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Department for Con�nuing Educa�on

A guide to producing coursework for on-

line short courses

If it is some �me since you last produced work for assessment, or you feel that you
would like help developing your wri�ng and presenta�on skills, we hope that you will
find this introductory guide to producing coursework useful. Coursework is an
important element in the online short courses, because it encourages independent
study and provides a focus for your reading and thinking. Working on a coursework
assignment allows you to pursue your own interests within the subject you are
studying, and to measure your own progress and achievement on your course. In
addi�on, successful comple�on of the assignment and regular a�endance on your
course enable you to work to achieve an undergraduate-level qualifica�on. Most
online courses carry university-level credit points, which can be transferred to other
ins�tu�ons.

Your online course will include instruc�ons for coursework and your tutor will be able
to advise you. It is important to select an assignment that interests you because it will
be easier to produce a good piece of work if you enjoy what you are doing. These
notes are designed to help you to tackle your coursework successfully.

Planning and wri�ng an essay

Examining the �tle

Read the ques�on carefully and check that you understand what you are being
asked to do. Iden�fy key instruc�ons such as account for, assess, compare, contrast,
describe, discuss, evaluate, explain, outline and ques�ons such as why, when, what
or how; and use them to determine the material you need to cover and how you will
need to organise it. Make sure that you understand the meaning of unusual or
specialised words or phrases.

Producing a plan and collec�ng material

Once you have done some preliminary reading it is useful to produce a plan for your
essay. This will help you to organise your ideas and enable you to plan your research
and gather relevant material from your blog, forum pos�ngs, books, ar�cles,
electronic media or other sources purposively. Your plan should be a list of the main
points which will form the basis of your argument or discussion. As your work
progresses, you may discover that you need to modify your plan as your ideas
change or you find that some material is not available. Select your research material
carefully, seeking advice from your tutor if needed.

Reading and note-taking

It is helpful to make brief notes when reading. This will enable you to list the key
points and evidence you need to write your essay, and will help you to understand
and digest what you have read. Record the source of your notes and the relevant
page numbers. Develop a system for storing your research notes and references
(perhaps in a loose leaf file or card index) so that they can be retrieved easily.

Structuring your essay

An essay consists of a beginning, a middle and an end. These are the:

 Introduc�on, which explores the ques�on, provides context and indicates the
direc�on or structure of the argument to follow.
Discussion, which develops a logical argument from a series of points and
supports it with relevant evidence such as facts, examples, illustra�ons, data
tables etc.
Conclusion, which draws together your ideas, summarises your argument and
demonstrates that you have answered the ques�on.

Wri�ng your essay

Many students find it difficult to start the wri�ng process. You may find it
convenient to write your introduc�on first but it is not essen�al to work through an
essay from beginning to end. Some students prefer to write their essay in stages and
then combine the separate parts to produce the final polished version. Try to write
clearly and precisely, and to explore one major point per paragraph.

Reviewing and edi�ng your essay

It is always useful to produce a dra� version of your essay. This will enable you to:

check that you have answered the ques�on

re-order points to strengthen your argument
check grammar, punctua�on and spelling
add or remove suppor�ng evidence
check the length of your essay. (Essays that do not conform to the prescribed
limits may be penalised.)

Producing other forms of wri�en work

Much of the guidance given above can be applied to other wri�en work, including
short answers to coursework exercises. However, you may find the following �ps
useful:

Producing a project

For projects you need to collect, present and interpret informa�on on a par�cular
topic, and then to iden�fy a central ques�on. You may find it useful to produce a
short dra� outlining how you plan to tackle the project in order to assess its
feasibility with your tutor.

Wri�ng a report

Reports recording research projects or prac�cal exercises are structured differently

from essays and usually include the following:

Aims: which define the objec�ves of the project

Methods: which describe how the project was planned and implemented and
discuss methodological strengths and weaknesses
Results: which present the findings of the project or exercise in prose, tabular
and/or graphic form
Conclusions: which summarise and interpret the results, cri�cally evaluate
findings and show that the aims have been achieved.

