Chester Business School

Word Count Guidance

This guidance is for students on Undergraduate degree programmes at Queen’s
Park campus and outlines aspects of written work included or excluded from the
permissible word count indicated on assignment briefs. Beyond this the UoC Excess
Word Count penalty applies. The final word count should be stated on the cover
page of submitted work.

Included in the word count:

 Direct quotations (in “double speech marks”)

 Original tables, graphs and diagrams (created by student & intended for marking)

Excluded from the word count:

 Cover page, title of module and title of assignment

 Reference list at end of main body of work
 Bibliography (only include if requested on an assignment brief)
 Cited graphs, tables, maps, diagrams (including title and source)
 Appendices (as supporting evidence only as these are not marked)

Further permissible exclusions:

You may exclude the text highlighted in yellow as follows:

Example 1:
“It is difficult to exaggerate how important it is to formulate a set of clear research
questions” (Gray, 2017, p.6).
Example 2:
As Gray (2017) suggests...
Example 3:
The Rio Declaration, Agenda 21 (United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, 1992) was adopted by 178 governments and is an action plan for
sustainable development.

A note about word count ‘equivalence’:

It is expected that students do not exceed stated word count allowances (there is a
+10% latitude). In some cases the ‘words’ may be far fewer depending on the nature
of the assignment and students should pay attention the specific brief and tutor
guidance.

Approved for Chester Business School UG programmes 2019-2020