MGT 2321-6 & MGT2421 (2021-2022): Essay Assignment 2 – GUIDELINES
All written work must be word-processed using good English in font size 12.
The essay/report must be 2000 words (+/-10%) excluding references.
Deadline for submission is Friday 29th April 2022, 9pm online (TI)
N.B. Any student who experiences problems uploading their work on Turnitin should take a screen shot and immediately (no more than 15min after the deadline) e-mail their work and the screen shot to their seminar tutor.
TITLE
Give your work a title with reference to the question selected.
1. INTRODUCTION (Approx 500 words)
It is meant to inform the reader about three main things: what the student is going to do; why the subject is important and for whom (i.e. contributions to theory and practice); and how this is going to be done. For example the student could start by introducing:
– general issues regarding the subject/topic in question
2. MAIN BODY SECTION (a subtitle here is advisable) (Approx 1,000 words – Section 2 & 2.1)
This section develops the key issues introduced above i.e. by analysing the nature of the topic e.g. different schools of thought; key concepts have to be defined. For example:
– make clear who says what (theories/authors) and why this is important for your analysis
– illustrate with cases studies/examples if relevant for your essay
The main body of the work will involve discussion which:
– addresses the criticisms against the ideas/concepts/theories above (e.g. different theoretical perspectives in relation to the topic; lack of empirical information, etc.)
– This is the place to be critical on the subject using extant literature.
3. CONCLUSIONS (Approx 500 words)
– summarise what has been done
– summarise the main findings of the study
– the student may also have his/her own ideas/opinion which could support or contradict what have been said earlier.
– outline your own main reflections on the subject/study (i.e. what you have learnt from it)
4. REFERENCES
List here all of the references cited or quoted throughout the text (e.g. books; handbooks; journal articles; government reports, etc.) (use the Harvard referencing system).
PRACTICAL ADVICE:
Keep focus on set question
Have a proper essay’s structure in place
When giving examples, explain ‘who’, ‘when, ‘how’, ‘where’ otherwise not an example
Additional bibliography to the recommended texts MUST be used
Introductory sentences are very important
Avoid long sentences
Avoid colloquial language (‘a lot of…’; ‘to come out with…’; ‘does not’ instead of ‘doesn’t)
Consistence (first or third person; font size; bold; subtitles)
Editing work prior to submission required
Wikipedia is not an academic source of reference; neither is a search tools like Google.com
Each reference/citation/ quotation made in the main text must be in the Reference Section at the back and vice versa. A minimum of 10 references is required for this assignment and a maximum of 20 references.
Avoid plagiarism; Turnitin similarity index must below 30%.
TurnitIn submission – you can submit your work in any format (as Word document or PDF).
References on the main text
General references (Smith and McDonald, 2006) or according to Smith and McDonald (2006)
Quotations (Smith and McDonald, 2006:33) – page number needed
Three or more authors (Smith et al., 2006) or (Smith et al., 2006:33)
Citations on the Reference Section
Full reference required (author/s name + date + title + journal/book/publisher)
Example:
Smith, L. and Mc Donald (2006) “The importance of entrepreneurship and small business”, Journal of Small Business, vol 4, 1:33)
1