Wri�ng a course journal

You will be expected to write a brief report on all, or a specified number of, sessions
a�ended. Your journal entries might summarize the content of the session, describe
what you found par�cularly interes�ng, highlight subjects, ac�vi�es or skills that
you would like to pursue further and so on. Your reports should be reflec�ve in
character and trace the development of your knowledge, skills and ideas as the
course progresses.
Wri�ng a book review

You will need to supply full details of the book (�tle, author, publisher or journal,
year of publica�on and number of pages). The review should be structured like an
essay (with an introduc�on, middle and end) and include:

a brief summary of the book

an evalua�on of its strengths and weaknesses
an indica�on of whether it is enjoyable and easy to comprehend
an assessment of its contribu�on to the subject.

Presen�ng your wri�en work

It is important that work produced at undergraduate level follows accepted

academic conven�ons. You will be familiar with many of these from your reading but
applying them to your own work takes prac�ce and pa�ence. Mastering
presenta�on conven�ons is one of the objec�ves of undergraduate work and your
tutor can provide further advice as needed.

Quo�ng from sources

If you want to quote material from other authors in your assignment you can do this
directly (reproducing the actual words of the author) or by using paraphrase
(describing the author’s idea or ideas in your own words). Direct quota�ons are
usually reserved for important or provoca�ve points, for example ideas or language
which need to be discussed or produced in support of an argument. Try to keep
direct quota�ons as short as possible because one of the objec�ves of wri�ng an
assignment is to express your own views in your own words. Short quota�ons
should be placed in inverted commas. Long quota�ons, if used, should be indented
from the main text and do not require inverted commas.
Acknowledging sources

When you use material or arguments (including quota�ons) from other writers’ work
it is important to acknowledge your debt and to include a reference iden�fying the
source. If you do not you may be accused of plagiarism. Plagiarism is the deliberate
copying of passages wholesale (or disguised by paraphrase) from books, other
students’ work, and so on, without acknowledgement. Plagiarism is dishonest and is
always penalised.

References

There are three main ways of presen�ng references. Seek advice from your tutor
about which to use but remember that once you have chosen a method for your
assignment you need to apply it consistently in that piece of work.

Footnotes Each point or quota�on to be referenced is numbered consecu�vely,

using brackets or superscript:

Examples:

Lockyer (1) suggested that …

Lockyer1 suggested that…

and a list of numbered notes is provided at the foot of the page:

Example:
1. Lockyer, R. (2005) Tudor and Stuart Britain, p.36.

A short form can be used for subsequent references to a �tle:

Examples:
2. Lockyer, p.120.

3. Tudor and Stuart Britain, p.120.

If consecu�ve references are taken from the same source, ibid. (meaning ‘in the
same place’) or ibid. plus page number, are used:

Examples:
4. ibid.

5. ibid., p.40.

Material taken from an ar�cle in a journal or from the internet should be similarly
acknowledged.

Endnotes The same conven�ons are used as for footnotes but the notes are listed at
the end of the assignment, chapter or book.

Harvard system An author date note with page numbers is enclosed in round
brackets and inserted in the text directly a�er the point or quota�on. Full details of
the work are provided in the bibliography.

Example:
It has recently been suggested (Guy 1988, p.36) that…

If your source is an e-book downloaded on a device such as a Kindle, Kobo, Nook,

iPad or other e-reader, follow the above guidelines, with these provisos:

Use page numbers where given but, as these may not be stable, always include
stable iden�fiers such as chapter or sec�on numbers where given.
Include the type of device used in angled brackets a�er the book �tle.

