Key Components of the Assignment, Essay Example

Tasks Accomplished Well

• The paper is relatively well structured throughout. It makes good use of section headers and sub headers; although this might have been better reflected in the auto table of contents for the paper;
• Reasonable representation of tables, however a fair bit of white space and these might have been compressed for better visual impact
• A fairly good readability index over a complex technical paper
• Good use of citations; however would benefit from more peer reviewed academic citations.

Overall the paper has been well structured with good thought provided into overall structure and navigation in order to assist the reader.  Although a good attempt has been made on the citations it is best to reduce reliance upon internet sources and stick with texts and peer reviewed journal articles.  By using the auto table of contents and headers feature with Word you should gain better command over the structuring and formatting of the document.

Weaknesses

• The Table of Contents is not in a formal academic style. Microsoft  Word has an auto table of contents facility that assists in getting consistency over the structure. It needs to be in hierarchical form:

Main Heading………..

Sub Heading  ……

Sub Heading   …..

• The Table of Contents is incomplete evidenced by TBD ( To be determined).
• Mismatch – Heading / Sub Heading do not reflect to the Table of Contents because these have been accomplished manually i.e. no auto table of contents facility used
• Long Run on Paragraphs – Paragraphs should be around 4 sentences in length. Lon run on paragraphs create poor construction and reduce the readability index.
• The diagrams take up a lot of useful space. They should be compressed or relegated to an appendix ( the preferred approach in academic papers).
• Some of the diagrams are of poor quality; this is because they have been clipped from internet sites e.g. Fig 2 refers;
• Some diagrams lack formal headers and proper citations e.g. Fig 3 refers.
• Tables appeal clumsy in design and construction. They should be compressed to fit within a page or relegated to the Appendix.
• No Table Headers or sourcing e.g. Fig 4 refers
• Fairly extensive use of bullet points. This is not really desired in academic papers. They are better shown as inside text with points separated by semi-colons
• No conclusions section

There is a fair bit of tidying up required here.  Particular emphasis should be placed on the Table of Contents, the Headers and Sub headers and bringing these into alignment for consistency of formatting over the entire document.  Diagrams need to be of a higher quality and where these become cumbersome they should be relegated to an appendix.  Similar treatment should be applied to the Tables in the document.  Avoid use of bullet points as these are frowned upon in academic papers. Place them inside of text to retain flow in the document. It is important tom include a conclusions section so that the paper has a logical flow i.e. start, middle and end.

Areas for Improvement

The following are suggested areas for improvement in the paper:-

• The structure of the Table of Contents
• Ensure headings / Sub headings match to table of contents. Use auto table of contents and headers options in Word
• Grammar and use of paragraph structure : avoid long run on paragraphs
• Better quality of diagrams
• Referencing of diagrams : use word to illustrate list of diagrams
• Relegate big diagrams to the appendix
• Eliminate prolonged use of bullet points throughout
• Tidy up the tables design and layout
• Incorporate conclusions section.