AES Coursework 3 Assessment Brief

What
Coursework 3:
This is the final piece of your coursework portfolio for Academic English Skills. In part 1, you identified relevant
and reliable sources for use in your essay, and outlined the key ideas and arguments which helped you determine
your position on your research topic. In part 2, you presented your research. In part 3, you will write your
research–based essay in 1500 words. Make sure that you adhere to the word limits; submissions of under 1200
words will not be accepted, and any work above 1650 words will not be marked.

You should include:

- a cover sheet including your essay title, class code, candidate number and word count (excluding your reference
list).
- a student declaration form to acknowledge that the work you are submitting is your own and that you have
adhered to academic regulations.
- for IFY / IY1 students: a minimum of six sources in your essay, with at least one source published within the past
12 months. For PMP students: a minimum of eight sources in your essay, with at least one source published
within the past 12 months. These should be the sources which you found for your CW 1 assessment, included in
your outline and presented in CW 2.
- a reference list of the sources you have included in your essay. Do not include sources you have read, but not
cited in your work.

Why
Writing clearly and appropriately for an academic context is arguably the most important skill you will need at
University. CW 3 tests your ability to write a research-based essay which incorporates evidence that:
- you have read and understood relevant academic sources on the subject
- you are able to organise information and ideas logically and clearly
- you are able to incorporate sources to support your arguments
- you are able to write clearly and accurately, using appropriate academic register and tone
- you are able to use subject-specific language appropriately
- you are able to fully and accurately cite and reference sources.

This assessment counts for 50% of your final mark for writing.
When
Stage 1) [04/12/23] Go through the CW 3 Checklist and Feedback Sheet to make sure you have completed the
assessment fully and correctly, and submit the draft of your essay.
Stage 2) [11/12/23] Your tutor will provide feedback on your draft in a tutorial. Make notes of your tutor’s
comments on the CW 3 Checklist and Feedback Sheet. Your tutor will advise you on whether your submission is
acceptable as a piece of academic work, or if further work is needed.
Stage 3) [08/01/24, 16:00] Submit your CW 3.
How
Your work is submitted and marked electronically. Your tutor will give you the marking criteria and samples of
student submissions so that you can see how the assessment is marked.
Your work will automatically be checked by similarity software (Turnitin) to make sure you have submitted work in
your own words. You may be able to submit your work ahead of the submission deadline in order to check the
similarity score.
What if…
my similarity score on Turnitin First, check your similarity report and make sure your reference list has not been
is high? counted in your overall score; your tutor will discount this. Check whether
chunks of your writing have been highlighted in the report – are they direct
quotations? If so, don’t worry, if not, this indicates you have not paraphrased
effectively. Poor paraphrasing is a form of plagiarism, and will result in your work
being reported for academic misconduct. You should therefore revise your work
and resubmit it before the assessment deadline.
You can find further information on the Academic Misconduct process in your
Student Handbook.
 I don’t submit a draft of CW 3?
I submit the coursework late?
I don’t submit CW 3?
I don’t pass CW 3?
I don’t use the sources I
included in my CW 1?
Related documents:
Overview presentation of CW 3
Samples of marked student submissions
CW 3 Submission Checklist and Feedback Sheet
You are required to submit a draft of CW 3 so that your tutor can monitor your
progress, and provide you with feedback on your work. Your tutor may advise
that your draft submission is acceptable, or requires only minimal changes, in
which case, your workload later in the course will be lighter (remember you will
also have a number of other subject assessments to be submitted at the end of
your course). Note that you will not receive comments on your final submission,
just a mark, so if you are required to resubmit, you will not receive guidance on
areas you need to work on. If you do not submit a draft, and then submit a very
strong piece of work for your final submission, it is likely that you will be flagged
for Academic Misconduct as your tutor will not have evidence that the work is
your own.
If you submit an assessment late, a penalty will be applied to your final mark.
The penalties for late submission are outlined in your Student Handbook.
You must submit CW 3 in order to demonstrate that you have met module
Learning Outcomes 2, 4, 5 and 7; you cannot ‘pass’ the module unless you have
met the minimum standards for all learning outcomes. This assessment also
constitutes 50% of your writing mark, and 12.5% of your total module mark, so
you are unlikely to meet the minimum pass standard for the skill, or achieve the
overall score required to pass the module. If you are unable to submit CW 3 by
the deadline, you will need to apply for mitigating circumstances. Further
information on mitigating circumstances can be found in your student
handbook.
You should submit a draft of CW 3 so that your tutor can provide you with
feedback to improve your work before you submit it.
If you score below 40% on CW 3, you will be required to resubmit at the end of
the module. If your CW 3 needs improvement or development, you can resubmit
a re-working of your original submission. If you are awarded zero due to
Academic Misconduct (ie. you have submitted work which is not your own), you
will be given a new essay title to research and write.
Your tutor may have advised you to find alternative sources after your CW 1
submission, so in this case, you should use your new sources in your essay. The
AES Coursework Portfolio is designed to take you through the stages of
researching, presenting and writing academic work; you should not therefore
disregard all the work you have done by changing topic. If you wish to change
the topic of your essay after you have submitted CW 1, you must get the
agreement of your tutor.