Examples (as for examples 1-5 above, for illustra�on only):

1. Lockyer, R. (2005) Tudor and Stuart Britain [Kindle] ch.1, p.36

2. Lockyer, ch. 3, p.120
3. Tudor and Stuart Britain, ch. 3, p.120
4. ibid.
5. ibid, ch. 1, p.40
In some subjects, for example music or art, you may need to refer to material such
as specific passages of music or individual pain�ngs in your assignment. Your tutor
will advise you about the appropriate referencing conven�ons for your subject

Bibliography

You need to include a list at the end of your assignment of all the books, ar�cles,
internet sites etc. which you have used to write your essay. The list should be given
in alphabe�cal order of authors’ surnames with:

for a book: author’s surname and ini�als or first name, publica�on date, �tle (italics
or underlined), publisher and place of publica�on.

Example:
Eliot, T.S. (1957) On Poetry and Poets, Faber & Faber, London.

for an e-book: author’s surname and ini�als or first name, publica�on date, �tle
(italics or underlined), [type of device] publisher and place of publica�on (if
available), e-book source and web address:

Example (for illustra�on only):

Eliot, T.S. (1957) On Poetry and Poets, [Kindle] Faber & Faber, London. Available at:
Amazon.co.uk

for an ar�cle: author’s surname and ini�als or first name, publica�on date, �tle of
ar�cle (in inverted commas), �tle of periodical or book (italics or underlined), editor’s
name or volume number and page numbers.

Example:
Tarling, D.H. (1975) ‘Archaeomagne�sm: the da�ng of archaeological materials by
their magne�c proper�es’, World Archaeology 7, 185-197.

for an e-journal:
As above, but add the following: Name of electronic journal supplier (italics),
[Online], available at: URL of electronic journals supplier, (Accessed: day month year)

Example:
Tarling, D.H. (1975) ‘Archaeomagne�sm: the da�ng of archaeological materials by
their magne�c proper�es’, World Archaeology 7, 185-197, JSTOR [Online], available
at h�p://www.jstor.org/stable/124038, (Accessed 15 April 2019)

for material from the internet: author’s surname and ini�als or first name, �tle of
page (in inverted commas), �tle of complete work if page is part of a group of
documents, date page was created, URL (in angle brackets), date you saw page (in
round brackets).

Example:
Stra�ord, Jenny, ‘The treasure roll’, Richard II’s Treasure, 2007,
<www.history.ac.uk/richardII/roll.html> (11 July 2007).

Layout

Assignments must be word-processed. For ease of administra�on and marking

please:

write the �tle of the assignment on the first page

double space
number each page
name your file using the conven�on: course�tle_Assignment(name or
number).docx
make sure your assignment is anonymised by following the instruc�ons provided
here.

Seeking further help

If you encounter a problem with your coursework, for example you are uncertain
what is required or you cannot find the books you need, do seek advice from your
tutor.

If you require further help with study skills, the Department’s Study Skills
Programme offers an online Academic Literacy: An Introduc�on course.

If you require further assistance email onlinecourses@conted.ox.ac.uk.

We par�cularly recommend:

Day, T. (2013) Success in Academic Wri�ng, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.

Pears, R. & Shields, G. (2013) Cite them Right, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.

Co�rell, S. (2013) The Study Skills Handbook, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.

Creme, P. & Lea, M.R. (2003, 2nd edn.) Wri�ng at University: A Guide for Students,
Open University Press, Buckingham.

Northedge, A. (2005) The Good Study Guide, Open University Press, Buckingham.

Van Emden J. & Becker, L. (2010) Presenta�on Skills, Palgrave Macmillan,

Basingstoke.

Godfrey, J. (2013) How to Use your Reading in your Essays, Palgrave Macmillan,
Basingstoke.

There are also subject area study guides:

Chambers, E. & Northedge, A. (1997) The Arts Good Study Guide, Open University
Press, Buckingham.

Northedge, A., Thomas, J., Lane, A., & Peasgood, A. (1997) The Sciences Good Study
 Guide, Open University Press, Buckingham.

Further help

If you found this page useful you may like to explore the informa�on on our other
Study help pages.

Online Support Site / Department for Con�nuing Educa�on