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Assignments: a guide for present students
This webpage is based on the Student Handbook section 10.
To download the Student Handbook as a pdf file (584KB) click on this link.
To download section 10 of the Handbook as a pdf file (131KB) click here.
To download section 10 of the Handbook as a 5 page MS Word document click here.10. Essay Presentation & Assessment
- 10.1 Guidelines for Written Work
- 10.2 References (footnotes)
10.1 Guidelines for Written Work
A major part of the assessment of students at GSC takes place by means of written assignments. The following notes are intended to help students present their work as well as possible.Planning and Writing
A written assignment is expected to show evidence of planning and organisation. This involves careful reading around the topic, making an outline before writing, and redrafting the essay several times. Care should be taken to understand the question or topic fully before writing.An essay is a unity of many parts.
It has a title, which is typed on the top of the first page, and which should correspond both to the contents of the essay and to the topic set. An introduction informs the reader clearly about the intent of the essay and provides a stimulus to continue reading. Section headings, if used, should be prompted by the outline and show the general drift of the argument which is discussed in the body of the essay. A conclusion summarises the findings and will sometimes need to justify what has gone on in the essay in relation to the original intention.
The quality of language is important. This involves careful choice of words, accurate grammar, syntax and punctuation. Books are available which help in each of these areas. (For example, Clanchy, John and Ballard, Brigid Essay Writing for Students Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1991). Often reading the next to final draft aloud will pinpoint awkwardness of expression, unclear formulation, typing mistakes, and even incorrect punctuation. Language that would reasonably be considered to give offence to members of the community because of the way in which it implies or refers to gender is not acceptable.
Presentation
Students are to hand in to the Office two copies of each assignment, under a Good Shepherd College cover sheet (cf 9.4). These will be dated by the Office when they are handed in. After being marked, one copy is returned to the student through the Office. The marked assignments will be returned to the students as soon as possible and not later than 2 weeks after the due date.Assignments at GSC are presented on A4 paper with at least a 3cm left margin and a small right margin. Clearly legible handwriting, penned on alternate lines is accepted, but typing is preferred.
Short quotations are placed between inverted commas, but longer quotations of more than three lines or of more than one sentence are typed single space without quotation marks, and the whole paragraph is indented four spaces. Quotations, however, should be kept to a minimum. Foreign words and the titles of books are underlined or italicised. Pages are numbered.
Either footnotes or endnotes are acceptable. These are used for referencing and for providing the original language text of a quotation translated by the writer. Less frequently they are used for further argument that would not sit easily in the text. As far as possible, footnote or endnote numbers in the text should occur at the end of sentences after the stop to avoid distracting the reader in mid-sentence. Scripture references are included within brackets in the text.
Assignments are stapled to a GSC coversheet without any other cover or folder and 2 copies delivered to the Office. They must adhere to the word count set by the teacher, although footnotes and bibliography are not included in that count. A variance of up to 10% is acceptable. Other regulations are found in the Academic Regulations under "Assessment" 7.1.
Integrity
Integrity in the presentation of assessment tasks demands that students present work that is properly their own. This need not exclude collaborative learning. Work, however, that is substantially that of someone other than the student lacks the integrity expected of a student.Plagiarism consists in the intentional or unintentional use of somebody else's words or ideas without proper acknowledgement. In our society and its academic establishments plagiarism is absolutely prohibited. Plagiarism is easily avoided by means of suitable methods of documentation which are discussed below.
Student assignments are usually heavily dependent on other sources, and often a student's major achievement will be associated with the discovery and restatement of somebody else's ideas. All written assignments must acknowledge these sources. Major essays demand more detailed documentation.
Documentation
Documentation has three purposes: acknowledgement of sources so as to avoid plagiarism; nomination of authorities in support of an argument; assistance to the reader in finding the original sources quickly and easily. It takes two forms. References, which occur in footnotes or endnotes, give detailed information about specific parts of the text. A Bibliography lists the major works that are relevant to the essay and to its subject matter and that have been consulted in preparing the essay. The teacher will indicate whether a bibliography is required and what particular features should be included.10.2 References
The purpose of giving references is to enable the reader to find the precise text quickly and easily. In references, p., vol., etc., are used only when their omission would cause confusion.The following examples indicate GSC policy.
A = First Reference to a Work
B = Subsequent references
Books
A.
Walter Kasper, Theology and Church (New York: Crossroad, 1989), 129.
B.
Kasper, Theology and Church, 75.
A.
Eugene Kennedy and Sara C. Charles, On Becoming a Counselor, new ed. (New York: Continuum, 1991), 73.
B.
Kennedy & Charles, On Becoming a Counselor, 76.
A.
Edmund Husserl, Experience and Judgement, trans. James S. Churchill and Karl Ameriks (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1973), 106.
B.
Husserl, Experience and Judgement, 48.
A.
Matthew Black, A New Century Bible Commentary: Romans, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973), 11.
B.
Black, Romans, 52.
A.
Julia Annas, "Aristotle on Pleasure and Goodness", in Essays on Aristotle's Ethics, ed. Amelie Oksenberg Rorty (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980), 289.
B.
Annas, "Aristotle on Pleasure and Goodness", 53.
A.
Meister Eckhardt, Sermons and Treatises, trans. and ed. M. O'C. Walshe (London: Watkins, 1981), 2:141.
