Employability skills and academic practice

BPP Coursework Cover Sheet

Please use the table below as your cover sheet for the 1st page of the submission. The sheet should

be before the cover/title page of your submission.

Programme International MBA

Module name Employability Skills and Academic Practice (ESAP)

Schedule Term

Student Reference Number (SRN)

Report/Assignment Title

Date of Submission

(Please attach the confirmation of any

extension received) 28th April 2020

Declaration of Original Work:

I hereby declare that I have read and understood BPP’s regulations on plagiarism and that this is my original work, researched, undertaken, completed and submitted in accordance with the requirements of BPP School of Business and Technology.

The word count, excluding contents table, reference list and appendices, is ___ words.

Student Reference Number: Date:

By submitting this coursework, you agree to all rules and regulations of BPP regarding

assessments and awards for programmes. Please note, submission is your declaration you are fit

to sit.

BPP University reserves the right to use all submitted work for educational purposes and may

request that work be published for a wider audience.

BPP School of Business and Technology

International MBA

Employability Skills and Academic Practice

(ESAP)

Coursework Assessment Brief – Part 1 Spring Term

Submission deadline: 14th April 2020 23:59

Submission mode: Turnitin online access

1. General Assessment Guidance

2. Your summative assessment for this module is made up of two coursework submissions which

accounts for 100% of the marks

3. The deadline for submission is clearly stated on the coversheet of your assessment brief.

Please note late submissions will not be marked.

4. You are required to submit all elements of your assessment via Turnitin online access. Only

submissions made via the specified mode will be accepted and hard copies or any other digital

form of submissions (like via email or pen drive etc.) will not be accepted.

5. For coursework, the submission word limit is 5000 words. You must comply with the word count

guidelines. You may submit LESS than 5000 words but not more. Word Count guidelines can be

found on your programme home page and the coursework submission page.

6. Do not put your name or contact details anywhere on your submission. You should only put

your student registration number (SRN) which will ensure your submission is recognised in the

marking process.

7. A total of 100 marks are available for this module assessment, and you are required to achieve

minimum 50% to pass this module.

8. You are required to use only Harvard Referencing System in your submission. Any content which

is already published by other author(s) and is not referenced will be considered as a case of

plagiarism.

You can find further information on Harvard Referencing in the online library on the VLE. You can

use the following link to access this information:

http://my.bpp.com/vle/mod/data/view.php?d=223&rid=596

9. BPP University has a strict policy regarding authenticity of assessments. In proven instances of

plagiarism or collusion, severe punishment will be imposed on offenders. You are advised to

read the rules and regulations regarding plagiarism and collusion in the GARs and MOPP which

are available on VLE in the Academic registry section.

10. You should include a completed copy of the Assignment Cover sheet. Any submission without

this completed Assignment Cover sheet may be considered invalid and not marked.

Assessment Brief – Part 1

International MBA – Employability Skills and Academic Practice

Summative Assessment Overview:

This module is assessed through the four pieces of work listed below and submitted in two

component parts, each of which has specific requirements.

Part 1 - Submitted during and at the completion of term 3 – 55% of module grade

Management Report Word count: 5,000 words (excluding title, reference list

and appendices) (50%) Evidence (5%)

NB: The formative assessment – Management Report Research Proposal should be submitted and

approved and included in the evidence section of report.

Part 2 - Submitted at the completion of term 5 – 45% of module grade

• Practice Report and Reflection. Word count: 2,000 words (15%)

• Evidence of Professional Development. Word count 3,000 (25%)

• Recorded Video Presentation (5%)

NB: Both documents should be submitted as one and not separately as they relate to each other.

Part 1 of your assessment is submitted during and at the completion of term 3.

Part 2 is submitted at the completion of term 5. This assignment brief is available on the VLE.

Collectively these are known as your portfolio which is a collection of work that shows how you have

achieved the intended learning outcomes of the module. Part 1 is explained below.

Part 1 - Submitted at the completion of term 3

Word count: 5,000 words (excluding title, references lists, and appendices)

Marked out of 100

Management Report (55% - 50% for management report and 5% for evidence, weighting of final

module grade)

Your formative business research proposal form helps to inform your report and should be attached

as an appendix with your report evidence.

You should undertake a management report of 5,000 words that utilises your ability to apply

knowledge acquired from independent research to the understanding and evaluation of, and

possible recommendations that address a specific and individual business organisation issue or

challenge.

