HSYALLX - Department of History Assessment

Assignment Task

Introduction

Welcome to the Department of History. We are very pleased that you have chosen to study History and we hope that you will complete your studies successfully. We also trust that your study experience in the Department will be interesting and rewarding. This tutorial letter contains important information that will assist you in your studies in the Department of History. Please read it carefully and refer to it when working through the study material, preparing the assignments, and communicating with your lecturers. Read all tutorial letters you receive during the semester immediately and carefully. The information they contain is always important and sometimes urgent. The tutorial letters often contain additional study material, and many are very relevant in preparing you for the assignments and portfolios of work that you need to complete.

The purpose of Tutorial Letter 301 is to

• Orientate you to open distance e-learning (ODeL) in the Department of History
• Outline some study skills that will enable you to study as independently and effectively as possible
• Answer some of the common questions you may have

In all the modules in the Department of History, you will receive

• Tutorial Letter 101/3
• Study material, either in the form of a study guide or in the form of Tutorial Letter 501 (and perhaps Tutorial Letter 502)

You should immediately read the Tutorial Letter 101 of all the modules for which you are registered. This tutorial letter will provide you with all the essential information you need and will inform you on how best to study the module, as well as provide you with guidelines for the assignments set for the module. It will also tell you which prescribed books, if any, you need to buy.

The study guide or Tutorial Letter 501 covers the basic syllabus of each module. You should regard this study material as a set of lectures that covers the main themes of the module.

Take note of the submission dates of the assignments. Guidelines are provided in Tutorial Letter 101 and the module sites of all the modules for which you have registered in 2024. Plan your study programme in such a way that you will be able to submit all your assignments on time.

Assignment

The individual Tutorial Letters 101 provide specific guidelines for each module. The comments that follow here are general ones that apply to all modules in the Department of History. 6.1

General information on assignments

The importance of doing assignments cannot be over-emphasised. Assignments, like the activities in the study guide, form an extremely important part of learning in the module. Assignments are important since they allow you to determine the standard the Department of History sets for its students and the quality of work it expects.

Comments from your lecturers on assignments are usually detailed (if you want more detailed feedback than what you received, contact us at once and we will gladly discuss the assignment further). If you read these comments and relate them to what you wrote in your assignment, you will benefit when writing subsequent assignments.

Essentially: An assignment is meant to help you to learn and often focuses on only one or two outcomes at a time. Do not be afraid of making mistakes in assignments – that is often the way we learn.

All our modules require you to prepare written assignments, and many of them require you to write short or longer essays. Do not write your assignments until you have studied our guidelines for preparing and writing assignments set out below. It is important that you meet our requirements with regard to the approach, layout and reference techniques.

In all the modules, it is compulsory that you submit your first assignment (Assignment 01) before the due closing date provided in Tutorial Letter 101. There are two main reasons for this:

• Firstly, it is a requirement of the Department of Higher Education and Training that, before it provides universities with funding, students must prove that they are active and lecturers must demonstrate that the assessment of work is taking place.
• Secondly, our modules are offered according to a continuous assessment mode, which means that you will build up your final module marks from the assignments. Submitting your first assignment and obtaining feedback early enough will give you enough time to build a good mark over time. In the third-level modules, you will only be permitted to submit the final portfolio if you have submitted the compulsory Assignment 01.

You are also required to submit the additional assignments in all our modules, for the following two main reasons:

• Firstly, there will be no examination written at the end of the semester. Your final mark is dependent on the submission of all assignments.
• Secondly, it is our experience that students who work carefully through all assignments, cover the required work more thoroughly and perform significantly better than students who submit fewer assignments.

Therefore, to ensure success in your studies, it is preferable that you work through all the assignments that are provided in your modules. Indeed, we strongly encourage you to complete and submit as many of the additional assignments as possible, in addition to the compulsory assignment/s.

Assignments are based on the main tutorial matter. Most of the modules also require you to complete further reading from prescribed and recommended books. You are also welcome and encouraged to consult other sources available to you. Follow the guidance given in the different modules in this regard. Assignments based on wide and relevant reading are invariably much better than those based only on one or two sources.

purpose of assignments

Assignments are designed to initiate creative and independent thinking, and to find out what you know. In all History modules, you are required to master reading skills as well as to assimilate a certain amount of historical material. You are also expected to understand the ideas of historians and to identify different debates and points of view.

Assignments therefore serve an important teaching function. When we mark your assignments, we provide you with feedback which will assist you to see whether you are on the right track. If you express yourself in your own words and not merely rewrite your sources, assignment writing will become a productive learning experience. You will achieve a better perspective on your subject and learn to formulate your ideas more clearly. In this way, you will take full advantage of the tuition offered by the Department.

Therefore, we set assignments for a variety of important reasons:

• To encourage you to actively engage with the study material
• To provide you with opportunities to understand, develop and explore ideas
• To expand your knowledge on selected topics
• To motivate you to study purposefully and independently
• To teach you to summarise and use sources effectively, as well as to write logically, which are essential reading and writing skills expected of a professional
• to provide you with feedback on your work and to teach you to learn from constructive criticism 12
• To improve your writing skills and to help you correct your mistakes
• To monitor your progress and assess the extent to which you have met the learning objectives

In the Department of History, we require you to present and structure your paragraph and essay assignments according to a particular method, or to meet certain requirements for academic writing. The guidelines below are intended to help you to do this.

Question

The type of essay question which is set can vary greatly and we cannot give advice which will cover all eventualities. Four common possible types of essay questions are dealt with here. You may, for example, be asked

1. To discuss, explain, analyse, or evaluate (assess) an event or events

2. To give an opinion on a statement or quotation

3. To establish the relative importance of a number of factors

4. To make a comparison

5. Discuss the reasons for the origins of the Industrial Revolution in England.

6. Explain why the Arabs were able to conquer Northern Africa after 640 AD

7. Analyse the reasons for the unbanning of the liberation movements in South Africa in 1990.

8. Evaluate the role played by environmental factors in the rise of the Zulu polity (1800 to 1830).

9. Explain why Hitler was able to rise to power in Germany in the early 1930s

10. Discuss how Hitler consolidated his power in Germany between 1933 and 1936

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