LIBRARY AND LEARNING COMMONS

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 Learning Skills Advisors Subject Librarians
Charmaine Botha Sibusisiwe Mgquba
Focus: Focus
Health Sciences, Social Sciences, Health Sciences, Social Sciences,
PGD & HDR PGD & HDR
Tel: 011 950 4455 Tel. 011 950 4150
charmaine.botha@monash.edu Sibusisiwe.mgquba@monash.edu
John Small Linda Mbonambi
Focus Focus
Bus Eco, IT, HDR, PGD & FP Bus Eco, IT, HDR, PGD & FP
Tel: 011 950 4248 Tel: 011 950 4032
John.small@monash.edu Linda.mbonambi@monash.edu

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 What do we want to achieve with
an academic assignment?

RSD facets of research

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 Assignment
Essay (expository)
Word count: 1500
Due date: 13 May

Instructions:
1. Choose a line from this song to be your assignment topic. Most of the lines refer to one of two things:
A historic event
A historic figure (ie. a person)
If you're not sure which event/person each line of the song refers to, you may find it helpful to read the
"We Didn't Start The Fire" lyrics page on Genius.com (a website that explains the meaning of song lyrics).
-
2. Write an essay in which you do the following:
Briefly describe the historical context for the event/person
Describe the event/person
Analyse the impact of the event/person on one of eight key themes (See Instruction #3)
-
3. Important: whichever line you choose, it must relate to one of the following key themes:
American foreign policy
The Cold War in Europe
Soviet foreign policy
The Cold War in Asia
Decolonisation and the collapse of European empires
China's tumultuous rise as a great power
Conflict in the Middle-East
The rise of political Islam
Note: Some of song lines could be linked to multiple themes! For example, the line "Trouble in the Suez" could be plausibly
linked to at least four themes: American foreign policy, Soviet foreign policy, decolonisation, or conflict in the Middle-East. If
this is the case, you should choose which of the themes you wish to focus on.
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 Additional Instructions
Requirements:
Your assignment structure should include the following:
An introduction, which should state the song line you've chosen, the event it refers to,
and the broader theme you've chosen to link it to ( 150 words)
A brief explanation of the historical context in which the event occurred, or the person
lived ( 400 words)
A description of what the event was, or what the person did ( 400 words)
An analysis of the event's (or person's) effect on your chosen theme ( 400 words)
A short conclusion that sums up your findings ( 150 words)

Your lecturer has provided two examples of possible assignment structures

You need to use correct referencing techniques, and support all of your claims using
high-quality sources. Do not use your textbook, lecture notes, or online encyclopedias
such as Wikipedia. To find sources, go to the "Interesting & Useful Stuff" section on
the AZA1325 Moodle page, and find "Academic Search Engines". If you need help with
referencing, consult the Monash Harvard style referencing guide or the Chicago style
referencing guide.

Use the standard assignment template that is provided on the AZA1325 Moodle page.
Keep the formatting intact, but replace the content with your own content.
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 Additional instructions

Required Elements
Make sure to include the following elements in your essay:
An essay title
Your name and student number in heading on the first page
A tablet of contents
Divide your essay into numbered sections in order to give your work a clear structure
All sources should be referenced in the text
There should be a word count on the final content page
The reference list should contain all the sources that are directly referenced in the text
(but no other sources!)
Formatting Requirements:
You are required to use the following formatting options
Typeface: Times New Roman, Arial, Cambria, or Calibri
Type size: 11 or 12 point
Line spacing: 1.5 spaced
Page margins: 2.54 cm
Do not include decorative elements such as clipart, borders, or watermarks -
your writing should stand on its own.
Note: If you start off by using the standard assignment template that is provided on the Moodle
page, these formatting options will already be correctly set
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Rubric: Letter to the Editor

What is a marking rubric?

Below
None Poor Average Good Excellent
Average

Introduction: Does the assignment have a clear introduction that previews 0 1 2 3 4 5

marks mark marks marks marks marks
the structure to follow?

Historical Background: Does the assignment provide an accurate and 0 3 6 9 12 15

marks marks marks marks marks marks
relevant historical context for the topic?

Description: Does the assignment provide a detailed, historically accurate 0 3 6 9 12 15

marks marks marks marks marks marks
description of the main topic?
Analysis: Does the assignment provide a well-argued analysis in terms of 0 4 8 12 16 20
marks marks marks marks marks marks
the key themes?
Conclusion: Does the assignment provide a thoughtful and concise 0 1 2 3 4 5
marks mark marks marks marks marks
conclusion?
0 2 4 6 8 10
Writing: Does the assignment convey its ideas clearly to the reader? marks marks marks marks marks marks

Formatting: Does the assignment follow the specified formatting 0 1 2 3 4 5

marks mark marks marks marks marks
requirements?
Research: Does the assignment make use of good variety of high-quality 0 2 4 6 8 10
marks marks marks marks marks marks
sources?
0 2 4 6 8 10
In-Text Referencing: Are all factual claims and quotes clearly referenced? marks marks marks marks marks marks

Reference List: Does the assignment have a correctly formatted reference 0 1 2 3 4 5

marks mark marks marks marks marks
list?

