General Assignment Guidelines: 1. Word Count

General Assignment Guidelines
All students are expected to follow the below mentioned general assignment guidelines
throughout their assessments during their MBA Programme. These guidelines are general to
any assignment where they need to submit a report, regardless of the module. Module specific
guidelines shall be instructed by the module leaders during the assignment guideline sessions.
If you find any conflicts with this document and the module leader’s instructions, please
discuss with the programme coordinator.
1. Word Count
1.1 Following is a clarification what is included/ excluded in the report.
Included Excluded
 Main body of the report from  Title Page or Cover page
Introduction to Conclusion  Table of Contents
 Abstract
 Tables
 Figures
 Footnotes
 References List
 Appendices
1.2 Clarifications on complying to the required word count
Different assessments have varying word lengths specified for them; it is important that the
student always keeps to the word length specified for each assessment on the following
grounds:
• To encourage succinct and clear writing by students.
• To ensure equity between all the students doing that assessment.
In case a range of word count is provided (E.g. 5000 to 6000 words) then the student is
required to maintain the word count within the range without any deviation. If the word count
is fixed (E.g. 5000 words) then the student is allowed a ± 10% tolerance.
If the specified word limit for an assessment has been exceeded, the following penalties would
be applied (as specified in the UWSD Academic Quality Handbook 7.7).
• Up to 10% above the word limit – No deduction off final mark
• Between 10% and 25% above the word limit – Deduction of 5 marks off final mark (or
reduce the mark to the capped mark, whichever is lesser)
• Between 25% and 50% above the word limit – Deduction of 10 marks off final mark (or
reduce the mark to the capped mark, whichever is lesser)
• 50% or more over length – Maximum mark of capped mark
A failure to meet the word limit may result in lower marks based on the quality of the work
because the work may not include the necessary information required for the assessment to
meet the stated learning outcomes.
2. Report Format Requirements
The report should be written in third person perspective.

• Font: Arial or Times New Roman
• Font Size: 12 (main body)
• Line Spacing: 1.5 Spacing
• Justify the paragraphs in the main body
The main headings should be in size 16, the subheadings in size 14 and any other
subheadings below can be in size 12 as in the main body as appropriate. The consistency
should be maintained throughout the report.
3. Structure of the Report
The students can title and structure their report according to the requirements of the
assignment, yet the report’s overall structure should be as follows. (each point is elaborated
underneath):
 Cover Page (provided by IIHE)

 Table of contents
 List of Tables (if any)
 List of Figures (if any)
 Executive Summary
 Introduction to the report
 Main body of the report
 Conclusion
 References List
 Appendices (if any)
Cover Page
 The title of the academic report

 Students’ and tutor’s name
 Institution
 The submission date
 Word count (exclusive of the excluded word count)
Table of Contents
 Full list of sections within the academic report with page numbers
List of Tables (if any)
 Full list of tables used within the academic report with page numbers
List of Figures (if any)
 Full list of figures / diagrams used within the academic report with page numbers
Executive Summary
 be approximately 5-10% of the length of the main report

 be written in language appropriate for the target audience
 consist of short, concise paragraphs
 begin with a summary
 be written in the same order as the main report
 only include materials present in the main report
 make recommendations
 provide a justification
 have a conclusion
 be readable separately from the main report
 sometimes summarize more than one document
Introduction to the Report
 The aims or purpose of your academic report

 A very brief overview of your chosen report
 A final paragraph that outlines the next section of your academic report
Main body of the report
The main body of the report will contain theoretical / conceptual approaches, analysis,
discussion, and recommendations.
Organize this section of your academic report into sub-sections, wherever necessary with
appropriate headings. Each sub-section may include further sub-sections with headings, if
required.
Structure of the main body of the report should align with the requirement of the assessment
as well.
For each sub-section you should:
 Clearly explain the theoretical or conceptual approach that you are going to apply and
why it is relevant for your aims / purpose. Include any debates about, or criticisms and
weaknesses of, the approach.
 Systematically apply the analytical approach to your material and explain the findings.
 Provide recommendations.
Conclusion
The conclusions (with a maximum of 300 words) comes at the end of the academic report.
The conclusion must abide by the following guidelines:
• Summarize, compare the findings from your analyses, including contradictory
findings.
• Relate your findings and discussion to the aims and purpose of the academic report
and specify any conclusions you have reached.
• Your conclusion wraps up your essay in a tidy package and brings it home for your
reader
• Your topic sentence should summarize what you said in your thesis statement
• This suggests to your reader that you have accomplished what you set out to
accomplish
• Do not simply restate your thesis statement, as that would be redundant
• Rephrase the thesis statement with fresh and deeper understanding
• Your conclusion is no place to bring up new ideas
• Your supporting sentences should summarize what you have already said in the
body of your essay
• If a brilliant idea tries to sneak into the final paragraph, you must resolve it out and
let it have its own paragraph in the body, or leave it out completely
• Your topic for each body paragraph should be summarized in the conclusion
• Wrap up the main points
• Your closing sentence should help the reader feel a sense of closure
• Your closing sentence is your last word on the subject; it is your “clincher”
• Demonstrate the importance of your ideas
• Propel your reader to a new view of the subject
• End on a positive or an encouraging note
• Your closing sentence should make your readers glad they read your paper
References List
References list will contain the following:

• References and evidences used in the academic report.
• List of sources, including web sources of company information, reports, pictures,
diagrams etc. referred to directly in your academic report.
• It must include academic sources such as academic books and articles.
Note: UWTSD recommend to use the term reference list and not the
bibliography.
What sources can be considered as credible?
• materials published within last 10 years;
• research articles written by respected and well-known authors;
• websites registered by government and educational institutions (.gov, .edu, .ac);
• academic databases (i.e. Academic Search Premier or JSTOR);
• materials from Google Scholar
What sources should be avoided?
• out-of-date materials (published over 10 years ago);

• posts from social networks (i.e. Facebook);
• personal blogs and blogs written by unknown and unreliable authors;
• research articles without citations;
• Wikipedia can never be considered as a reliable source of information since it can
be edited by anyone (Therefore it is non-credible website example). However, it can
be used when you are first trying to understand the topic.
University uses the 6th APA Style of Harvard Referencing system: UWTSD Harvard
Referencing Handbook
Appendices
This is where you can include relevant material about the company, case studies that you
refer to in the main body of your academic report which serves as supplementary material that
is not an essential part of the text itself but which may be helpful in providing a more
comprehensive understanding of the research problem or it is information that is too
cumbersome to be included in the body of the paper.
Never include an appendix that isn’t referred to in the text. All appendices should be
summarized in your paper where it is relevant to the content. Appendices should also be
arranged sequentially by the order they were first referenced in the text [i.e., Appendix 1 should
not refer to text on page eight of your paper and Appendix 2 relate to text on page six].

General Assignment Guidelines: 1. Word Count

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

General Assignment Guidelines: 1. Word Count

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

General Assignment Guidelines: 1. Word Count

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

General Assignment Guidelines

1.1 Following is a clarification what is included/ excluded in the report.

1.2 Clarifications on complying to the required word count

2. Report Format Requirements

The report should be written in third person perspective.

3. Structure of the Report

 Cover Page (provided by IIHE)

 The title of the academic report

List of Tables (if any)

List of Figures (if any)

 be approximately 5-10% of the length of the main report

Introduction to the Report

 The aims or purpose of your academic report

Main body of the report

For each sub-section you should:

References list will contain the following:

• out-of-date materials (published over 10 years ago);

You might also like