International Political Economy, Assignment, MU, Singapore

Research Essay Guidelines

Referencing

All essays must include in-text referencing as well as an alphabetical list of all referenced sources used. It does not matter what referencing style you choose, providing that it is an officially recognised style. See http://library.murdoch.edu.au/Getting-help/Referencing/ for more information.

Wordcount The 2,500-word count excludes in text references and the reference list. In addition, a word count up to 5% above the limit, although not ideal, will not be subject to a formal word limit penalty.

Grading Criteria

The essay will be graded on: (i) your capacity to thoroughly research a topic; (ii) your comprehension of have material you have read; and (iii) your capacity to develop a structured, reasoned and evidenced argument in response to the selected question.

Beyond the topic reading lists, a strongly researched essay should also include evidence of independent research of relevant source materials. These could (for example) be from academic journals, academic books, news reports and other media, and internet sources if these are of an appropriate form for the research.

Wikipedia and similar user-edited information websites should NOT be used as a cited source for your essay as many of these sources are not refereed to academic standards and are therefore considered of questionable authority and reliability. Wikipedia may be of use for preliminary research purposes, but any information obtained from Wikipedia, etc., should be treated cautiously and must be verified against acceptable, citable, sources before being incorporated into your written work.

Critical and scientific research
You are reminded that a core principle of good scientific research, as well as good critical writing, is ‘triangulation’ – providing a variety of supporting evidence for each key knowledge claim being made.