Business Finance - Management homework about work and employment
Adison15
assessmentguidance.pptxWork and Employment
BUS124 / BUS132
ASSESSMENT INSTRUCTIONS AND GUIDANCE
Assessment
3000 words essay (including references) with 10% flexibility
100 % of your mark
See module handbook for assessment criteria.
Chose and answer ONE of the questions below:
5. What are the different approaches that could be adopted by organisations to promote equality, diversity and inclusion at work?
Assessment criteria
Answering the ESSAY QUESTION
Display knowledge and understanding of the issues and debates concerning the essay question;
bring together and critically evaluate material in forwarding your argument, assessing competing interpretations, rather than just providing description:
Can you draw links between related concepts and theories?
Is the essay balanced?
Have you used relevant, good quality sources?
Is the literature used well and appropriately assessing different perspectives critically to answer the question?
Have you presented the empirical insights you collected linking them to the academic literature?
Assessment criteria (cont.)
Evidence of Learning:
Integrate and reflect on in-class learning and independent study and research into the coursework,
Have you demonstrated learning from lectures, seminars, your independent study of the literature and research evidence you collected?
Presentation:
presents a well-structured and developed argument responding to the essay question, observing the academic standards of grammar, spelling and referencing.
Is the essay well structured (following the sections specified in the assessment brief )?
Are citations and references correctly used?
Is the essay free of grammar and spelling errors?
Essay structure
Please follow the structure below with clear section headings:
1. Introduction: (≈ 250 words)
2. Review of the literature (≈ 750 words)
3. Presentation of the empirical material (≈ 750 words)
4. Discussion (≈ 500 - 600 words)
5. Conclusion (≈ 300- 400 words)
6. Reference list (≈ 250-500 words)
7. Appendices (optional, not included in the wordcount)
Total wordcount: 3000 words (incl. references) with 10% flexibility
1. Introduction (≈ 250 words)
This section should give the reader a sense of why your chosen topic is important and what to expect in the essay.
So your aim in this section is to:
Clarify the scope of your essay: Tell is the goal of the essay
Provide a rationale: Tell us why the issue you are exploring is important
Present a brief outline explaining the structure of the essay, e.g. how you intend to address the essay question.
Stating the goal of the paper and how it is organized helps the reader to understand and follow your argument; and help you to stick to the point.
Make sure that in the rest of the essay you follow the outline you presented and kept the promises you made.
2. Review of the literature (≈ 750 words)
Section 2 aims to present and critically assess key academic debates, concepts, theories and evidence related to the essay question.
Try not to be overly descriptive. Go beyond just providing description or simply repeating the literature, Evaluate arguments rather than just describing them.
Use your time, effort and space effectively. Ask yourself when writing, “Is this necessary to support my answer?” Long lists of every single aspect of a theory are of no use unless their relevance to the essay question is clear and explicit.
Define key concepts and terms. If there are many available definitions, pick one to use for your essay. You might also choose to include definitions in the introduction section instead.
Lectures, textbook and seminar readings are a great place to build the foundations of your literature review. You must cite the academic reading uploaded on QMPlus related to your chosen question.
However, we expect evidence of reading beyond. You can use google scholar and library and academic journal articles uploaded on Module QMPlus page under the tab “Assignment Submission, Information and Resources”.
You can complement academic sources with non-academic ones but make sure that the academic basis of the essay is strong and substantial.
3. Presentation of the empirical material (≈ 750 words)
In section 3, you will present the data you collected. This means summarising how you gathered empirical material and what you found.
First, set the scene by telling the reader what type of data you collected and how.
Tell us briefly about your research process, e.g. what method did you use and why? How did you access your participants? How many people you talked to? What did you ask? How long did your interviews last?
Then, present the main findings and explain how your findings help in answering the essay question:
Look for key themes, convergence and divergence in your data;
Common trends among your research participants as well as any differences depending on participants’ demography (e.g. gender, age, race/ethnicity, education, occupation, work experience etc.).
We recommend that you include some verbatim (word-by-word) quotations from interviews in presenting your findings.
Further guidance on section 3
This section requires your active engagement with the subject by way of collecting empirical insights.
You must present primary data in this section. You may:
talk to (interview) a few people;
make sure to protect the anonymity of participant;
you do not need to upload evidence of research but we recommend that you record interviews with permission for your own use for purposes of verbatim quotes.
further support and deepen the analysis by using other data types such as observations, photographs;
also use your own experience (if any) as a data point.
