MARK 1016 Assessment 2: Report
1. MARK 1016: Assessment 2
For Assessment 2 you will need to prepare a 2500-word report. For this report you will need to analyse and discuss data and write an executive summary. Please see your course website for the full assessment details.
2. Finding peer reviewed resources
For you assignment you are expected to use scholarly sources, sometimes referred to as peer reviewed.
Peer review is one accepted measure of quality. So, if you are unsure about the quality of an article, checking whether the journal it was published in is peer reviewed is a good place to start. If the journal is peer reviewed, you can be confident that the article is scholarly.
Watch the Peer Review in 3 Minutes video (3 min 15 sec) for more information:
More help:
- Anatomy of a scholarly articleAn interactive resource showing the parts of a scholarly article. By NCSU Libraries.
- How to find scholarly sources - PDF (305 KB)This resource discusses scholarly articles, peer reviewed articles and scholarly books.
- Scholarly Sources Explained - video (2 min 22 sec)Learn why scholarly sources are important to use and how you can identify them.
Accuracy - Are arguments supported with independent evidence? What types?
Audience - Is it intended for a general audience or someone familiar with the research in the subject?
Authors - What are their qualifications (e.g. advanced degree with years researching)?
Content - Is the content within your research scope? Is it what you are looking for?
Currency - Check the publication date. Are recent developments considered?
Language - Is it of a higher level language and does it use discipline-specific terminology?
Peer review - Is it peer reviewed? Most books and articles are peer reviewed, before being accepted, as part of the publishing process. However, be careful because there are some publishers who simply publish what they are given. For example, they will take a thesis and re-badge it as a book without any editorial intervention.
Publisher - Is the publisher reputable (see 'peer review')?
References - Are in-text citations and references given? Can you easily follow them up?
3. Plan your search
To complete your report you will need to find a range of relevant resources. To successfully search for resources you will need to carefully read the questions and identify keywords to search for.
Examples of keywords:
- "consumer behaviour", "purchasing behaviour"
- "customer satisfaction", motivations
- attitudes, perceptions
Tips:
- Use AND and OR to connect your words together, and use quotation marks to keep phrases together.
- Use Refine my results on the right hand side of the page to filter your results by date, full text online, peer reviewed, etc.
An example search in the Library Collection:
Remember: Don't forget to refine your search as you continue to read and discover new and more relevant keywords. Your first search will not be your last.
- How to plan your search - PDF (276 KB)This resource explains how to combine and connect search terms using OR, AND, NOT.
4. Note-taking
Once you have found suitable references for your assignment, you can start reading and taking notes. There are different reading strategies you may apply at different stages of the essay writing process. For instance, you might skim a source first to identify if it is relevant, scan the source to understand its structure, and then critically read specific sections which are relevant to the assignment task. While reading your sources, it is also important that you take meaningful notes which can help you think about your argument and paraphrase more effectively.
The following resources on the Study Help Homepage can help you with your note-taking skills:
- Study Help: Note-takingWith videos, examples of note-taking styles, and embedded examples, the Study Help page has great resources to help you understand and get going with systematic note-taking.
5. Report writing
- Special considerations for reports - video (4 min 17 sec)Watch this video to learn the specifics of report-writing.
From Business Writing Principles (Judy Steiner-Williams, 2022).
Note: You must be logged in to access LinkedIn Learning resources. - Tips for better business writing - video (28 min)Watch this LinkedIn Learning course to learn tips to improve the quality and impact of your writing. This course has time stamps, so jump to the section you'd like to learn about.
- Report writing: Study Help HubResources and tips for report writing.
6. Executive summary
Your report must include an executive summary.
An executive summary:
-
is a complete and concise overview of the whole report.
-
appears at the start of the report. However, it should be written last, once the report has been finished.
-
needs to be concise, providing all of the information needed for the reader to make a decision.
Watch the below video (3 min 10 sec) for tips on how to write an executive summary.
More help:
LinkedIn Learning: Writing the executive summary - video (2 min 49 sec)
7. Referencing support
- Referencing websiteResources on different referencing styles. Find examples of in-text citations and references for diverse formats including articles, books and book chapters, websites and more.
Note: Always check your Course Outline or LearnOnline site for the referencing style required for your course.
Managing your references
What do you do with all those references you have found? Use a bibliographic management software to store, organise and cite your references.
There are many free systems available. The Library supports the bibliographic management tool EndNote. For more information see the EndNote guide.