Assignment Word Count

Submission of assignment | Mike McDonald | March 23rd, 2004

After months of shilly-shallying, I have finally written my first (IIC) assignment. According to the Information binder, the length should be 3500-4500 words, excluding the title and contents pages, references, and appendices.

When I ran the MS Word word count on my draft, it came out to 4526. I have two questions:

1. Is the MS Word word count an acceptable measure?

2. Should I try to eliminate the extra 26 words?

Cheers,

Mike McDonald

Re: Submission of assignment | Jerry Talandis Jr. | March 23rd, 2004

Hi Mike,

Yes, the "Word" word count is accurate, and they always give your 10% leeway on the total, so it's up to you to shave off the 26 words. That shouldn't be difficult if you really look and tighten up your prose.

Jerry

Re: Submission of assignment | Mike McDonald | March 23rd, 2004

Thanks, Jerry. I'm rather nervous about this assignment, as it's the first thing of the kind I've ever done. I just hope it won't get hammered after all the work I've put into it.

All the best,

Mike

Re: Submission of assignment | Jerry Talandis Jr. | March 23rd, 2004

Actually, getting "hammered" would be a great thing! The point is to learn, and if they gave you some sharp feedback that really helped you learn, they'd be doing you a favor. I do agree that it's hard to take, but after the sting wears off, you'd be better off than if they just said, "great job."

I've found the feedback amazing. It's at a very high level, and they always say stuff I never would have dreamed about. I've learned a lot from the tapes I've gotten back.

By the way, I've just started IIC. I've read unit 1, and I'm setting up a Filemaker Pro database, like you suggested. I've already got my assignment focus (will analyse DL messages), so I'm rating all the reading with that in mind.

Take care. Good luck. I'm sure you've done more than is expected and will get a good grade.

Jerry

Re: Submission of assignment | Mike McDonald | March 23rd, 2004

Well, I suppose the grade doesn't really matter, but I'd rather get a B than a D. But yes, it'll be helpful to get some advice on how I could have done it.

Mike

Mike's questions | Sue Wharton | March 23rd, 2004

Simple answers here: the MS word counter is an acceptable measure, and no need to worry about 26 words.

Well done to Mike and all best to those who are currently writing. I am going to miss reading such things.

All best

Sue

Re: Submission of assignment | Steve Mann | March 24th, 2004

Hi Mike,

The MS Word count is fine. However, recently we said that data included did not form part of the word count.

We said this because MSc participants were putting data in appendices and the constant to-ing and fro-ing to the appendices was warning for the reader. We wanted to encourage better integration of data into the argument.

As we don't recount the words, at this end, I think we would accept a sensible ball park figure that excluded data included.

The official line is that you are allowed a 10% deviation from the upper and lower word count limit. So, for MET an assignment of 4400 would be acceptable (as the upper limit is 4000).

Well done on finishing IIC!

All the best

Steve

 

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