1. Assessment Criteria
The coursework will be marked on the overall outcome including: structure, quality of reasoning, quality of written English, data analysis, referencing, style, layout, presentation and overall coherence.
In marking the coursework attention will be focused on:
• how well students have met the relevant learning objectives: students will be assessed on their understanding of the main macroeconomic indicators of a country.
However, more specifically, classification will be affected by:
• Paying close attention to the question set without 'padding' or deviating from the question
• An accurate and clear understanding of the main arguments and issues
• Showing evidence of wider reading
• A clear exposition and a good standard of written English
2. Layout and Presentation Guidelines
- Line spacing: 1.5 lines
- Font size: 11 or 12
- The cover page includes the following information: title of assignment, your name, module title, word count, lecturer' s name and submission date
- Your main text should be divided into sections to help reader. The basic structure of a typical paper is: 1) introduction, which includes an overview and summaries; 2) specification of the model/issue; 3) presentation of results and discussion; and 4) conclusion.
- Number the pages
- Submit it in the paper form to the Registry by Monday 12 November 2012and online on Blackboard. No late submission will be accepted.
3. Mankiw's Economics Writing Guideline for the Paper
- Stay focused. Remember the take-away points you want the reader to remember. If some material is irrelevant to these points, it should probably be cut.
- Keep sentences short. Short words are better than long words. Monosyllabic words are best.
- The passive voice is avoided by good writers.
- Positive statements are more persuasive than normative statements.
- Use adverbs sparingly.
- Avoid jargon. Any word you do not read regularly in a newspaper is suspect.
- Never make up your own acronyms.
- Avoid unnecessary words. For instance, in most cases, change "in order to" to "to", "whether or not" to "whether", "is equal to" to "equals"
- Avoid "of course, "clearly," and "obviously." Clearly, if something is obvious, that fact will, of course, be obvious to the reader.
- The word "very" is very often very unnecessary.
- Keep your writing self-contained. Frequent references to other works, or to things that have come before or will come later, can be distracting.
- Put details and digressions in footnotes.