Do not circulate without the approval of Unit Coordinator. These are not the formal requirements but suggestions for good practice. COIT20249 – Report Some points to consider and pitfalls to avoid...

business report


Do not circulate without the approval of Unit Coordinator. These are not the formal requirements but suggestions for good practice. COIT20249 – Report Some points to consider and pitfalls to avoid This list does not include all points you should consider. These are only some of the known problems/points. Some of these points will help you in other assessments as well. Report topic and requirements: · Report must be on the correct topic for this term and the case scenario as given in the assessment specifications document. Otherwise you will get a 0 mark and no feedback. · ​Report is being prepared for an internal audience. So write for an internal audience (no need to explain about the location being Australia but include other directly relevant details provided in the case scenario). Always consider the target audience. · Check the specifications document for the word count and other requirements. Report conventions: · Formal reports must be written in third person (referring to the author, report etc. and not I, you we, me etc.). · Although you are the author of the report, the report must not state 'as the xxxx, I am providing recommendations' etc. Refer to the author or the report using formal expressions. · Check the Week 5 PPT on professional writing – do not use informal expressions. This is a formal academic report. Follow those generic guidelines about professionalism, objectivity and other points. · In addition, refer to the English Tenses Table linked from the home page of the Moodle website (under the Writing section). Consider the correct tense for writing different sections such as Executive Summary, Introduction and Conclusion. About the organisation: · Do not write about a generic organisation. · Give a name to your organisation and refer to it as needed in the report.          Do not select an existing company an​​d use its details (from a website or anywhere else).  · Do not change the name of an existing organisation and relate it to your case study. It has happened before and the students got low marks or ended up with academic misconduct charges as they copied from a website without acknowledgement. · Write about the organisation in the case scenario by developing further details (assumptions) as necessary for your report. See next section. Assumptions: ​​ · Assumptions are what is not provided in the case study but what will be accepted as truth without the need for evidence (do a Google search for more details).  · Any assumptions made for this report must be relevant for the case scenario and useful for the report. Do not make irrelevant assumptions.  · These are details that are not in the case study so it is up to you to work out and use a bit of critical thinking skills.  · You might want to consider the maturity of the organisation and the proposed directions when you consider the recommendations as well. · You will need to do some reading if you are not familiar with the technology. · Make assumptions which are best for your report. You may also think about the existing skills and skill gaps etc.  Current business scope and use of examples: · There must be unique examples about the current usages. Do not leave generic and vague examples  Future incorporation: · Consider your organisation's current level of maturity when considering the options (see above on assumptions).  · Also consider the current practices (above section) · What do you think as the best direction for your organisation? · What limitations/risks do you see? How can they be addressed? · This section needs your critical thinking skills and imagination at a high level · Use relevant references to highlight your arguments. · Discuss options that will lead to recommendations. Prioritise if you have more than one recommendation for one problem. Have you addressed your organisation's problem? · Read the report specifications document. · Address all of the tasks and sub-tasks. · Refer to this document as you write and after each draft – ensure you have addressed the correct problem/s and your solution is within the required focus. Research and references/referencing: · M​inimum requirement is for 10 recent references including 6 academic sources. This should help to achieve a pass mark.  · There is not much value with just 10 references but you may write a good report with 10 to 14 references. It is the quality that matters. · 15 references are a good target with up to 10 (around 60%) academic sources (peer reviewed journals and textbooks on the subject etc.).  · Non-academic sources should be from industry based websites and magazines which provide most of the new technology details and some consumer aspects as well. You may use examples from newspapers or other sources but they are not your key references. · Do not use blogs etc. which are personal opinions and not add value.  · Use Triple R and Annotated Bibliographies frameworks in selecting your references whether the search is for academic or non-academic sources. However, do not include any Triple R or Annotated Bibliographies tables in the Report. · Week 7 topics include Literature Reviews. This may be useful to analyse your references but DO NOT include a literature review in your report. · Cite references correctly in the CQU APA style and also format the list correctly – check the current CQU APA guide available via the ALC website. · Reports without any citations in the body of the report may fail as marks will be deducted from the Body and References 1 & References 2 sections (could even be 0 for all three). Not acknowledging the sources is also considered as plagiarism. · Write the report in your own words, do not use all key words from the reference and change a few words. · Using synonym generators and other similar tools will not add more marks but the opposite. · DO NOT USE FALSIFIED REFERENCES (e.g. changes to old references to show as recent ones or insert incorrect/irrelevant references as correct citations). That is academic misconduct and you will be penalised. Critical analysis and evaluation of your information in the body of the report: · Use the compare and contrast, pros and cons, and, similarities and differences methods as well as SWOT (see week 1 slides) in your analysis as relevant.  · Use examples (supported by correct references) to strengthen your arguments.  · Cite references as evidence. Logical flow: · The ideas should be logically developed​. See week 7 PPTs about essay writing and case studies as well as weeks 5 and 6 PPTs. Use of graphs and tables etc., and placement in the report: · You can use graphs, tables etc. but clearly relate to them in your explanation - do not just say ‘refer to table’.  · You must cite them in-text (your source). If tables and images are small, you may want to place them in the report analysis itself but place large items in the appendix.  · Do not use tables to build up the report's word count. Word count is what you write as the analysis.  · Appendix content should not be longer than the report analysis. Appendices are for supporting evidence that cannot be placed in the main report. You are NOT required to have an Appendix. Report Structure: · Week 6 was all about report structure.  · Also see the report requirements and the marking rubric at the end of the specifications.  · Follow the HD column in the report specifications document for a better outcome and avoid the Fail column as well.  · See guidelines including word count for each element.  · Word Count starts from the beginning of the introduction and ends at the end of recommendations list. · Executive summary is not in the word count but has a length.  · See the marking rubric especially for the structure of the executive summary, introduction and the conclusion. Use the correct form of tense (past, present, future) in each of these sections. · Use paragraphs (and headings/subheadings where needed) for different themes. Recommendations: · Review the textbook pages 110-111 or week 6 guidelines.  · Discuss the options (for part 2 of report tasks and sub tasks in the case study).  · Analyse potential options and then develop the recommendations.  · U​se the structure in the PPT and the book.  · Do not write new details in this section and do not cite any references.  · All recommendations must be based on the analysis (must be discussed in the main body).  Sample report on Moodle and previous reports: · Do not download and use a template to draft your report, or use a previous report. · The ToC structure may not be relevant to current term and some of the title page details may not correct as well.  · Use of template may lead to high Turnitin scores. · Sample reports are only to get an idea of writing style and how to answer the report question (and a few other things but not for the above points). Editing and proofreading, and ALC: · Review and revise the first draft.  · Get ALC appointments for feedback.  Plagiarism and academic misconduct: · Avoid academic misconduct by writing your own report and correctly paraphrasing/quoting any information taken from other sources. Use correct in-text citation formats. · Do not discuss too much details with friends. Even if you don't copy, your thoughts will be the same. · It is best not to share reference lists - in worst case scenarios, you could be seen as copying with others if the content and the reference lists are similar to a large extent.  · It is not enough to cite a reference and not change wording (unless a direct quote). Get only the basic idea and then write in your own words. You had an ALC session on this. Types of academic misconduct: · Please see the first link in this search results page - https://www.cqu.edu.au/policy?collection=policy&form=policy&query=Academic+Misconduct+Procedure&sort=. · There are different types of misconduct including the following. · Plagiarism including ghost written/purchased reports · Copying between students (cheating)  · Not paraphrasing and/or acknowledging sources, or providing wrong references · Ghost written reports (Contract Cheating) · these can be identified by experienced markers very easily even if the file does not have a significant Turnitin score.  · They are well written (a comparison of your early writing this term may look very different).  · Unit Coordinator/lecturer may request an interview with the students to check their knowledge - usually there is a big gap. Turnitin: · Turnitin is a key tool in detecting similarity but is a quantitative tool that only matches and compares against its existing records.  · It does not make a qualitative analysis. Your marker will do the analysis in consultation with the Unit Coordinator.  · Upload your draft with plenty of time. Check any Turnitin issues (open the file even if your Turnitin score is low). Review and revise as needed.  · Submit the correct file after doing any edits. ​Information security when writing and uploading your files: · Do not show your report to anyone who just wants to have a look at your report.