You can draw on your personal experience as long as it is relevant to what you wish to illustrate. It is also fine for you to switch into the first-person tense through these parts.
4. Discussion (≈ 500 - 600 words)
In this section you will bring together the key insights from sections 2 and 3. In other words, this is the section where you connect the findings from your empirical research to the academic literature.
Identify and then discuss similarities and differences between what is said in the academic literature and what you found through your own data collection.
Consider / make a list of the key insights you presented in section 2 and section 3; and ask yourself:
Are your findings in line with the literature?
Do any of your findings diverge from the academic research evidence?
How do you interpret the divergence and convergence?
Some of your findings might be in line with the literature or some may diverge. In either case, explore why.
5. Conclusion (≈ 300- 400 words)
Provide a brief summary of the essay highlighting key points in answering the essay question.
Your conclusion should not contain any new information, theories or arguments
Reflect on the limitations of your research
All research has limitations and acknowledging these evidences the depth of your thinking and understanding.
Identify future research directions / needs
Develop implications of what your essay has argued:
What are some policy recommendations you can make to companies, governments etc. as a result of your research?
6. Reference list (≈ 250-500 words)
You must use seminar reading in your essay.
Plus other academic sources identified through independent study.
We expect to see at least 6-7 academic sources.
You can also use non-academic sources (e.g. newspaper articles, non-academic books, movies, company websites, statistics, reports).
All sources listed must be cited in the essay.
All sources used in the essay must be included in the reference list and thus avoid accusations of plagiarism.
When you use a direct quotation from a source, you must put it in quotation marks and include page number in the in-text citation.
Plagiarism: There are strict rules about how you may and may not use, cite and reference the work of others in your essay. All coursework goes through Turnitin.
Use the Harvard referencing system (see last two slides).
| Introduction | 10% |
| Literature review | 25% |
| Presentation of findings | 25% |
| Discussion | 20% |
| Conclusion | 10% |
| Structure/style | 10% |
Assessment rubric with weighted criteria
Writing style and further instructions
The essay must be written in ‘continuous prose’, i.e. avoid bullet points
Font size 12; line spacing: Double
State the essay question that is answered and word count on the front page
Use basic English - no literary pretensions and avoid jargon which you do not understand
Do not give personal opinion, unless supported with evidence
Be professional in the presentation of your work:
Watch for spelling and grammatical errors: use spell check and also proof read your paper before submitting.
Follow the style and referencing requirements
Use the Harvard system of citation and referencing.
Do not use footnotes.
Plagiarism and ghost-writing are strictly prohibited, and serious penalties apply.
Reading and resources
Module textbook: Noon, M., Blyton, P. & Morrell, K. (2013) The Realities of Work, 4th Edition. Palgrave.
Seminar reading: Academic articles listed under each week in your module handbook and uploaded on QMPlus. You must cite these in your essay.
Lecture slides and recordings: You can cite these as Tatli (2023).
Non academic resources on QMPlus: including videos, talks and news articles
Academic articles repository on QMPlus: under the tab ‘Assessment information, submission and resources’.
And other academic and non academic sources you identified through own independent research.
Additional resources for coursework help and guidance (to be uploaded during the reading week)
In the last two sections on module QMPlus page:
(After week 12 section when you scroll down to the end of the module content page you will find two sections)
A sample of 1st class coursework
Coursework instructions/ brief
Coursework FAQs
Interview tips
Harvard referencing tools
Harvard System
In the reference list: place all sources used in alphabetical order and record the full details.
In body of your coursework
When referring to 2 authors, use both names, eg, Smith and Brown (1998)
Where there are more than 2 authors, use the name of the first author only, followed by et al. (meaning ‘and others’) - Jones et al. (1999)
If using a direct quotation, remember also to cite the page number where it was found, eg.,
(Smith and Brown, 1998, p76) or (Smith and Brown, 1998:76)
Harvard System
Referencing books:
Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2000) Research Methods for Business Students. London: Prentice Hall.
Referencing Chapters in ‘edited’ books
Adair, J. (1994) Leadership and Motivation. In Stewart, D.M. (ed.) Handbook of Management, pp. 25-37. Aldershot: Gower.
Referencing journal articles
Thompson, J.K. and Rehder, B.R. (1996) The Gap Between the Vision and the Reality. Journal of General Management, 21(3), 74-92.
For more info and how to reference other types of sources:
http://subjects.library.manchester.ac.uk referencing/referencing-harvard
