APS WORKSHOP-UNDERSTANDING ASSESSMENT and INTRODUCTION TO THE LITERATURE REVIEW

APS

WORKSHOP 1

UNDERSTANDING ASSESSMENT and INTRODUCTION TO THE LITERATURE REVIEW

This Week’s Reminders

Complete the Library Quiz and Plagiarism Quiz
Have you borrowed/bought a module textbook?

Review of post session work:

What was your experience of drawing up a SWOT/Personal Development Plan?
What did you learn in the process?

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session students should be able to:

Discuss the role of assessment and recognise what gets good marks.
Appreciate what degree classifications mean.
Understand how to start the Literature Review.
Recognise the value of self-assessment.
Review and reflect upon their own skills in preparing for assessment.

Why do we have assessment?

Activity: In pairs, write down 3 purposes for assessment.

Large group feedback:

Assessment can either be formative or summative.

Formative Assessment can take place at any time during your course and its purpose is to provide you with feedback about how well you are progressing in your studies and to provide you with guidance as to topics that you may need to focus on before the summative assessment takes place.

Summative Assessment occurs at the end of a module or a course and this assessment will result in the final mark awarded for your work. It is important to seek formative assessment / feedback if you need help to ensure that your work is of the appropriate standard.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO ASK FOR FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT IF YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS ABOUT YOUR ABILITY TO ACHIEVE THE NECESSARY ASSESSMENT CRITERA FOR ANY OF YOUR MODULES.

What do degree classifications mean?

First class (1^st ) marks 70+
Second class (division 1) or more commonly known as 2.1 marks 60-69
Second class (division 2) or more commonly known as 2.2 marks 50-59
Third class (3^rd) marks 40-49

Activity: Whole group discussion – what do we need to do to get the grades we want?

For a detailed summary of how assessment is dealt with at the Business School please refer to the Course Handbook given to you during Welcome Week.

What Gets Good Marks?

The lowest marks are awarded for work which:

Has a weak structure
Shows little research, thought or reflection
Is mostly descriptive, with little analysis or argument
Considers only one point of view
Contains poor grammar and spelling
Contains weak referencing, incorrect use of Harvard referencing convention.

Better Marks are awarded for work which:

Shows some understanding of the underlying issues
Meets the set criteria
Answers the question that was put
Develops an argument or a point of view
Draws conclusions
Shows the relationship between different issues or concepts within the subject area
Reveals some thought and reflection
Organises information into a structure
Gives evidence and examples to support arguments and main points
Contains correct use of grammar and spelling.
Contains work correctly referenced using Harvard convention.

Highest Marks are awarded for work, which includes all the features necessary for ‘better marks’ and in addition:

Reveals a good understanding of why the topic is significant, including underlying issues and concerns, and where and why there is controversy
Reveals understanding of how the topic relates to broader issues beyond the subject area.

Completing Your Literature Review.

Assignment Part 1 asks you to complete a ‘Literature Review’, in which you introduce and critically review Business Ethics

A literature review is an evaluative survey of information found in scholarly books, journal articles and other sources relevant to your selected area of study gathered through a literature search. The review should be presented as a critical review – the critical element meaning that you can demonstrate to the reader that you have reviewed the current literature with insight into its potential meanings.

Identifying suitable content for your Literature Review assignment

There are many aspects to the study of Business Ethics. In order that your Literature Review has a clear focus you need to identify some aspect of business ethics that interests you and then critically review the literature, which relates to it.

You may wish to choose your own topic for the Literature Review assignment or consider one of the following aspects of Business Ethics for your Literature Review:

Professional ethics and behaviour in the Accountancy profession
Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate Governance
Tax Evasion and/or Tax Avoidance

Last year’s assignments included the following topics:

Climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions
The ‘Gig’ economy
Animal testing in the cosmetics industry
Fast foods and impact on public health
Impact of water pollution
Child labour
Gender discrimination in the workplace
National Minimum Wage

Activity:

Working in small groups, discuss what we mean when we talk about ‘literature’

What different types of literature can you identify?

Whole group feedback discussion.

N.B. When you read for your literature review, make sure that you note down all the details that you will need for your references i.e. author, year, title, edition, place of publication and publisher.

Page numbers should also be noted so that you can cite them in the text of your Literature Review; they also enable you to find the quote again. We will show you how to do this (reference) in a later Workshop.

For academic journals we suggest you use either the hard copy journals in the Aldrich library collection, or an online database such as Emerald or Business Source Premier, which are available through the Online Library on Student Central or Google Scholar, which can be accessed directly through the Internet.

You may wish to use material from websites but remember that Wikipedia is not regarded as a reliable source and should not be used for referencing any academic work.