B.
Eckhardt, Sermons and Treatises, 3:69.
A.
Karl Rahner, Theological Investigations, vol. 15, Penance in the Early Church, trans. Lionel Swain (New York: Crossroad, 1982), 153.
B.
Rahner, Theological Investigations 15, 72Journal Articles
A.
Stanley Rosen, "Squaring the Hermeneutic Circle", Review of Metaphysics 44 (June 1991): 709.
B.
Rosen, "Squaring the Hermeneutic Circle", 600.
A.
Patrick M. Kelly, "Sport in Human Development", Human Development 13, no. 3 (Fall 1992): 31.
B.
Kelly, "Sport in Human Development", 601.Encyclopædia and Dictionary Articles
A.
New Catholic Encyclopædia, s.v. "Eucharist (as Sacrament)", by W.F. Dewan.
B.
New Catholic Encyclopædia, 604, s.v. "Eucharist (as Sacrament)"
A.
Dagobert D. Runes, ed., Dictionary of Philosophy (Ottawa: Littlefield, Adams & Co., 1962), s.v. "Form".
B.
Dictionary of Philosophy, s.v. "Form".Electronic Material
A.
Kevin Hughes, "From Webspace to Cyberspace", 1995, http://www.eit.com. Accessed 23 May 1998.
B.
http://www.eit/com.Ancient and Medieval Works
A.
Aristotle, Metaphysics IX, 7 (1049a25), in The Basic Works of Aristotle, ed. Richard McKeon (New York: Random House, 1941), 828.
B.
Aristotle, Metaphysics, 858.Church Documents
References to Church documents which have a Latin title should use the Latin title. Paragraph numbers rather than page numbers are used.
A.
Lumen Gentium 11, in The Documents of Vatican II, ed. Walter M. Abbott (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1966), 28.
B.
Lumen Gentium, 11.Bibliography
A bibliography is a list of whole works, and this is reflected in punctuation and word order. Authors' surnames appear first and are arranged alphabetically. Articles are given their full page range.Standard reference works, bibles, dictionaries and general encyclopaedias are not usually listed in a bibliography unless of special significance to the essay.
The references listed above would occur in the following way in a bibliography.
Abbott, Walter M., ed. The Documents of Vatican II. London:
Geoffrey Chapman, 1966.Annas, Julia. "Aristotle on Pleasure and Goodness". In Essays on Aristotle's Ethics, edited by Amelie Oksenberg Rorty, 285-299. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980.
Aristotle. Metaphysics. In The Basic Works of Aristotle, edited by Richard McKeon. New York: Random House, 1941.
Black, Matthew. The New Century Bible Commentary. Romans. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973.
Eckhardt, Meister. Sermons and Treatises. 2 vols, translated and edited by M. O'C.Walshe. London: Watkins, 1981.
Husserl, Edmund. Experience and Judgement. Translated by James S. Churchill and Karl Ameriks. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1973.
Kasper, Walter. Theology and Church. New York: Crossroad, 1989.
Kelly, Patrick M. "Sport in Human Development". Human Development 13, (Fall 1992): 30-33.
Kennedy, Eugene and Sara C. Charles. On Becoming a Counselor. New ed. New York: Continuum, 1991.
Rahner, Karl. Theological Investigations. Vol. 15, Penance in the Early Church. Translated by Lionel Swain. New York: Crossroad, 1982.
Rosen, Stanley. "Squaring the Hermeneutic Circle". Review of Metaphysics 44 (June 1991): 707 - 728.
Scripture Abbreviations
Gen Ex Lev Num Deut Josh Jgs Rth 1Sam 2Sam 1Kgs 2Kgs 1Chr 2Chr Ezr Neh Tob Jdt Esth 1Mac 2Mac Job Ps(s) Prov Qoh Song Wis Sir Is Jer Lam Bar Ez Dan Hos Joel Amos Obad Jon Mic Nah Hab Zaph Hag Zech MalMt Mk Lk Jn Acts Rom 1Cor 2Cor Gal Eph Phil Col 1Th 2Th 1Tim 2Tim Tit Philm Heb Jas Pet 2Pet 1Jn 2Jn 3Jn Jude Rev
Scripture References - Examples
Gen 49:8 1Sam 22:13 Mk 5:1-20, 35-43, 6:1-6 Rom9:1-10:12Do not use f. or ff., but include all of the verse numbers. Scripture references can usually be included in brackets within the text.
Acceptable Abbreviations
Anon.
ca.
cf.
ch.(s)
ed.
e.g.
et al.
ff.
ibid.
i.e.
intro.
MS MSS
n.
n.d.
n.n.
no(s)
p. pp.
passim
q.v.
rev.
(sic)
s.v.
trans.
viz.
vol(s)
Anonymous
about, approx (dates)
compare
chapter(s)
editor, edition, edited by
for example
and others (persons and things)
and the following page(s)
in the same place (refers to the previous note)
that is
introduction, introduced
Manuscript(s)
note
no date
no number
number(s)
page(s)
throughout the work mentioned
which see ("and look this up too")
review, reviewed by, reviewed in, revised, revised by
thus (used to indicate that the text is quoted exactly despite appearances, e.g. with wrong spellings)
under the word (for encyclopedia articles)
trans. translation, translated by
namely
volume(s)
