An analysis of dynamic relationship between saving rate and real estate market in Hong Kong and Singapore: An empirical study over the past 16 years

The word count should:

• Include all the text, including title, preface, introduction, in-text citations, quotations, footnotes and any other item not specifically excluded below.

• Exclude diagrams, tables (including tables/lists of contents and figures), equations, executive summary/abstract, acknowledgements, declaration, bibliography/list of references and appendices. However, it is not appropriate to use diagrams or tables merely as a way of circumventing the word limit. If a student uses a table or figure as a means of presenting his/her own words, then this is included in the word count.

7 Examiners will stop reading once the word limit has been reached, and work beyond this point will not be assessed. Checks of word counts will be carried out on submitted work, including any assignments or dissertations/business projects that appear to be clearly over-length. Checks may take place manually and/or with the aid of the word count provided via an electronic submission. Where a student has intentionally misrepresented their word count, the School may view this as an act of dishonest practice and take action as appropriate and as per the University Regulations.

Appendices

Very occasionally it may be appropriate to present, in an appendix, material which does not properly belong in the main body of the assessment but which some students wish to provide for the sake of completeness. Any appendices will not have a role in the assessment – examiners are under no obligation to read appendices and they do not form part of the word count. Material that students wish to be assessed should always be included in the main body of the text.

Format, Style and Presentation

The following text is an excerpt from the School’s Assessment Criteria for UG dissertations/business projects. This excerpt is reproduced here for your convenience. All students should review the Assessment Criteria in full via the Assessment Criteria Folder on the Dissertation DUO site.

Your writing should have a consistent and clear style, using standard grammatical and linguistic conventions. You should proofread and edit your work.

Your dissertation/business project should be typed, using 1.5 spacing and an easyto-read 12-point font. You should use double-sided printing, and ensure that the dissertation/business project is securely bound.

The dissertation/business project should be clearly structured and divided into chapters. It should be accompanied by a detailed table of content, abstract and declaration.

Dissertations/business projects with empirical work should normally be presented as introduction, literature review, data, methodology, results and conclusion. For organisational case studies, data, methodology and result sections should be replaced by more appropriate sections that are relevant to the work involved. For critical review types of dissertation, your literature review should be divided into different chapters. The content of the dissertation/business project within and across chapters/sections should flow together in a coherent manner.

For dissertations/business projects with quantitative work, the results should be presented in a tabular format of your own design, rather than simply reproducing the software output.

This criterion also covers the appropriate use of tables and figures. You should explain any tables and figures, properly citing the sources.

8 • While tables and figures should make sense on their own, you should use them as aids to explanation or evidence to support your arguments. They should be accompanied by analysis or discussion.

• Tables should not be used as a way of circumventing the word count limitations.

• Tables should consist of columns and rows.

• You should number tables and figures sequentially and include appropriate titles representing the contents.

• Tables and figures should be placed as close to the relevant text as possible

• Tables and figures should be explicitly referred to in the relevant part of the content.

• You should clearly reference figures and tables that come from another source.

• For figures you have created yourself, the source(s) of the information used to create the figures should be clearly described.

• If tables are large enough to distract the reader, they can be placed in the following pages or appendices. Please note that appendices do not form a part of assessments.

Badly presented dissertations will be penalised. If you are not clear on any of the above you must consult your supervisor.

Other Points Relating to Style and Arrangement

• Footnotes: details, which may interrupt the flow of the text, can be placed in footnotes, which should be flagged at the appropriate point in the text by a superscript. Number the footnotes consecutively through each chapter and place at the bottom of the appropriate page. Do not use end notes.

• Logic, clarity and precision in the written text are important. It is wise to avoid personal pronouns, exclamation marks, clichés, excessive use of capitals and note form. Care should be taken with grammar, spelling and punctuation. See, for example:

Fowler, H.W. and F.G. Fowler (1984) Dictionary of Modern English Usage. London: Omega.

Gower, E. (1986) The Complete Plain Words. 3rd edition. London: HMSO.

