Essay & Report Writing

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|Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Business) |
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College of Business:

Guidelines for referencing and presentation

in written reports and essays

Version: 4

Approved: April 2010

Review date: Not later than December 2011
Contents

1. Introduction 2

2. Referencing 4 2.2.1 Paraphrasing 4 2.2.2 Direct quotes 4 2.3.1 Referencing internet sources 5 2.4.1 Printed material and multimedia 10 2.4.2 Electronic journal articles 20 2.4.5 Order of entries in a reference list 22

3. Plagiarism 25 3.1.1 What constitutes plagiarism? 25 3.1.2 What is the penalty for plagiarism? 25

4. Essay writing 28 A Step By Step Guide to Essay Writing 28 Step 1 Choose your topic 28 Step 2 Read the instructions, relating to your assessments as set down in your Course Guide 28 Step 3 Analyse the topic 28 Step 5 Starting your research 30 Step 6 Mind mapping 30 Step 7 Focus your research 30 Step 8 Draw up a detailed plan 32 Step 9 Writing the Essay 32 Step 10 Writing the first draft 34 Step 11 Editing your final draft 35

5. Report Writing 36 A step by step guide to report writing 37 Step 1 Choose your topic 37 Step 2 Read the instructions relating to your assessments as set down in your Course Guide 37 Step 3 Analyse the topic 37 Step 4 Brain storm – what do you already know about the issue? 37 Step 5 Starting your research 37 Step 6 Mind mapping 37 Step 7 Focus

References: Lack of variability in a product is an important measure of its quality (Shannon 2003). OR Shannon (2003) describes the role of statistics in minimising product variability. OR Shannon defines statistical thinking as a ‘set of thought processes and value systems that focus on understanding, managing and reducing variation in the output of the firm’ (2003, p