Assignment

TOPIC: Critical analysis of a project business case

Words count: 2000 approximately

(My preference is a government low income housing project to eradicate povery in south Africa)

Word length

Assignment 1 should be 2000 words approximately, exclusive of tables, figures, appendices, etc.

Assignment 1 is a major project-based essay and requires students to obtain sufficient information on a project of their choice to carry out a critical analysis of nominated aspects of that project. The same project can be used for both assignments.

Assignment guidelines for assignments

General

1. Assignment is designed to encourage you to develop skills in research, critical analysis, problem solving, decision-making, communication and ethical behaviour. They require you to select a project of your choice (so your studies are contextualized for your needs) and to analyse aspects of that project in a clinical and objective manner. They require you to find relevant and to compare theory with practice. This is not simple or easy but reflects what is expected of you in the real world of practice.

2. Assignment is an essay.

At postgraduate level, you are expected to cite at least 10 to 15 different sources of reference material, and to make multiple references to such material.

References must be cited using Harvard AGPS system (which is author/date). Please do not use footnotes, etc.

3. In the Harvard AGPS references must be listed alphabetically by author in a single List of References at the end of each assignment. Do not put multiple lists of references at the end of each section or part.

4. Introduction

• An Introduction should be provided at the beginning to summarise the structure of the following sections of the essay/report/assignment.

• The introduction does not contain theory, nor does it contain any conclusions nor recommendations.

5. Body of assignment

• This is an academic assignment, so it is essential that your statements and views be justified by relevant academic theory. For example, don't just use terms like ‘stakeholder' - explain why you selected those terms, and the academic theory to justify their use and definition.

• A major failing of students is to simply ‘describe' the processes that have happened at postgraduate level, you are expected to be able to apply recognised theory to situations, and form opinions. You will often find conflicting opinions from so-called ‘experts'. You should be developing analytical and communication skills.

• You are expected to use your judgement to analyse problems, make value judgements as to whether it is good or bad (or both), use existing academic theory from a range of sources to justify your position, and to argue whether something is valid or not. In the study of management, there are no right nor wrong answers, only lots of opinions, many of which change over a period of time. Show that you can act as managers, and communicate your opinions.

Figures and tables

• There are many instances where diagrams and tables would assist in the communication of information, and the reduction of word length. For example, if a stakeholder analysis were required, it would be much more clearly understood if presented in a table.

• Figures and tables must be numbered in some logical way, so they can be listed on the Contents page, and referred to in the text. A recommendation is that you call it Figure/Table X.1, X.2 etc. where ‘X' represents the section number. Consecutive numbering through the whole document (rather than by section) can mean lots of renumbering if there are changes.

• Tables should not run over onto following pages. Start them on a new page to avoid this. If they are multi-page tables, then think about making them into an appendix. Use a smaller font (10 point) and single line spacing to reduce the size of tables.
Appendices

• Where required, larger amounts of relevant material (such as sample documents or supporting material) should be put at the end of the assignment in an Appendix after the List of References. Smaller charts or summaries could be located in the text, but anything over a page becomes a distraction.

• Where included, appendices should be numbered sequentially (Appendix 1, Appendix 2, etc.). Unnecessary and irrelevant information should not be attached. Size of assignments has no bearing on marks achieved.