DO’s

DON’TS

1.      Use the material provided in the course, especially related to the text book and any relevant journal articles. In this case there were established definitions of entrepreneurship; seven key characteristics of entrepreneurs; the schools of thought (Frederick et al., 2016) and self-tests provided.

1.      Ignore the basic course material and wander off on your own tangent without consideration of what has been covered in class.  Generally this occurs when students have been absent from classes.

2.      Do develop your own perspective(s) from reading widely around other reputable sources. It is expected that you would use other text books and journal articles, reputable internet sources to build upon the basic ideas.

2.      Waffle and write unjustified statements without supporting evidence (i.e. refs). At this level you cannot just talk off the ‘top of your head’! Your initial reflection prior to the course was the only point you should have done this.

3.      Please check all English grammar, sentence construction and spelling before submission. As a basic guide all sentences should begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop. In English we use the definite and indefinite article frequently.

3.      Think this is unimportant. Poor English grammar and spelling mistakes waste valuable tutor marking time and it looks very unprofessional. It may even be rejected as ‘too hard to read’.

4.      Ensure academic writing style is applied at all times i.e. no contractions, surnames must be used instead of first names. Use quotes sparingly.

4.      Confuse writing in a familiar way as being critical reflection. It is not the same thing. Critical reflection comes from reading widely and then drawing your own informed conclusions.

Copy and paste, joined together without reference to their source is not good academic writing style.

5.      You must apply APA referencing (7th ed.) throughout the assignment (both in text and in the reference list at the end). Keep the guide with you at all times whilst writing.

5.      Think APA referencing is unimportant. It is essential for professional work at this level and will be expected of you when you leave to work in a profession.

6.      Work on writing up your references as you prepare your draft.

6.      Leave referencing till the very end as it is guaranteed you will miss some of the important details e.g. year, edition, publisher etc.

7.      Use a variety of sources to gather your information e.g. text books, journals, autobiographies, some magazines, ABI inform, reports, edited books, reputable internet sources.

7.      Use Wikipedia as your only source! It is good as a starting point but you must move on from this.

8.      Create a plan, but remember the questions are an assistance as to how you should order and plan your assignment. Provide a draft for someone to proof read.

8.      Start without a plan in mind.

Think a draft is a waste of time.

9.      Look at the flow of your writing. Ask yourself do the paragraphs flow logically from one to the other?

9.      Write long lists, lots of headings, whole pages with no paragraphs, half sentences with no verbs.

10.  Ensure you conclude your work with a brief rounding off of where you have arrived at. Ask what have you learnt through this assignment, i.e. come full circle.

10.  Just end the assignment with no conclusion.

11.  Do remove any feedback tracking from the assignment.

11.  Use highlights all over the assignment. It conflicts with the highlights used on Grade mark.

12.  Ensure your work is ‘clean’, well presented and invites the reader to want to read and enjoy your writing.

12.  Leave the reader feeling that this will be a chore to read on first viewing.

13.  Spend at least the required time on your assignment in proportion to the weighting of the course.

13.  Leave the assignment to the last week as it will be far too unfinished and unprofessional if you do.