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 Analysing your question

Begin by identifying the key concepts e.g.

the topic/content areas
Identify the directive words e.g. analyse,
discuss, etc.
Note any limitations e.g. scope, time
period, field of study, area
Format of the assignment (essay, report,
review, poster, annotated bib etc)

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 Directive words

COMPARE Identify characteristics or qualities that resemble each other. Emphasise similarities and also
mention differences where appropriate.
CONTRAST Stress the dissimilarities and differences between concepts, ideas, qualities, events, problems,
other writers findings, things, events, or theories
DISCUSS Examine, analyse carefully, and give reasons for and against. Be complete and give details,
usually with a view to assessing how satisfactory something is. You may write about an issue
from two or more viewpoints and give balanced support and examples for each viewpoint.
Then make a judgement about how satisfactory each viewpoint is based on the evidence you
gave. Be sure to cover all aspects why, how, when, where, who etc
DESCRIBE Recount, characterise, outline, and relate in sequence. Write about the features of something
in a logical manner. Do not give your opinion or explain why it is the way it is.
EXPLAIN Clarify, interpret, and elaborate on the material presented. Give reasons for differences of
opinion or results, and try to analyse causes. You need to explore a variety of reasons for
something. Make sure you give enough detail to clarify, to interpret or to analyse causes as
relevant.
STATE (LIST) Present the main points in a brief and clear sequence, usually omitting details or examples,
without explanation.
CRITICALLY Often, rather than asking you to criticise, assignments add critically to another direction
word: critically analyse, critically examine, etc. This means analysing, examining etc. in a

questioning way: How does this work? Why is it like this? What are its strengths and
weaknesses?

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 Key concepts
Limitations
Directive words Unpacking the assignment brief
Format

1. Choose a line from this song to be your assignment topic. Most of the lines refer to one of two things:
A historic event
A historic figure (ie. a person)
If you're not sure which event/person each line of the song refers to, you may find it helpful to read the
"We Didn't Start The Fire" lyrics page on Genius.com (a website that explains the meaning of song
lyrics).

2. Write an essay in which you do the following:

Briefly describe the historical context for the event/person
Describe the event/person
Analyse the impact of the event/person on one of eight key themes (See Instruction #3)

3. Important: whichever line you choose, it must relate to one of the following key themes:
American foreign policy
The Cold War in Europe
Soviet foreign policy
The Cold War in Asia
Decolonisation and the collapse of European empires
China's tumultuous rise as a great power
Conflict in the Middle-East
The rise of political Islam

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 Planning your essay
Example #1
Song line: "Belgians in the Congo"
Refers to: Independence of the Congo in 1960
Possible theme: "Decolonisation and the collapse of
European empires"
Possible structure:
Introduction
Belgian colonisation of the Congo [ie. historical background]
Independence of the Congo in 1960 [ie. discussion of the event]
Was the Congo a successful example of decolonisation? [ie.
analysis in terms of chosen theme]
Conclusion

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 Planning your essay
Example #2
Song line: "Moonshot"
Refers to: The Apollo moon landings of 1969
Possible theme: "American foreign policy"
Possible structure:
Introduction
The space race between the USSR and USA [ie. historical
background]
The Apollo programme [ie. discussion of the event]
How did the Apollo programme influence the USA's standing in
the Cold War? [ie. analysis in terms of chosen theme]
Conclusion

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 Find Witnesses
Once you have identified the content area you will
need to examine, you will need to consider what kinds
of resources are required (books, journals, websites,
statistics, etc.) and set about acquiring them.
Look at your reading list, use the reference lists of
these books and journals, and identify what will be
required.
Remember you will need to evaluate the worth of
these resources, so read critically.
Decide what kind of supporting information will be
necessary, and set about organising your resources to
achieve your goal. Often books are good for big
picture information, while journals are often good for
supporting details.
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 Library resources
Resource Name Keywords Results Comments
SEARCH
Library Catalogue Main key concept (e.g.) Physical Book(s) in SA libarary SA has limited books in this area at least
one or two versus large number of students
Physical Books (lecturer needs to reserve)
Electronic Books
E-Books (EBL) Do a secondary search within the book of your Everyone can use the same e-book at
sub-key concept the same time

DATA BASES Keywords Results Comments

(S) > Main key concept(e.g.)
Africa and South African research Articles relevant to
SA e Publications and publications SA and Africa
(E) Journal articles / Books/ available
Expanded Academic Theses/ Web pages

(G) > Main key concept (e.g.) Examples of relevant articles in Large number of articles
Global Issues in Context journals and other resources as well available international
(P) > (these are interdisciplinary
Proquest databases)
(G) >
Google Scholar (Monash)

Main key concept (e.g.)

