ZACU
Assignment Guidelines
|
Throughout
our educational careers, we are expected to write assignments. Institutions
and lecturers vary as to exact formatting, however most would agree on the
basics of written assignments. The standards for an assignment at ZACU are
these: 1)
Assignments
should be well organized. 2)
They
should be correctly written. 3)
They
should be correctly formatted. 4)
They
should be finished in a timely fashion. 5)
They
should be submitted via the official class email address. 1) Assignments should be well
organized. A good
assignment should be organized in such a way that the reader (i.e., the
lecturer) is presented with a reasonable and ordered argument or description
(depending on the assignment). Assignments with scattered thoughts which have
not been carefully organized will not be scored favorably. Before beginning
to write, create a simple outline to guide your writing. Think carefully
about the outline to be sure that it is well-ordered and includes the
significant ideas that you have in mind. 2) Assignments should be
correctly written. A good
assignment should be written in standard English with correct grammar and
punctuation. Avoid contractions, avoid slang, and try to avoid awkward
wordings. Good academic writing strives to be straight forward but
semi-formal. Write sentences clearly and use simply; avoid overly complex
syntax or flowery language. Be sure that you have followed the spirit of the
assignment. When in doubt, ask the lecturer to clarify. 3) Assignments should be
correctly formatted. A good
assignment should be well formatted. In general, ZACU classes expect students
to follow APA style. This style is common in education, business, and the
sciences. Follow typical academic guidelines for font, size, margins, etc. In
general, assignment should begin with the essential information (see below),
a section of text which fulfills the assignment, and a final page which shows
any references which have been consulted or cited. In the middle section, be
sure to follow typical academic guidelines for avoiding plagiarism and for
citations. For ZACU assignments, the following guidelines hold true: Type: 12 point, New Times Roman, 1-1/2 spacing Margins: 1” or 2.5cm on all sides (unless the
document is to be bound) Headings: Bold upper/lower case (not all upper case) Cover pages: If the assignment is a short, simple
assignment, a cover page is not necessary. If it is a longer, more
substantial paper (e.g., an end-of-term research paper), a cover page is
necessary. In either case, assignments should include the same basic
information at the beginning: o
University
name o
Assignment
number – Assignment description o
Student’s
name o
Course
code – Course name o
Lecturer’s
name o
Due
date (if given) o
Date
of submission (if different from due date). In the case
of a short assignment, this information can be included on the first page in
the upper left hand corner. An example appears below:
When
writing a longer paper, such as a student research paper, this same
information should appear on the cover page of the research paper. An example
appears below. Note that the cover page DOES NOT include a border.
Page
numbers: Each page should include a page number
centered at the bottom of the page. Running
header or footer: It is also helpful to have a running header
or footer which repeats the name of the assignment on every page. In longer
research papers, this is required according to the APA style manual. One can
find numerous guideline sites on the internet with additional information.
Purdue’s Writing Lab provides excellent guidance related to APA style. Easybib and other help sites and include pages describing
writing techniques, formatting, etc. Check them out for more information: o
Easybib Robin
Jeffrey also offers good advice regarding university-level writing in his
book: o
Jeffrey, Robin. About
Writing: A Guide. Portland
OR: Open Oregon Educational Resources,
n.d. (oer) 4) Assignments should be
finished in a timely fashion. Each
lecture is likely to have somewhat different tolerances for late submissions,
so follow the instructions of your lecturer. In general, submit assignments
according to due dates. If you cannot do so, be sure to notify the lecturer
and plead your case. If you have a justifiable reason for delay, the lecturer
is likely (although not obliged) to be lenient. 6) Assignments
should be submitted via the official class email address. Each ZACU
class has an official email address. This mechanism is efficient and helps to
protect both students and institution. By submitting assignments through the
official email address, the institution maintains a record of the
communication. In the event of a dispute over submission date or quality of
material, the institution will have an electronic record of the exchange and can
more easily resolve any potential incongruity. For ZACU
assignments and papers, use the following system for naming documents and for
email subject lines. The basic pattern for file names and for subject lines
is as follows: >
StudentSurnameFirstInitial–Course Code–AssignmentNumber–Summary–SubmissionDate >
Example: MuzokaP-zacu100-04-Plagiarism-20210229 Each ZACU
course has a unique course code (or number). It is shown at the top of the
course webpage. Some examples from Term #1: >
Introduction
to ZACU = zacu100 >
Learning
Skills = zacu101 >
Mathematics
= mata101 >
Introduction
to Business = busa101 >
Entrepreneurship
= busp101 >
Introduction
to ICT = icta110 Be sure to
use this system for both email subject line and file name. Submitted
assignments which do not follow this pattern will have points deduced, and
some lecturers might refuse to accept them altogether. Class email
addresses follow this same naming pattern. Hence: >
Introduction
to ZACU = zacu100@zambiancu.org >
Learning
Skills = zacu101@zambiancu.org >
Mathematics
= mata101@zambiancu.org >
Introduction
to Business = busa101@zambiancu.org >
Entrepreneurship
= busp101@zambiancu.org >
Introduction
to ICT = icta110@zambiancu.org |