• The chosen subject should be a current organisation facing a relevant, current, and

individual challenge. This should not be a case study or overview.

• Your report should include the rationale for the research, the larger business context,

methodology, findings, analysis, conclusions and recommendations.

• Identified aims, methodology, design, and overall approach in the execution of this work

should evidence that your chosen organisation and its challenge have been sufficiently

understood and evaluated so that accurate conclusions can be reached, and

recommendations can be made

• The report should clearly outline the topic under investigation and the relevance to the

context. You are expected to draw upon a wide range of management knowledge to inform

your approach and to justify or critique your final conclusions and recommendations.

• Your topic (Title) must be a research question applied to a specific and real organisation or

business. You will need to choose your organisation carefully to ensure you have enough

access to investigate the issue, challenge, or need, from both an internal and external

perspective.

• Ultimately, conclusions and recommendations must be realistic, practical, and supported by

a sufficient evidence base. The work in its entirety must evidence sound professional

judgement and be written and presented in a style suitable for a commercial or business

audience.

The project proposal form identified and discussed above must be submitted and approved before

commencing substantive work on the report. Any concerns on this aspect of the assessment should

be discussed with your tutor or supervisor.

Evidence Appendix (5%)

You will need to submit evidence (collected data) with your management report. The submission

needs to be electronically stored depending on the nature of the data (e.g. a document or pdf file

with interview transcripts or observation notes, excel file with questionnaire data or a collection of

secondary data). You should ensure that how you have analysed and interpreted this data is clearly

presented.

NB: The formative assessment – Management Report Research Proposal should be submitted and

approved and included as evidence.

Although it is not a requirement of this assignment, a student may choose to undertake original

research to answer their research question. In this case, the nature of the evidence will be entirely

dependent on the demands of your report and could consist of interview data, field observations,

statistical analysis, etc. Any original data obtained from primary research needs to be electronically

stored and can take many forms depending on the nature of the data, such as interview transcripts,

observation notes, MS Excel files with questionnaire data, or clearly understandable mathematical

workings. Whatever the evidence, you should ensure that how you have analysed and interpreted

this data is clearly presented. Remember that primary data also needs to be properly referenced in

Harvard style in your bibliography.

Marking Guide

The assignment is marked out of 100. The following table shows the mark allocation and the

approach required.

Appendix A - General Grading Criteria - Level 7

Criteria Pass Grades Fail Grades

High Distinction

85-100%

Distinction

70-84%

Merit

60-69%

Pass

50-59%

Fail

30-49%

Low Fail

0-29%

The work displays: The work displays: The work displays: The work displays: The work displays: The work displays:

Knowledge & Understanding

(a) Systematic Understanding

(b) Emerging Thought

(a) Strong evidence of a

comprehensive and

systematic understanding of

an extensive range of

appropriate issues, concepts,

theories and research

(a) Clear evidence of a

comprehensive and

systematic understanding of

a considerable variety of

issues, concepts, theories

and research

(a) Clear evidence of a

comprehensive and

systematic understanding of

all major - and some minor -

issues, concepts, theories

and research

(a) Evidence of a systematic

understanding, which may

contain some gaps, of all

major - and some minor -

issues, concepts, theories

and research

(a) Evidence of an

understanding of an

appropriate range of issues,

concepts, theories and

research but has significant

gaps or misunderstandings.

(a) Evidence of a limited

understanding of issues,

concepts, theories and

research either major

and/or minor.

(b) Sustained excellence in

the application of thoughts

and practices at the forefront

of the discipline

(b) Precise and well-judged

application of thoughts and

practices at the forefront of

the discipline

(b) Some clear evidence of

the application of thoughts

and practices at the

forefront of the discipline

(b) Clear evidence of an

understanding of thoughts

and practices at the

forefront of the discipline.

(b) Unclear or imprecise

understanding of thoughts

and practices at the

forefront of the discipline.

(b) Significant gaps in the

understanding of the

debates at the forefront of

the discipline.