WEBSITEs
See Library Guide

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 The essay/letter structure
Can be seen as a diamond with the introduction and conclusion at the top and bottom and the
body paragraphs fitting into the middle of the diamond in a series of smaller diamond shapes.

Connect to
next paragraph
and main idea

Your
own
voice

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 Body paragraphs
Paragraph element Purpose

1. Topic This sentence starts by referring to the thesis/your argument. It

Sentence continues to include the main point of this paragraph (your voice)

2. Additional This explains further the point made in the topic sentence. (your voice)
Information

3. Evidence These are essential to justify your point. Your evidence comes from
sentences your research and may include examples, data, quotes, statistics,
graphics and illustrations. All supporting evidence must be from
authoritative sources and cited in your essay. (quote or paraphrase
reference /witness voice)

4. Concluding Again, this sentence links the main thesis of the essay with the main
sentence point of the paragraph. (your voice) and links to the next paragraph

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1

Compare the changes in these sentences from informal to academic style.
Informal writing
When I look at the situation in
emergency wards, with many staff
leaving, it's hard not to worry
about how many doctors will be
available to treat patients in the
future.
It's so obvious that people were
given jobs just because they were
male or female. I don't think that is
an acceptable approach and is even
against the law.
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ACADEMIC WRITING
Academic writing
If we consider the situation in
emergency wards, with increasingly
low staff retention rates, there are
concerns about the capacity of
hospitals to maintain adequate
doctor to patient ratios.
It appears that in a number of
instances jobs were assigned on the
basis of gender. Given the current
anti-discrimination laws, this raises
serious concerns.
1
 MORE TIPS
Objective writing: In general, academic writing aims to be objective in its
expression of ideas. Therefore specific reference to personal opinions, or to
yourself as the performer of actions, is usually avoided. .
Expressing opinions
Personal 'Objective'
In my opinion It has been argued that
I believe that Some writers claim
In my view Clearly,
It is clear that
There is little doubt that
Avoiding too much reference to yourself as agent in your writing
(Passive vs active voice)
Agent or performer No agent or performer

I undertook the study The study was undertaken

I propose to It is proposed to
In this essay I will examine This essay examines
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 What do you need to remember?
You will notice that, in general, in academic writing we:

minimise the use of the personal I in the text: avoid writing

'When I look; I don't think this is an acceptable approach
(avoid this by using passive voice E.g. This is not thought (considered)
to be an acceptable approach)
use formal verbs, and fewer verb phrases (verb + preposition),
use consider rather than look at
use impersonal expressions: there are, this raises
use more nouns than verbs: concerns, rather than to worry
avoid emotional expressions, such as it's so obvious ( it
appears is preferable); just because ( assigned on the basis of is
preferable)
aim for concise, often abstract expression, e.g. gender, rather
than male or female.

http://www.monash.edu/lls/llonline/writing/general/academic/index.xml
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1
 Acknowledging your resources:
Citing and referencing
NB NB NB : if you cite and reference correctly, you will not plagiarize
Ways to cite and reference:
1. MANUALLY (DO the library on-line tutorial 15minutes):
http://monash.edu/library/skills/resources/tutorials/citing/
USE the library guide:
http://guides.lib.monash.edu/citing-referencing
http://guides.lib.monash.edu/citing-referencingUsing MICRO-SOFT
WORD REFERENCING (but you still need to have the manual
referencing background knowledge)
2. Using ENDNOTE (but you still need to have the manual referencing
background knowledge)

Referencing resources:
Monash Library Website, Moodle and Libguides
https://www.monash.edu/library/skills/resources/tutorials
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 Referencing and Sources:
Please adhere to the following referencing guidelines:
Referencing style: Use Harvard style or Chicago style.
Quality: You must use a variety of sources, for example books,
academic journal articles, magazine articles, newspaper articles and
valid web sources. It is not acceptable for you to use your textbook or
lecture notes (although you can refer to these for help in getting started
with your research). Do not use Wikipedia,
Britannica.com, Answers.com, Essays.com, or similar sites.
Quantity: Use at least eight references. Ideally, you should try to use
more. Assignments that use more sources tend to have more
information and take into account more diverse points of view, and thus
tend to receive higher marks.
Plagiarism is considered a serious offence, and may lead to significant
mark deductions, failure of the module, or formal disciplinary action by
the university, depending

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 Additional resources on Referencing

Monash Share Drive

- Library > Charmaine Learning skills >

Referencing

Lib Guides
Moodle

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 ASK for HELP
For
assistance
with learning, writing or communicating
your findings,
contact
a learning skills advisor
in
the library

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