PART I – TOPIC RESEARCH, ANALYSIS, EVALUATION AND APPLICATION (worth 45% of marks)
Assumptions about your marker’s knowledge of the topic
Assume your reader/marker knows nothing about your topic, so keep it simple and clear and think about
what they need to know, i.e. how much detail/complexity is required…
What your marker is looking for…
Your marker does not have a preconceived idea about what is right or wrong with regard to what you say
about your topic: two students could both argue for a different theory/model… and both do a great job!
What we are interested in is the quality of your critical thinking: how effectively you make your case for
the strengths and weaknesses and effectiveness of your theory/model…and how well you apply this.
Convince us that the one you have selected from the 3 is the most useful/effective and do a great job of
applying this to real life, i.e. bringing the theory/model to life.
Balancing the requirements in Part I
Your topic overview is important and you must also obviously outline each theory/model… for your
marker so we understand what it is about. However, the critical analysis and application you do is key
and really demonstrates to us how effective you are at using your own judgement and ideas to make an
effective argument. Do not leave this crucial piece to one paragraph at the end of Part I as it will be
worth a lot of marks!
PART II (REFLECTION) AND PART III (ACTION PLAN) (worth 15% and 10% of marks)
How does Part II relate to Part III? Part II is about clarifying your current situation with regard to
abilities, skills, feelings, attitude, behaviours etc and identifying areas for change and development. This
gives you your starting point for your Action Plan which takes your current situation and compares it to
your ideal situation in a year’s time (June 2015). The difference between the two is the steps you will
take to improve/develop yourself.
Motivation survey – For the motivation part of your reflection, Mary has been helping you with this in
labs this week. This measured 15 different components and you should not attempt to address all of
these in your reflection. Instead, reflect on 3 or 4 that indicate the greatest need for development and
address the importance/relevance of these for you. You could then use your Action Plan to outline how
you will do this. Don’t forget – we love a graphic!! ?
FORMATTING (worth 30% of marks)
Title Page – Your title page is your reader’s first impression of your report. You can make use of colour,
graphics and title to make a good first impression!
Word count – Remember the suggested word count for each section, i.e. 1250 for Part I, 750 for Part II
and 500 for Part III is only a guide. You will need to decide how best to allocate your word count. Please
add word count for completed report at the bottom of your Table of Contents. Also bear in mind word
count is 2500 + or – 10%!!
Headings and subheadings – Don’t be afraid to use headings and subheadings – as many as you need! In
some cases you might have a subheading for each new paragraph (see what I have done above). This is
fine!
Avoid overly long paragraphs – See if you can break these up into smaller paragraphs and use space and
subheadings to separate these visually for your reader.
Use colour in your report and print final hard copy in colour, if possible. Colour could work well for
graphics and headings/subheadings, but use a consistent theme (no rainbows!) and keep main
paragraph text in black.
Use graphics, especially to illustrate your theories/models… and put these in the main body of your
report or Appendices, as appropriate. Integrate these into the main body text by making reference to
them and inserting them as close to the text in which you reference them as possible.
Ensure final print quality of text and graphics is good. Also, ensure graphics are clearly legible in report.
Appendices – Information that is longer, more complex and/or that is not directly relevant could go in
appendices.
e.g. An example from last semester is the Honey & Mumford model that includes Theorists, Activists,
Pragmatists & Reflectors. A graphic that illustrated Honey & Mumford’s typology (usually depicted as 4
zones) would be ideal in the main text, but the Honey & Mumford questionnaire itself (that you
completed in class) would go in appendices.
Do not use contractions! Write do not instead of don’t and I am instead of I’m in professional writing.
Print double-sided if possible – we like to save trees!