Argument

(a) Analysis, Synthesis & Evaluation

(b) Numerical Analysis

(c) Argumentation

(d) Independent Research

(a) Consistently precise,

accurate and reasoned

analysis, synthesis and/or

evaluation; addressing issues

with insight or originality

(a) Consistently precise,

accurate and reasoned

analysis, synthesis and/or

evaluation addressing all

issues, some with creativity

(a) Precision, accuracy and

clear reasoning throughout

the analysis, synthesis

and/or evaluation

addressing all issues

appropriately

(a) Broad levels of precision,

accuracy and reasoning in

analysis, synthesis and/or

evaluation, and addresses

all key issues

(a) Errors which affect the

consistency of the analysis,

synthesis or evaluation

and/or key gaps in the

issues addressed

(a) A lack of precision,

accuracy or reasoning in

analysis, synthesis or

evaluation with significant

gaps in the issues addressed

(b) Numeric analysis that is

complete and free from

errors with application of

methods that may be

insightful or original

(b) Numeric analysis that is

complete and mostly free

from errors with fluent and

appropriate application of

methods.

(b) Numeric analysis that is

complete and mostly free

from errors with relevant

and effective application of

methods.

(b) Numeric analysis that is

mostly complete and free

from significant or critical

errors with appropriate

application of methods.

(b) Numeric analysis that is

mostly complete but

contains errors with

significant effect, or

methods that are applied

inappropriately

(b) Numeric analysis that is

incomplete or contains

errors which have critical

effect, or methods that are

applied inappropriately

(c) Extremely strong and

consistent argument making

a convincing whole with

evidence of originality.

Impressive dexterity in the

(c) Extremely strong and

consistent argument that

convincingly addresses issues

including uncertainties and

conflicts. Excellent use of

information gathered which to

(c) Evidence of an argument

that is generally convincing

with a good internal

consistency and addresses

most issues. Very good use

(c) Evidence of an overall

convincing argument but may

have weaknesses, gaps or

inconsistencies. Clear use of

information gathered but may

(c) Evidence of a consistent

argument but may have

weaknesses, significant

gaps or be unconvincing.

Clear use of information

(c) Lack of consistency or

structure in the argument.

Serious weaknesses in the

integration of evidence

and/or no awareness of the

Criteria Pass Grades Fail Grades

High Distinction

85-100%

Distinction

70-84%

Merit

60-69%

Pass

50-59%

Fail

30-49%

Low Fail

0-29%

The work displays: The work displays: The work displays: The work displays: The work displays: The work displays:

use of information gathered to support the argument.

support and further the

argument of information gathered to

support the argument. have some weaknesses in the

integration into the argument. gathered but may not be

sufficient to sustain the

argument.

limitations or weaknesses of

the research.

Argument (continued)

(d) Independent Research

(d) Evidence of an innovative

or original use of extensive

personal research which has

been thoroughly critically

evaluated both conceptually

and methodologically

(d) Substantial research and

evidence of an innovative

use of a wide range of

personal research with clear

and consistent critical

evaluation both

conceptually and

methodologically

(d) Clear evidence of

considerable personal

research and the use of a

diverse range of

appropriate sources but

may contain problems with

consistency in the

conceptual and

methodological critical

evaluation

(d) Appropriate use of a

wide range of personal

research which is critically

evaluated for key

conceptual and

methodological issues

although this may not be

consistent throughout

(d) Evidence of a range of

personal research but

evidence of methodological

or conceptual evaluation

may be limited, inconsistent

or inappropriate

(d) Over reliance on very

restricted range of personal

or secondary research much

of which may not be

evaluated and may not be

directly related to the

question or area

Presentation

(a) Structure

(b) Referencing

(c) Use of Language

(a) Excellent structure and

presentation (a) Excellent structure and

presentation (a) Good structure and

presentation (a) Adequate structure and

presentation (a) Adequate structure and

presentation (a) Poor structure and

presentation

(b) Precise, full and

appropriate references and

notes.

(b) Precise, full and

appropriate references and

notes.

(b) Full and appropriate

references and notes with

minor or insignificant errors

(b) Good references and

notes with minor or

insignificant errors or

omissions

(b) Competent references

and notes but may contain

inconsistencies, errors or

omissions

(b) Poor references and

notes with multiple

inconsistencies, errors or

omissions

(c) Subtle use of language

expressing highly nuanced

thought with clarity and

precision to a level

appropriate for submission

for publication.

(c) Precise use of language

expressing complex thought

with clarity, accuracy and

precision which furthers

and enhances the argument

(c) Clear and precise use of

language allowing a

complex argument to be

easily understood and

followed

(c) Generally clear use of

language sufficient for

arguments to be readily

understood and followed

(c) Generally

understandable use of

language but significant

errors in expression

affecting overall clarity

(c) Serious errors in the use

of language which makes

meaning unclear or

imprecise