etc). Unless otherwise specified, assignments should be printed in A4 format on one side only, on good quality paper with double spacing and a left margin of 35 mm and a right margin of 25 mm. The font choice and size should facilitate easy reading, e.g. Arial 12. The text should be justified, i.e. aligned left and right, as is this document. A good quality printer should be utilised for the final print. The colour of the ink for the text should be black. Colour may be used in figures. The report should include the following: 3.1. Title page The title page should include the title of the assignment followed by the author s name, student number and the date. The date should be the day, month and year of completion of the assignment. (e.g. 14 April 2008) 3.2. Declaration The assignment must contain the declaration plagiarism form of Department of Business Management just after the title page. The name and signature of the student and the date should follow the declaration. 3.3. Acknowledgements It is a convention to acknowledge the role of a supervisor/lecturer and other persons and/or organisations instrumental in the completion of the project.
4 3.4. Table of Contents Under the heading Contents, this will include the starting page numbers of the preliminary material, chapter and section headings, references and any appendices. Generally the first page of the text would be numbered 1. Any preliminary pages, i.e. those discussed above, would be numbered in small roman numbers (i.e. i, ii, etc.) 3.5. Text of the report The text of a conventional assignment report is divided into logical sections or chapters. On reading the whole report the process of logical reasoning of the whole research process must be made apparent. 3.6. Reference List As detailed below. 3.7. Appendices Appendices should be numbered and titled. Each appendix should be presented both in numerical order and in the order in which it is referred to in the text of the project. Examples of what should be included in appendices are a copy of a questionnaire (if used), interview guideline, data bases, list of respondents etc. 4. REFERENCING SYSTEM The referencing style guide specified below is based on the Harvard system and must be used in assignment report both within the text and in the reference list. This set of guidelines is an edited version of the full version of Harvard Referencing and is adapted from Price, J. and Turner, C. (1991) Study Skills. Bath: College of Higher Education.
5 REFERENCING WITHIN THE TEXT Each time a reference is given within a text, the author s surname and the year of publication is quoted. If the surname is a natural part of the sentence, the year only is given in brackets. If the surname is not a natural part of the sentence, then both the surname and year are in brackets. e.g. Simmons (1989) quotes data to show... It has recently been stated (Grandjean, 1988) that... When there are two authors the surnames of both should be quoted e.g. Holly and Southworth (1989) When there are 3 authors or more, then the first surname is quoted followed by et al, but only after the first mention which should include all the authors. e.g. Bradley, Jones and Smith (1983); thereafter, Bradley et al. (1983) A corporate author may be used when appropriate. e.g. Open University (1999) When there is more than one reference to the same author and year of publication, i.e. the author has published a few items in one year, each entry is distinguished by a b c etc. following the year. e.g. (1989a) (1989b) If direct quotations are being used in the text, the quotations must be given in inverted commas and the relevant page number(s) must be given. e.g. Documents must be presented in a visually appealing format (Flack, 1981, p. 74)
6 AN EXAMPLE OF REFERENCING WITHIN THE TEXT FOLLOWS The world economy has progressed from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy (Pine and Gilmore, 1998; Dibble, 2004). With knowledge being viewed as a major contributing factor to organisational success, the purveyors of this knowledge in organisations deserve to be focused on. Drucker (1974) first used the term knowledge worker ; he described these individuals as employees who carry knowledge as a powerful resource which they, rather than the organisation, own. Drucker (1989, p. 175) states Knowledge workers know that their knowledge. gives them freedom to move since everyone s knowledge has a multitude of applications in the information or knowledge age. A few years later Drucker (2002, p. 76) wrote that knowledge workers have become the major creator of wealth and jobs and increasingly the success and even the survival of every business will depend on the performance of its knowledge workforce. He goes on to say that the knowledge economy will increasingly depend on higher levels of education. Harrigan and Dalmia (1991) define knowledge workers as key employees who create intangible value-adding assets, and who often transport those assets in their heads when they change employers. Please note, as in the first sentence, that the reference goes in brackets before the full stop. REFERENCING IN THE REFERENCE LIST The list of references is given at the end of the text. (Note, a bibliography containing everything you read is not required, only a reference list of books and
7 articles that you have referred to in your research report). The link from the text to the list is the author s surname and year of publication, so the list is arranged in alphabetical order by authors, and within authors in ascending date order. It is finally sorted alphabetically by a b c (see example below) if this device has been necessary. The reference list should not be sectioned into books, journals etc. Please note that the name of the book or journal is in italics. Examples: Hargreaves, D.H. (1972) Interpersonal Relations and Education. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Hargreaves, D.H. (1979a) A phenomenological approach to classroom decisionmaking. In Eggleston, J. (ed.) Teacher Decision-making in the Classroom. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Hargreaves, D.H. (1979b) The proper study of educational psychology. New Universities Quarterly, 33, 155-165. Holly, P. and Southworth, G. (1989) The Developing School. London: Falmer Press. Referencing Books The information required is: Author. Year of publication. Title (this must be in italics). Place of publication: Publisher. e.g. Minton, D. (1997) Teaching Skills in Further and Adult Education. London: City & Guilds / Macmillan. For two authors, both names are given, e.g. Huddleston, P. and Unwin, L. (1997) Teaching and Learning in Further Education. London: Routledge.
