Academic Study Skills for International Relations and China Studies (EAP 118) 2024-2025, Year 2, Semester 1

EAP118 Writing Coursework 1 - Annotated Bibliography: Task Sheet

Assignment:

Write an annotated bibliography for a research paper you will be submitting this semester. Your annotated bibliography should contain two sources.

Due Date:

Deadline to submit first draft to LMC for feedback; Friday Nov 1st, 23:00

Deadline to submit final draft on LMC; Dec 6 th, 23:00

Core Task Requirements; a 10% penalty will be applied to submissions which do not meet the following requirements

⚫ Clearly show which IR / CCS module and which essay topic/research task you have chosen to write about.

⚫ Use English-language academic sources which you yourself have selected (i.e. not sources provided by your INS or CCS course instructor).

⚫ Upload the two sources you have written about as part of your assignment submission

⚫ Write no more than 400 words (excluding reference) for each source.

Assessment Details

⚫ Assessment Type: Individual

⚫ Learning Outcomes assessed: A, B, D

⚫ Percentage of Module Mark: 10%

Formatting Requirements

All written assessments must use the following formatting requirements.

• File Type: MS Word DOC or DOCX

• Filename: EAP118_Writing Coursework 1

• Font Type: Arial / Times New Roman

• Font Size: 12

• Line Spacing: 1.5

• Citation and Referencing: APA style.

Further Details

Procedure;

1. Select two appropriate sources that you plan to use in writing one of the essays for an International Relations or China Studies module in Semester 1. Sources might include:

a. book chapters,

b. peer-reviewed academic journal articles,

c. government reports,

d. IGO/NGO/MNC reports,

2. Write an annotated bibliography containing these two sources. For each source, your annotated bibliography should include (in the following order);

a. a APA-style. reference before each entry

b. a brief overview of the central idea and themes within the text at the start of the summary

c. a summary of the main ideas contained in the source (or at least those relevant to the focus of your research)

d. an evaluation of the source focusing on some of the CRAAP criteria as relevant and linking to the focus of your research

Marking and Feedback;

The final draft of your assignment must be submitted through the relevant link on the EAP118 LMC.

Your work will be graded using the annotated bibliography descriptors below.

Suggestions;

Your annotated bibliography (AB) should clearly state which IR or CCS module you have selected and identify the essay topic or question you will answer in the essay you plan to write.

All sources must be appropriate to an academic assignment, as discussed in class. Acceptable sources will generally have an identifiable author (which may include an organizational author).

Unreliable and inappropriate sources will not be accepted. Examples of unreliable and inappropriate sources include; Wikipedia, About.com, UKEssays.com, Prezi.com and student assignments available online. If you are unsure about the suitability of a source, check with your instructor.

Higher grades will be achieved by students who show some level of originality and depth in their thinking and/or analysis, and who critically question or analyze statistics, sources and arguments.

Remember when formatting your AB that a full APA reference for each source should be included BEFORE your paragraphs summarising and critically analysing the source. Remember also that the sources should be organised in ALPHABETICAL ORDER according to the first letter of their APA references.

The following features will be considered deciding grades for the Organisation, Vocabulary and Grammar elements of your score (see the grading rubrics below);

• clear topic sentences

• well-structured paragraphs

• paragraph coherence

• paragraph unity

• complex and compound sentences

• correct use of verb tenses

You are strongly advised to submit some or all of your annotated bibliography as a first draft so that you can receive feedback from your instructor. This first draft + feedback process is designed to help you improve your work and get the best possible grade.

Academic Integrity and Late Penalties;

Assignments must all be individual pieces of work.

Plagiarism and collusion will be penalised. Penalties range from capped scores to an award of 0 (zero) and will apply in instances of:

• Plagiarism (copying directly from the source without proper citation; penalties depending on amounts copied).

• Collusion (working with others or copying directly from your peer when you are required to work individually).

This assessment will penalise for Academic Integrity using the following rules:

• 10-20% of words copied from sources / other students = AI B Penalty (10 point deduction)

• > 20% of words copied from sources / other students = AI C Penalty (possible 0 score)

Please refer to the XJTLU Academic Integrity Policy on Learning Mall on the EAP038 module page for further details. It must be noted that AI penalties change according to assessment types. The university uses the online software Turnitin to check your assignments for possible plagiarism and collusion. You will also be able to use this tool before you submit your assignments to ensure, for example, that you did not accidentally copy sentences from an Internet source. Your tutor will tell you more about how to use Turnitin.

Lateness: Late submissions of your final draft will be penalized 5% for every day the submission is late up to a maximum of 5 days and a 25% penalty. Submissions which are more than 5 days late will receive a grade of 0%.