There are 4 weighted sections which contribute to an overall mark. Indicative feedback
on each section and a general comment is given where appropriate. The ISP project will
be weighted by 90% to create your overall final module mark.
Full ISP Marking criteria explained:
The final ISP project itself is marked out of 90% of your overall result on this unit, and it is
divided into four weighted sections:
1. Title, rationale &research questions: 20%
2. Literature review / Context & critical discussion: 50%
3. Conclusions & recommendations for future research: 20%
4. Referencing (& Bibliography) 10%
Rationale
Clarity:You are expected to clearly state why you have chosen your topic.
Academic: You must provide a fully referenced academic justification for the project (e.g. the
issue is under-researched, requires updating, is a new use of theory, a contemporary issue
etc.)
Applied: The topic must be related to a definable business problem/ issue for which evidence
should be provided (e.g.: newspaper report, previous research etc.)
Research questions
Linked to rationale: Your questions should directly address the issue/ problem you identified
in your rationale.
Appropriate focus: You should not adopt too broad or narrow a stance towards your topic.
Breadth: You should not have too many (or too few) questions
Literature review / critical discussion
Coverage: You should incorporate a range of literature in this section, including both
academic and applied material. This could include but is not limited to: academic journal
articles; industry reports (e.g.: MINTEL), professional bodies (e.g.: CIPD, CBI), statistics
(e.g.: Labor Force Survey), trade magazines (e.g.: Management Today), credible internet
sources, broadsheet newspapers; textbooks and other academic books and so on. It is not
necessarily the number of sources you cite, but the relevance, currency, quality and
academic rigour of your sources which is important (i.e. focus on peer reviewed, scholarly
journal articles as the predominant source type).
Structure & clarity: You should write in a clear concise manner and structure your sections, so
that it flows logically towards your conclusions.
Critical analysis: Your discussion should be analytical and evaluative rather than simply
describing the content of other sources. You should build an argument throughout your work
and compare and contrast differing points of view. These arguments should be well evidenced
and supported by credible sources.
Relevance: You should show the relevance of the material you discuss throughout, evaluating
the significance of your findings. Excellent work will locate the topic in a broader business &
social context but the relevance of any ‘digressions’ must be clearly signaled to avoid losing
marks.
IF YOU DO NOT MENTION ANY SOURCES THEN ARGUABLY IT IS NOT A LITERATURE
REVIEW, AND WILL BE HEAVILY PENALISED.
Conclusions & recommendations for future research
Flow from discussion: Your conclusions should stem from your discussion. You would not
usually incorporate entirely new material in this section, nor introduce fresh insights into your
topic
Related to questions: You should summarise the key points from the preceding section and
analyse/evaluate them to answer/address the questions you identified at the beginning of the
project. One way to do this is to arrange your conclusions section with each question as a
heading.
Logical/ reasonable: Your recommendations should be a constructive consideration of
further research that might be carried out on your topic in the future. Strong projects will
consider the limitations of non-empirical studies (e.g.: those based solely on secondary data
or a review of published literature) and suggest ways these might be overcome.
Referencing (& Bibliography)
You must produce a complete list of works which you actually cited in the main body, under
“References”, and any other works which you read but did not cite directly, under the
heading of “Bibliography” (optional).
The marker/s will check if you have correctly and consistently applied the APA format to your
citations, references and bibliographic list of sources. If you are unsure, check the following
link to the Library’s PDF document: http://www.libr.port.ac.uk/libguides/LG190.pdf .
For further details of sources of referencing help, see page 11 of this handbook.