Advice on Submitting Assignments
Advice on Submitting Assignments for the
University of Oxford Online Course
Vikings: Raiders, Traders and Settlers
Please note that as of Trinity Term 2020, all assignments are ‘blind marked’ therefore please DO NOT put your name anywhere on your work.
Your assignment will automatically be given a Participant Number when it is submitted.
This is intended to be a handy checklist:
Please make sure that you use the correct file name for your assignment:
Assignments should be submitted using the following file name:
Vikings-Assignment 1 or Vikings-Assignment 2
As appropriate. The file suffix (.docx or others) will be automatically added when you save the file
Please note that if the file name is too long Moodle will not allow it to be downloaded!
Please make sure that you publish your assignment when you submit it. Assignments in draft form cannot be marked!
Have you read and abided by advice on the University’s “Plagiarism Policy – Award-bearing and postgraduate accredited short courses?”
You can find the Plagiarism Policy – Award-bearing and postgraduate accredited short courses website here…
Have you used the full question as your title?
You must always use the full question as the title of your essay, not an abbreviated form, or a title that you have made up yourself. This is to prevent ambiguity, so that the examiner knows exactly which question you are intending to answer.
Having the question in full at the head of your essay also helps to insure that you are fully answering the question.
Have you correctly understood the question?
Ask yourself “What does the examiner expect in the answer to this question?”
For example, the question:
To what extent do you agree that the development of shipbuilding was the single most important factor in the Viking expansion?
Does NOT mean Write about the history of the development of Viking shipbuilding.
The question is asking you to compare the relative importance of the development of Viking shipbuilding to the other main factors that contributed to the Viking expansion.
If you are not sure of the exact nature of the question, please contact me at tutor.vikings@conted.ox.ac.uk
Have you given proper references?
The references should appear at the appropriate point in the text. They can either take the form of a numbered footnote referring to the bottom of the page, or the end of the essay, or they can be included in brackets in the text (Harvard Style).
For example:
“The Vikings’ success depended not just on their ships, but also on their seamanship and ability to navigate 1.
or
“The Vikings’ success depended not just on their ships, but also on their seamanship and ability to navigate (1).
Accompanied by the note:
1, Forte, A., Oram, R., Pedersen, F. (2005) Viking Empires, p. 119
Subsequent references to the same work can be abbreviated eg:
Forte (2005), p. 121
Where appropriate, the standard abbreviations of ‘ibid’, or ‘ibid, p. 133’ and ‘op cit. p. 255’ can be used.
or you may use the Harvard style
“The Vikings’ success depended not just on their ships, but also on their seamanship and ability to navigate (Forte et al, p.119).
Where appropriate, the standard abbreviations of ‘ibid’, or ‘ibid, p. 133’ and ‘op cit. p. 255’ can be used.
References to a DVD, or film or television documentary should take the form:
director’s, or producer’s surname and initials or first name, date in brackets and title of DVD in italics
For example:
“Experiments have shown that cleaving oak with wedges produces thin planks which have great strength 1”
Accompanied by the note:
1, Larsen, A.C. & Jakobsen, B. (2008) Havhinstens Rejse
Subsequent references to the same work can be abbreviated eg:
Larsen, & Jakobsen, (2008)
or you may use the Harvard style
“Experiments have shown that cleaving oak with wedges produces thin planks which have great strength (Larsen, & Jakobsen, 2008)”
References to other sources, such as websites, should take the form:
author’s surname and initials or first name, title of page (in inverted commas), title of complete work if page is part of a group of documents, date page was created, URL (in angle brackets), date you saw page (in round brackets)
e.g.
Højlund, B. “York”, The Viking Ship Museum, 2009,
N.B. Wikipedia and other such websites where the content can be edited by users are not accepted as sources by the University.
Have you provided a bibliography?
You need to include a list at the end of your assignment of all the books, articles, internet sites etc. which you have used to write your essay. The list should be given in alphabetic order of authors’ surnames with:
for a book: author’s surname and initials or first name, publication date, title (italics or underlined), publisher and place of publication. eg:
Forte, A., Oram, R., Pedersen, F. (2005), Viking Empires, CUP, Cambridge
for an article: author’s surname and initials or first name, publication date, title of article (in inverted commas), title of periodical or book (italics or underlined), editor’s name or volume number and page numbers. eg:
Lönroth, L. (2008) ‘The Icelandic Sagas’, The Viking World, Brink, S. (ed), 304 – 310
for a DVD, or film or television documentary: director’s, or producer’s surname and initials or first name, date in brackets and title of DVD in italics, nature of material, distributor. eg:
Havhinstens Rejse (2008), produced by Larsen, A.C. & Jakobsen, B., DVD, distributed by Vikingeskibmuseet
for material from the internet: author’s surname and initials or first name, title of page (in inverted commas), title of complete work if page is part of a group of documents, date page was created, URL (in angle brackets), date you saw page (in round brackets). eg:
Muhlberger, Steven, ‘Canute and His Sons’, Medieval England, 1999,