MAJAN COLLEGE (UNIVERSITY COLLEGE) FACULTY OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT STUDENT ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET Module Name and Level Academic Reading and Writing for Business, Level 1 Module Code BC 05-1 Assessment No. 2 Assessment Type & weighting: Written Assignment, 60 % STUDENT MCUC NUMBER: Please note that a grade will only be given to those whose student number is noted on this form. Please ensure that the student numbers from all group members are recorded accurately. Submission Date: December 2016 MODULE TUTOR: Dr. Christopher Selvamony DECLARATION • The work contained in this assignment is my own and that all materials and sources used have been acknowledged. • I/We have not copied or colluded in part or in whole, or otherwise plagiarised the work of other students. • This assignment has not been submitted for previous assessment in any other subject or to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other unit, module, degree or diploma of a university or any other institute, except where due acknowledgement is made in the text. • I/We confirm that I/we have read, understood and followed the guidelines for assignment submission and presentation provided by the lecturer. • I/We understand that this assignment may be retained on the database and used to make comparisons with other assignments in future. • I/We have made a copy of my assignment • This work may be photocopied and/or communicated for the purpose of identifying plagiarism. • I/We give permission for a copy of this marked assignment to be retained by the faculty of Business Management for the purpose of course reviews by external examiners and to be used as a resource by Majan College. • I/We understand that unauthorized late submission without a valid written extension will be marked as per the college policy mentioned in the students handbook page 18 section 18.5. Academic Reading and Writing 1. The Assessment Assessment weighting: 60% Assignment Task: Write a full-length essay of not less than 1500 words on any one of the following topics: 1. Which is better? Online shopping or Traditional shopping? Internet has had an impact in our lives in all sorts of ways such as in the manner in which we communicate and most importantly, how we shop. Thanks to the increasing sophistication of the technology of the 21st century, practically everything is virtually possible, and shopping from the comfort of one's home has become a part of most people's daily lives. However, another group of people believe that traditional shopping is the best way to shop. They think that people usually want to see the piece of real estate or visit a car showroom and test drive a car before finalising a deal. Visiting the shop and buying things after physically checking them give them satisfaction and joy. What do you think? Which is better- online shopping or traditional shopping? Why? Write a full-length essay of not less than 1500 words. To complete this Assignment you have to review the available literature on the topic and conduct a survey among students and teachers to find out, why they think their chosen type of shopping is better than the other. OR 2. Which is more important? Job satisfaction or Salary? Which is more important? Job satisfaction or Salary? Job is the choice of majority of people for living and sustaining their family. The success of job holder is governed by the satisfaction he gets from the job. Job satisfaction is considered as an important element for self-esteem and wellbeing. However, some people think that a good salary is the most important element in a job. If the salary of the work is not enough to cover the needs, people lose interest in the job and start to search for alternative ways. What do you think? Which is more important? A job with low salary but with complete peace and satisfaction OR a job which offers you a good salary but no job satisfaction? Write a full-length essay of not less than 1500 words. To complete this Assignment you have to review the available literature on the topic; conduct a survey among students and teachers to understand their level of awareness about this topic. INSTRUCTIONS Your work will be graded on the following aspects: 1. This is an individual assignment. 2. The assignment MUST be submitted on-line (through MOVE) on or before the due date (December 2016). 3. Your assignment shall reflect the depth and breadth of your original analyses in a clear and coherent manner. 4. Use of the relevant academic literature to support ideas and issues discussed. The range of academic sources such as texts and journals to support your arguments and comments. 5. Any reference to authors and other writers shall be quoted with due acknowledgement in your assignment report using the Harvard Referencing System. For details of Harvard referencing style refer the student's hand book page 42 - 67 section: Referencing: The Harvard Style. 6. This is an individual assignment and carries a weighting 60% of the module grade. 