Self-Assessment

As part of your module assignment you will be asked to self-assess your work. The most widely used definition of self-assessment has been provided by Boud (1986, p.1),

“Self-Assessment involves students taking responsibility for monitoring and making judgements about aspects of their own learning”.

The purposes of self-assessment can be seen to include:

As a developmental experience for you, the student. In this respect, it is intended that you should learn to be reflective, self-critical, constructive, and to learn from the experience in order to inform future practice.
To engage you more fully in the assessment process rather than being a passive recipient of it. Seeing you as ‘active partners’ in the assessment processes.
To encourage a climate of self-criticism in which you might perhaps be more open to, and also less reliant upon, the feedback you receive from your tutors.
To help you the student develop realistic expectations about your work, and thus to help avoid surprise and/or disappointment with final marks, grades or comments.
To expose you to a process that may be useful in your future professional careers (perhaps as part of your continuing professional development and/or 360 degree appraisal).

Activity:

Individually, review the Self-Assessment Sheet attached, which you will use to self-assess your Literature Review, before handing it in.

Whole group feedback discussion – any questions?

In order to help us assess your work in this module we use ‘Assessment Criteria Grids’ – a copy is in your Academic and Professional Skills Handbook as well as on Student Central.

N.B. Ensure that you include a completed copy of the Literature Review Self-Assessment Sheet when submitting your Literature Review.

The voice of experience…..

A final year student told us that he printed off a supply of the self-assessment sheets in year one and then used them for all his reports in all his modules; by doing this he achieved higher marks overall. You might want to consider doing the same.

Relevance of this workshop to your other modules

Think about your other modules and what you might need to do to get good marks in the assessments, which have been set.
Many of your other modules will also require you to read literature, so follow the guidance given to support this activity.
Do not forget to try and use self-assessment sheets for all your modules.

Post Session Work

Book your place on the Team Skills Development day

Look at the example literature reviews posted on student central in the study materials area for ML150 for further guidance

Start reading for your Literature Review, make notes of your reading

Bring two journal articles on your chosen Literature Review topic to the next session

Further Reading

Allan, B. (2009) Study Skills for Business and Management Students Maidenhead: Open University Press

Cameron, S. (2010) The Business Student’s Handbook, 5^th Ed, Harlow, Pearson Education Limited

Smale, B. and Fowlie, J. (2015) How to Succeed at University: An Essential Guide to Academic Skills, Personal Development and Employability 2^nd. Ed. London: Sage Publications Ltd

ASK material on Student Central.

Literature Review support material on Student Central. Follow links:

My Studies>My School: Brighton Business School>Student Resources>A Literature Review Primer

Additional reading:

Cottrell, S. (2003), The Study Skills Handbook, 2^nd Ed. Basingstoke: Macmillan

Oliver, P. (2012), Succeeding with your Literature Review: A Handbook for Students Maidenhead: OUP

Ridley, D. (2009), The Literature Review: A Step-by-Step Guide for Students London: Sage Publications Ltd

Seeley, J. (2002), Report Writing, Buckingham: OUP

Bibliography

Boud, D. (1986) Implementing Student Self-Assessment, Sydney: Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australia, Green Guide No 5.

SELF ASSESSMENT SHEET (for use with Literature Review)

Student: ……………………………… Module: ML150

Course: ………………………….…… Workshop Leader: …………………….

Seminar Group: …………………….. Assignment Task: Literature Review

CHECKLIST

*HAVE YOU………….*	ü
General:

Followed the assignment brief in completing your work?
Completed the task that was set?

Construction:

Given your work a title and created a title page?
Created a contents page showing page numbers on the right hand side?
Written a well-developed introduction?
Used sub-headings to group your ideas thematically within the main body of your report?
Written a well-developed summary conclusion and remembered not to introduce new material in it?
Given attention to the visual presentation including fonts, font sizes, spacing and layout?


Intellectual argument:

Introduced the concept of Business Ethics?
Avoided normative statements that do not offer any evidence and supported positive statements with examples drawn from your experience or evidence from your reading?
Provided clear and logical arguments?
Structured your arguments so as to reach your conclusion?

Source Material:

Used a minimum of six references to source material in order to support your commentary?
Used the Harvard system of source referencing, inserting author surname (or corporate author if using web pages), year AND page number only if making a direct quote) in your text and submitting a full reference in your References section?
Ensured that all citations in your text can be traced directly to your references?

Submission:

Put your name and student number on your work and included all that was asked for?
Submitted your work within the deadline set?
Deposited an electronic copy of your work in the Assignment Area of Student Central?

Your Comments on Your Work

What were your strengths in completing the Literature Review and what areas for development did you identify?

Your Self–Assessed Grade

What degree classification do you think that literature review deserves?…………………..

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