Turabian, K.L. (1987) A Manual for Writers of Research Papers Theses and Dissertations.London: Heinemann.

Turk, C. and Kirkman, C. J. (1989) Effective Writing: Improving Scientific, Technical and Business Communication. London: E. and E and F. N.

Style & Arrangement

You are requested to pay particular attention to the following points concerning the arrangement of the dissertation.

• Divide the material into Chapters, which may be sub-divided into a number of sections. Chapter 1 should be a brief introduction to the issues examined in the dissertation, and the final chapter should provide a Conclusion.

• All Tables and Figures should be numbered, and placed in the appropriate position in the text. For example, Table 3.1 would refer to Table 1 of Chapter 3. Give all Tables and Figures a title and refer to them in the text: remember that data never speak for themselves. It is often easier to place this kind of material on a separate page. The source of the data in any table or graph should also be included at the foot of the table or graph.

References to Other Authors and Plagiarism

When referring to publications, give the date of publication in parentheses after the name, and the further details in a separate list of references (see below). For example, ‘... Samuelson (1968) has shown that . . .’ Students may also give a page number after the date, if appropriate. Always give the precise sources of all quotations.

You should clearly identify direct quotations of material from a source by enclosing them in quotation marks or by some other consistent approach, such as indentation. For such a direct quotation you should always provide a page number, after the date, where it appears in the original source. Be particularly careful with secondary sources, that is, those that are cited by a source you are using. Unless you have gone to the original to read these, you should reference them in your final list of references as ‘cited by <source>’ or ‘Smith, 1971 in Jones, 1998’.

Referencing should clearly identify information, ideas or facts adopted from another author. Therefore, as well as referencing when you use the author’s own words (i.e. a direct quote) you should also identify when you paraphrase, summarise or synthesise other people’s words or ideas. You must also reference tables, figures and diagrams that you include and/or when your own figures adopt elements of those presented by other authors.

Plagiarism, that is the presenting of other persons’ thoughts, writings or workings as one’s own, is unacceptable and will jeopardise attainment of a degree. Students should note that in registering for the module, they are agreeing that their work may be referred for electronic analysis to an appropriate body.

If you are in any doubt about how to reference properly you should seek advice as soon as possible. Citing lack of attention/knowledge about referencing is in no way an excuse for plagiarism.

Note that the penalties for plagiarism are severe; the General Regulations of the University include the following:

‘In formal examinations and all assessed work prescribed in degree, diploma and certificate regulations, candidates should take care to acknowledge the work and opinions of others and avoid any appearance of representing them as their own. Unacknowledged quotation or close paraphrasing of other people’s writing, amounting to the presentation of other persons’ thoughts or writings as one’s own, is plagiarism and will be penalised. In extreme cases, plagiarism may be classed as a dishonest practice under Section IV, 2.(viii) of the General Regulations and can lead to expulsion’.

Students must also note that collusion is considered an assessment irregularity; again, the penalties are severe. The University defines collusion as ‘working with one or more other students to produce work which is then presented as one's own in a situation in which this is inappropriate or not permitted and/or without acknowledging the collaboration.’ The dissertation is intended to be an individual piece of work and therefore it is important that the dissertation you submit is a result of your own work.

Bibliography

You should provide a list of references, arranged in alphabetical order, by surname of (first) author. These should be written in the following style.

For articles in journals:

NAME, Initial(s). (Year of Publication) ‘Title of Article’, Journal,. volume(number), pp.

La Porta, R., Lopez-De-Silanes, F. and Shleifer, A. (1999) ‘Corporate Ownership Around the World’, Journal of Finance, 54(2), pp. 471-517.

For books or pamphlets:

NAME, Initial(s). (Year of Publication) Title of Book. edition (if not 1st). place of publication: publisher.

Dicken Peter (2003) Global Shift: Reshaping the Global Economic Map in the 21st Century. 4th edition. London: Sage Publications.

A more detailed document (Referencing Guide), giving guidance and examples, is available on DUO. Another excellent guide, which all students are recommended to refer to, is:

Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2010) Cite Them Right. 8th edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.