1. ASSIGNMENT
ADVICE (2015)
Exam Checklist
Do:
• Check your personal timetable on the portal before your exam
• Make sure your calculator (basic non-programmable) is allowed
• Know where your exam is and arrive in good time
• Remember your Student ID card
• Read the Examination Agreement and sign it to show you understand it
• Bring only that which is needed in the exam
The following aren’t allowed in the exam room:
• Talking, except to the invigilator
• Mobile phones
• Smart Watches
• Blue Tooth
• Any notes – including notes on the skin!
• Pencil cases
• Labels on drinks bottles
Remember:
• Don’t turn over exam paper or start writing until told to do so
• Don’t leave your seat once you’ve sat down
• READ & FOLLOW the instructions on your exam paper carefully
• Dictionaries are NOT permitted unless stated on the front of the exam paper, if unsure ask your module leader.
Exam FAQs can be found at: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ssc/examregs.htm

2. Format
• Your case study assignment should look like an
essay.
• You should write in sentences and paragraphs;
do not include bullet points and diagrams.
• You should take many opportunities to embed
references (Smith, 2015) to support the points
you are making.

3. Referencing
• You should not include the weekly assignment
headings in your final submission.
• You reference list should include every citation
you have mentioned in your 1500 word
discussion.
• Your reference list should be at the end of
your discussion, on a new page, under the
heading ‘Reference List’

4. Paraphrasing
• Students generally score higher marks when
they paraphrase ideas, rather than copy and
paste direct quotations.
• Paraphrasing demonstrates skills of
interpretation and application.
• Paraphrased ideas generally ‘sit’ more
cohesively in your discussion.

5. Cut and Paste ‘Scholarship’
• When you are referencing you are acknowledging
and respecting the ideas of another person; not
the mere form of words that they use.
• Changing word order, or using alternative
synonyms does not magically make someone
elses work ‘yours’.
• Turnitin uses algorithms that can identify where
words and sentences have been doctored from
the original.

6. Formailities
• If you do use direct citations you must place
them in “speech marks”; not ‘apostrophes’.
Turnitin does not recognise ‘apostrophes’ as a
citation marker.
• Initials are not necessary in embedded
references (Smith, P., 2015): Should be Smith
(2015) states… or initials are not necessary
(Smith, 2015).

7. Coherence and Connectives
• Your submitted case study should not present
itself as a disparate collection of 200 word
‘mini essays’: It should be a coherent piece of
work that addresses the set question, “What
might ‘the state’ do to support this family?”
• You should use English language devices;
‘connectives’ to link paragraphs and ideas in
order to strengthen coherence.

8. Help the reader: Signpost
• To juxtapose an idea, use however, or on the
other hand
• To build upon an established point, use
furthermore
• Signposting: To convey that you are aware of
where you have been and where you are going
you can use devices such as, having identified
the law which applies, establishing the level of
need might be achieved through assessments
which will be examined next…

9. Weekly Task: Politics
• You might demonstrate political awareness by
being able to integrate some political discussion
into your case study. In doing so you might
demonstrate criticality.
• Rather than write a 200 word piece on ‘politics’ in
the same manner as previous formative work, I
am suggesting that you try to integrate political
content at relevant points into your existing draft.
• Hence, there is no weekly task online submission
this week or next week.

10. Next Week: Comparative Welfare
• Similarly to my advice on politics, I am suggesting that you
score marks and demonstrate criticality by integrating
comparative/international awareness into your existing
draft.
• For example, if you discussed inequality and social
exclusion with reference to Wilson and Pickett, this might
be an apt point to integrate comparative/international
content?
• Remember that the process of drafting your work is not
lineal. You might go back to previous elements (such as
weekly task 1) and ask yourself if you think the content that
you wrote over 6 months ago is still relevant to the set
question? In reading it with ‘fresh eyes’ does it still make
sense to you?

11. This weeks’ weekly task
• Read and become familiar with the Parton seen exam
journal article.
• Start highlighting points of interest in the article.
• Revisit the weekly reading packs to see if you can
identify similar ideas’ or contradictory ideas to
Parton’s.
• Begin annotating your Parton article.
• You might start drafting an essay plan – however, you
will have to memorise this plan – as you cannot take it
into the exam with you!
• Can you integrate this week’s political content into your
emerging draft or essay plan?

12. For Next Time:
1. Bring your case study essay plan or
draft for discussion in the
session/seminar.
2. Bring any questions regarding the
seen exam and understanding of
the Parton article.