7. This assignment follows a research format and must be original and creative. An analytical piece of work is required. The use of 'cut and paste' approach will be penalized. It must be presented in a structured manner, with appropriate cover page, content page, introduction, body (with appropriate heading / sub-headings), conclusion, references, page numbered and any required appendices. 8. Your essay should be word processed and professionally presented. The length of your essay should not be less than 1500 words words (+/- 10%), presented in text of font size 12 with 1.5 line spacing. Please state the exact word count at the end of the assignment. 9. The cover page should be attached with the assignment and uploaded through MOVE (on-line. Name of the student, The Programme, Module Title, Assignment Title and number of words must be reflected on the cover sheet. 10. All assignments must be adhered strictly to the deadlines specified by Majan College. Failure to hand in the assignment for any reason and without prior approval and a valid written extension from the module tutor will not be marked and will be awarded a grade G (0) irrespective of the quality of the work. (See Module Handbook page 8 section: Plagiarism and Academic misconduct) 11. Unacknowledged use of work of others (plagiarism) is regarded as a dishonest practice and will be will be penalized. (See the penalties in the student's Module Handbook page 8 section: Plagiarism and Academic misconduct). Additional Guidelines • The Assignment Submission link on MOVE will be open, a week ahead of the submission date. • You can submit your assignment multiple times, till the submission deadline. Note that Turnitin could take up to 24 hours to produce similarity reports for submissions. • The last submission, within the deadline, will be considered as your final submission. • Assignments should be submitted by 6pm on the day of the deadline. There is a grace period until midnight to allow for any technical difficulties, but any assignments submitted after this will be counted as late. Technical problems will not be accepted as an excuse for submitting after the day of the deadline. • The similarity percentage of your final submission will be one of the factors considered, for assessing the originality of your assignment. However, the decision to report an assignment for plagiarism is taken by the Lecturers, who mark your assignment. • The Lecturers will consider a number of factors such as Assignment type, Part of the assignment where similarity occurs, Nature of similarity etc., along with the similarity percentage of your assignment, to assess the originality of your assignment. Therefore, similarity percentage would not be accepted as a basis for disputing academic judgments regarding plagiarism. • Note that the similarity percentage of your submission can change till the submission deadline, if the submissions of other students have similarity to your assignment. Therefore, the similarity percentages are not final, till the assignment submission is closed. GRADING SYSTEM Although grades may be awarded on the basis of marks in some assessments, students should note that both marks and grades will be awarded on the basis of the assessment criteria for each grade. GRADE GRADE POINT DESCRIPTION GENERAL ASSESSMENT CRITERIA A+ 16 Excellent • An outstanding piece of work. • Shows evidence of wider reading and originality • Strongly analytical. All important points are covered. • Arguments should be supported by examples and evidence, objectively presented and evaluated, • Well-structured and well written, without noticeable grammatical or other errors. • Correctly referenced A 15 A- 14 B+ 13 Very Good • Very good work. • All main points will have been covered, though minor issues may have been omitted. • The work will be analytical, balanced and soundly based. • Examples and supporting evidence should have been included. • The writing should be essentially correct, without major grammatical or other errors. • Generally referenced correctly. B 12 B- 11 C+ 10 Good • Generally good work. • Most points will have been covered, but many finer points will generally have been missed. • Shows limited reading. • Arguments/analysis should be basically well structured and balanced with relevant examples, but with errors and gaps. • The writing is clear, but has errors that nevertheless do not obscure the meaning. • Referencing will be present but may at times be inaccurate or insufficient. C 9 C- 8 D+ 7 Pass • Satisfactory. • Shows sufficient grasp of the subject to be acceptable. • Tends to be descriptive. • Examples and evidence is likely to be weak and limited. • Shows limited reading. • Referencing is likely to be absent or very poorly carried out. D 6 D- 5 E 4 Refer • Unsatisfactory/ Compensatable fail. • Serious errors and omissions. • Very little analysis F 2 Fail • Work of a very poor standard with little relevant information and/or serious errors. F- 1 • Work containing little of merit G 0 • No work submitted