Hong Kong Community College

LCH1005 English for Academic Studies (Business) I

Semester One 2020/21
Individual Assignment: Research Essay (30% Individual)

This assessment task is designed to assess your ability in using English effectively in academic
contexts that you will encounter in your studies in Associate Degree Scheme/ Higher Diploma
Scheme in Business. You will complete a series of tasks including researching information, drafting
an outline and writing an academic essay.

Expected Learning Outcomes:

Research Skills
 Conduct library and Internet research and integrate ideas from multiple sources (e.g. newspaper
articles and book chapters) to support your points.
 Document information from multiple sources using APA, an established documentation style.

Writing Skills
 Plan, organize, and structure an academic essay.
 Write a research essay using the process approach.
 Write well-structured paragraphs using the topic-sentence-supporting-details structure.
 Paraphrase, summarize, and quote different reference sources (e.g. newspaper articles and book
chapters).
 Edit and revise the essay for support, organization and sentence skills.
 Demonstrate appropriate use of grammar and vocabulary.

Your Task:
Write a 5-paragraph academic essay of 600-650 words.
Note: The word count should include the essay title and the 5 paragraphs (including all the
in-text citations). Marks may be deducted if the word count shown in the Turnitin
report falls out of the above range.

Your essay should be relevant to the business field*and it should have implications for Hong Kong.
Also, you are required to focus on ONE of the following:

.causes/ positive effects/ negative effects.

You should choose ONE broad topic area from the list below:
a) Domestic tourism
b) Digital transformation in business
c) E-commerce
d) Green economy
e) Home office/ Working from home
f) Virtual banks
*From a broad perspective, “business” means any activities about commerce, related to trading,
money transaction, marketing, merchandising, human resources (staffing), goods and services,
management, ethics, competitiveness or operation of a company, etc.
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 After choosing a broad topic area, you should narrow it down. To do so effectively, you are strongly
encouraged to take these steps:

Step 1: Step 2: Step 3: Step 4:

Choose a broad Research into Decide on a If in doubt,

“Topic Area” that “Topic Area” “Limited Subject” discuss your topic
that interests you choice with your
e.g.
lecturer
e.g. Positive effects of
Mong Kok Mong Kok
Pedestrian Zone Pedestrian Zone to
Hong Kong’s
economy

Schedule:

Teaching
What you need to do
Week(s)
2-3 Choose your “Topic Area” and decide on your “Limited Subject”;
Draft your essay outline
5 Submit your essay outline (No late submitted work will be
commented.)
7 Receive your lecturer’s feedback and revise your essay outline for
further improvement
8-9 Draft your essay
10-11 Revise and edit your essay
12
Submit your essay (soft copy) via Turnitin in Moodle
(1st EAS Lesson Day)
12 Submit the Turnitin report, reference list, sources, & original work
(2nd EAS Lesson Day) declaration of your essay (soft copy) via Moodle

Requirements concerning Reference Sources:

 All the reference sources must be in English.

 At least THREE references from DIFFERENT sources should be cited in the essay. At least
ONE of them should be presented in the form of direct quotation and at least TWO of them
should be presented in your own words (i.e. either a paraphrase or a summary).

 Only references from reliable sources are accepted.

Reliable sources: books, journals, newspapers, magazines, government and institutional websites

 Attach the copies of ANY THREE text-based reference sources (ONE source for direct
quotation and TWO sources for paraphrases/ summaries) to your essay. On each copy, write
down the author-date citation information and highlight the parts that you have quoted,
paraphrased or summarized.

 Summarize or paraphrase the supporting materials as far as possible. Direct quotations should
not exceed 10% of the total length of your essay. The APA citation style should be correctly
used to document sources of reference in your essay.

 Your essay should be word-processed and printed in double-line spacing (Times New Roman,
font size 12). Double-sided printing is welcomed.

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 Yoou must wriite your ow wn work. Disciplinary
D action will be taken iff a student is found
plaagiarizing othher writers’ ideas/ wordss. Although both
b LCH10005 and LCH H1056 share the same
sett of essay toopics in this assignment, plagiarizing other student’s work k within/ accross the
subbject groups is NOT alllowed and Turnitin
T willl help check for plagiarissm. So, prior to your
subbmission of the essay, you y MUST sign the “D Declaration of Originaal Work” (ssee p. 5)
inddicating that the essay yoou have comppleted is youur original work.
w The siggned declarattion must
be submitted with
w your reseearch essay.

Researcch Essay Ou utline:

To prepaare your essaay outline, too be submitteed in Week 4,
4 you may refer
r to your textbook (ppp. 14-15,
50-51).

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Submission Guidelines:

Deadline Submission What you need to do

Submission of the SOFT  Upload a Word file containing

COPY* of your essay via
Moodle’s Turnitin Assignment
Week 12
st
1 EAS Lesson
20% of the total marks will be deducted
Day, 23:59
for late submission. ZERO mark will
be given to the essay for late submission
of more than 7 calendar days.
only your essay title & the 5
paragraphs with in-text citations
 NEVER submit your soft copy
via Turnitin in the last minute,
or you should bear the risk of late
submission due to any kinds of
system errors.

Submission of the SOFT

COPY* of the Turnitin report, a
reference list, sources, & original
work declaration of your essay
 Refer to the “Final Checklist for
Week 12
nd Essay Submission” on p. 5
2 EAS Lesson ZERO mark will be given to the
corresponding marking components for  Submit a printed copy of ALL the
Day, 23:59
late submission. No Turnitin report, items
reference list, sources, or original work
declaration of your essay will be
accepted after the submission deadline
unless you have a good reason.

*Important Note:

Grading Aspects:

Criteria Details
Ideas and Organisation - Essay title
(50%) - Introduction and method of introduction
- Thesis statement and overview
- Topic sentences and supporting details of body paragraphs
- Conclusion and method of conclusion
- Grouping and sequencing of ideas
Documentationin APA Style - In-text citation
(10%) - Reference list
- Evidence of sources and own work
Language, Writing Style and - Grammar
Mechanics - Spelling
(40%) - Punctuation
- Word choice
- Transitions
- Sentence skills
- Point of view
- Summarizing and paraphrasing skills
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 THE HONG KONG POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY
Hong Kong Community College

LCH1005 English for Academic Studies (Business) I

Semester One 2020/21

Declaration of Original Work

I declare that the attached assignment is entirely my own work. All

sources have been properly acknowledged and the assignment contains
no plagiarism.

I have been taught how to avoid plagiarism and understand that any
plagiarism found in my assignment can lead to penalties such as mark
deduction, disqualification or even expulsion from the College.

Student Name: __________________________ (Student Number: ______________ )

Signature: ______________________________ Date of Submission: ______________

Final Checklist for Essay Submission: (Please )

 Signed “Declaration of Original Work” (this page)
 Originality Report from Turnitin:
(i) A cover page with your name and word count (600-650 words)
(ii) Your submitted text
(iii) A page with similarity index and percentage breakdown
 Reference List
 Copies of 3 text-based reference sources (with author-date citation information and
cited parts highlighted)
(i) 1 source for direct quotation
(ii) 2 sources for paraphrases/ summaries

Would you give consent to your work being used anonymously as examples for HKCC
students’ reference in the future?
 Yes
 No