TON DUC THANG UNIVERSITY 001175 – American Culture

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

FINAL ASSESMENT

1,000 word assignment: evaluation and/or analysis of a topic of your choice in any
aspects within the following themes of American culture.

THEMES FOR FINAL TEST

1. National Symbols

2. Famous Figures

3. Famous Places

4. The Constitution

5. The Government

6. Marriage

7. Family Life

8. Education

9. Citizenship

Please submit your essay via E-learning.

Marking criteria: Content (50%) + Organization and language (50%)

PLAGIARISM
According to TDTU’s Decision No. 878/2017/TDT-QD and its regulation regarding code of
practice on academic integrity, plagiarism is defined and classified as follows:
1. Definition
- Plagiarism is the use of content, words or ideas that are not invented by oneself,
but devised or published by others without proper citation, or the consent of the
author, or crediting the contributor.
2. Types of plagiarism
- Competitive plagiarism (đạo văn cạnh tranh)
- Cryptomnesia occurs (đạo văn ký ức)
- Ghost writing (tác giả ma)
- Gift authorship (còn gọi là honorary authorship)

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TON DUC THANG UNIVERSITY 001175 – American Culture
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
- Paraphrasing/Word for Word plagiarism (đạo chuỗi văn từ hoặc văn bản từ nhiều
nguồn)
- Self-plagiarism (tự đạo văn)
- Supervisory ghostwriting (không thừa nhận sự đóng góp của giảng viên hướng
dẫn)

3. Sanction for plagiarism

Level % Sanction

0 0 - 25 No sanction

1 26 - 35 Grade deduction: 30%

2 36 - 45 Grade deduction: 40%

3 46 and Grade deduction: 50%

above

PREPARATION
1. Choose a topic that you are personally engaged in so you can enjoy doing it.
2. State your argument clearly and briefly.
3. Support your argument by suitable examples and related papers in the field.
4. Cite references properly in your essay as in the course Writing 4.

WRITING
1. Introduction
 Clearly, concisely and straightforwardly define your central topic which can
be up to three or four sentences.
 Do not generalize and write chatty comments to lead up to your essay.
2. Body paragraphs
 Write from 80-120 words/paragraph
 Give each of the subsequent paragraphs an initial introductory sentence.
 Develop and expanding the point in a way that is directly to the question.
 Demonstrate a logical argument throughout the writing progress.
 Avoid repeating your points.
 Avoid a descriptive essay which simply lists points.

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TON DUC THANG UNIVERSITY 001175 – American Culture
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
3. Conclusion
 Say how your essay has developed, i.e. whether it has been modified or
affirmed
 Do not simply restate the introduction
 Stamp your personal outlook on the essay

STYLE
1. Write grammatically correct prose that employs accurate spelling.
2. Write your essay in
 Font: Verdana
 Size: 10
 Line and paragraph spacing: 1.5
 Justify
 Format: pdf
 With wordcount at the end of your essay
3. Whenever possible, use an example and/or an authoritative quote in order to illustrate
a point.
4. Transcribe names, dates and statistics accurately.
5. Use past, present and future tenses accurately and consistently.
6. Avoid
 abbreviations
 anecdote and slang vocabulary/phrases
 fluff
 rhetorical questions
 qualifying phrases such as `it is almost as if` or `it would seem that`.
 cliché such as ‘circumstances forced the immigrants to stick together like
glue’