8 For three or more authors, all names are quoted, e.g. Gray, D. Griffin, C. and Nasta, T. (2000) Training to Teach in Further and Adult Education. Cheltenham: Stanley Thorne. An author may be an editor, so this detail is included after the name, e.g. Rose, D. (ed.) (1988) Social Stratification and Economic Change. London: Hutchinson. An author may be a corporate body in which case this is used as the author, e.g. Open University (1981) Polymer Production. 2nd ed. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. When relevant, an edition statement should be included after the title, and the year of publication quoted is the year of the particular edition, e.g. Grandjean, E. (1988) Fitting the Tasks to the Man: A text book of occupational ergonomics. 4th ed. London: Taylor & Francis. Certain classic books may be reprinted, the year of publication is the original year, with the reprint date added if it is of importance, e.g. Darwin, C. R. (1882, reprinted 1928) The Origin of Species. 6th ed. London: Dent. Where a reference is to a chapter in an edited book or a compilation, and the authors are different, the listing would be, e.g. Green, A. (1995) The European challenge to British vocational education and training, in Hodkinson & Issit (eds.) The Challenge of Competence: Professionalism through Vocational Education and Training. London: Cassell.
9 Referencing Reports Reports follow the guidelines as given for books, with the additional item of the report number(s). Author(s). Year of publication. Title. Place of Publication: Publisher. Report number(s). e.g. Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) (2000) Student Success Rates In Post- 16 qualifications - data from the England and Wales youth cohort study. London: DfEE. Referencing Journal Articles The information required is Author of article. Year of publication. Title of article. Title of periodical (this must be in italics). Volume and number. Page number(s) of article. e.g. Psacharopoulos, G. (1997) Vocational education and training today: challenges and responses. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 49(3), 21-36. Referencing Conferences These references follow the guidelines for either books or journals depending on how the conference proceedings are published. If it is printed as a one-off, then it will follow the guidelines for books. If the conference is one of a series that regularly publishes its papers, then follow the guidelines for journals. Referencing e-journals and Website Sources The information required is:
10 Author/editor, Year "Title" [online]. (Edition). Place of publication: Publisher (if ascertainable). Available from: URL [Accessed Date]. e.g. Hillage P. (2000) Adult learning in England, a Review, London: Institute of Education Studies Report 369. Summary at http://www.employmentstudies.co.uk/summary/summary.php?id=369 (accessed 24/6/03). Referencing where there is no author or publisher In this case use the title of the publication where the author s name would usually be found. e.g. Guide to Authors (1998) South African Journal of Business. AN EXAMPLE OF A REFERENCE LIST FOLLOWS Please note it is in alphabetical order and not numbered. Armstrong, M. and Murlis, H. (1998) Reward management. London: Biddles. Baron, J. N., Hannan, M.T. and Burton, M.D. (2001) Labor pains: change in organisational models and employee turnover in young, high-tech firms. American Journal of Sociology, 106(4), 960-1010. Bartlett, C. and Ghosal, S. (2000) Competing on human capital. Book in progress. http://www.linezine.com/4.2/articles/chsghebip.htm (accessed 12/02/03) Bennett, J. (2003) Employers have their work cut out. Sunday Times. Business Times. March 16. Johannesburg, 1.
11 Branch, S. (1998) You hired em. But can you keep em? Fortune Magazine, November 9, 101-104. Brown, J.S. and Duguid, P. (1996) Organisational learning and communities-of-practice. In: Cohen, M.D. and Sproull, L.S. (eds). Organisational Learning. Los Angeles: Sage.