D6 Independent Research Assignment Guidelines

D6 Independent Research Assignment Guidelines

D6 requires students to research a specified wine-related subject and submit an assignment of 3,000 words. Two titles will be released each academic year on August 1, one for submission by January 31 and the other for submission by July 31 in the same academic year. Within these deadlines, students are free to write the assignments whenever they choose. It is up to individual candidates to manage their own time and workload with guidance from their Approved Programme Provider (APP).

The Independent Research Assignment assesses the candidate’s ability to carry out research beyond the WSET published learning materials and evaluate current trends and options in the wine industry. The subject matter of each assignment may lie outside the scope of the Specifications of the other Units.

Research is a key element to this Unit. Students will be required to identify and use multiple sources of information to create an assignment that addresses the instructions as set out in the brief.

If you have limited experience of research from your previous studies it may be helpful to consider the following four-step approach:

1. Preparation
2. Preliminary research
3. Analysis
4. Secondary research

Preparation involves reading the assignment brief carefully to identify the core issues you are being instructed to research. Then, before consulting any sources, write down what you know about the subject. Thinking in very broad terms about the issue can help you gather your thoughts and structure your approach.

Preliminary research involves working out which sources to consult to build up your knowledge of the subject. You could choose to gather information from wine industry magazines/journals, books, the Internet and any other sources that you think might be relevant.

You should be selective when deciding what source material to consult for your assignment. Technical journal articles or other academic works are likely to be more authoritative than consumer magazines, for example, although which sources are most appropriate for a particular topic will depend on the brief. You should always aim to use a range of sources of different types to widen the scope of your research.

Your sources must be credible. When quoting or relying on someone else’s work in support of an argument, you should satisfy yourself of the author’s reputation: can they be considered a reliable source for the information or analysis they are providing? For example, Wikipedia is not widely accepted as an authoritative source of academic information and should therefore be used appropriately.

Analysis involves evaluating the data that you have gathered from various sources and identifying key themes.

You should ask yourself whether you have enough information to cover the topic identified in the assignment brief comprehensively. When you come to write your assignment, you will need to present different points of view to demonstrate to the examiners that you have researched the topic fully. By this stage, you will also have started to form your own opinions, so consider what evidence in your research supports your views and what undermines them.

Secondary research involves filling in any gaps that you have identified.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY

In addition to assessing your ability to research a topic independently, D6 may also require candidates to express personal opinion on their findings. This involves evaluating the issues objectively and reaching an informed conclusion.

The examiners do not just expect you to summarise opinions of others; they are looking for evidence of your own critical thinking. This means you have to present a well-reasoned argument as to which perspective is, in your opinion, more valid. You must be able to show a broad understanding of the topic giving reasons to support your position. You should also aim to present evidence as to why the opposing points of view may be incorrect or unsound.

How to write your Independent Research Assignment

If this is the first time you have had to produce a piece of work of this length, you could consider tackling the assignment in three phases:

1. Plan and write a first draft;
2. Review your first draft, editing content as necessary;
3. Proofread the final version, checking for misspellings and other errors.

Plan and First Draft

The first step is to make a detailed plan of what you intend to cover. Having collated all the data from your research, formed your opinions and decided what to include, think about how to order the information in a logical way. You should then write the first draft of your assignment without worrying about the word count. Most candidates find that they write over 3,000 words at this stage.

Review of First Draft

After you have completed your first draft you should put it to one side for a few days before re-reading it. This will make it easier to sense-check what you have written and identify what can or should be removed. As you read each paragraph, consider the point you are trying to make and ask yourself whether it can be made more effectively. A common error is using too many linking words, adjectives and adverbs. These can often be edited out without changing the meaning of what you are saying. Usually, this process will be sufficient to bring the word count down to the 3,000 limit.

Proofreading the Final Version

This is a vital final check to ensure that your assignment is presentable to the examiner. Proofread your work carefully to eliminate any spelling mistakes or typographical errors. Check that you have appended your bibliography and that this lists all the sources you have consulted.

Guidelines:

Word count

The stipulated word count of 3,000 words has a tolerance of +/-10%. This means the research assignment MUST be at least 2,700 words in length and no more than 3,300 words.

Your references, bibliography and any appendices to your assignment are excluded from this word count. Note, however, it is unacceptable to use footnotes and appendices to make points that should have been included in the body of the assignment.

Spelling, Grammar and Clear Presentation

A proportion of the marks available for the assignment is allocated to spelling, grammar and presentation (which includes referencing and use of the bibliography) so you should take particular care with these elements of the assignment. Mistakes can be picked up with proofreading or using computer spellcheck functions so you should always review your work prior to submission.

Clear presentation is essential; you can use different text styles, bold type or underlining, etc. to format your assignment and make it easier to read.

You are encouraged to write your assignment on a computer but you may hand-write it if you wish: both formats are acceptable.

References

You must include references in your assignment. This means that every source you quote, summarise or rely on to make a point must be cited in full, either in footnotes to the text or in brackets within the body of the assignment. This shows the examiner that you have researched the topic fully and enables verification of your source material. It also helps the reader to distinguish between your thoughts and those of others and so can avoid accusations of plagiarism.

There are various referencing systems available and the examiners will accept the use of any recognised system as long as it is used consistently. The ‘Harvard system’ is one of the most well-recognised referencing systems and the examiners would recommend using this system as there are numerous detailed guides on this available online. Your references should, however, meet the following basic criteria:

For web sources, you should include the full URL which will take the reader directly to the relevant page. You should also include the date when you last accessed the link.

For books and journals or magazines, you should include the author’s name, the publication and article title and the relevant page numbers.

For unwritten sources (e.g. people you have interviewed), you should include as much detail as possible to enable the examiner to follow up as necessary.

Bibliography

You must include a bibliography as an appendix to your assignment and this should be consistent with the style of in-text referencing system chosen (e.g. using the Harvard System). Your bibliography should contain a list of all the works you have referenced, quoted or relied on within the body of your assignment.

The works you have consulted should be listed alphabetically by author surname and should include the full title, edition, publisher and date of publication. Web resources should be cited with the full URL and the date when you last accessed the relevant page. For example:

Woolf, Simon J; Amber Revolution [Interlink Books 2018] Organisation Internationale de La Vigne et du Vin; State of the Vitiviniculture World Market April 2018 [http://www.oiv.int/public/medias/5958/oiv-state-of-the-vitiviniculture-world-market-april-2018.pdf (last accessed 31/06/19)]

Robinson et al; The Oxford Companion to Wine (4th Edition) [Oxford University Press 2015]

Footnotes and Appendices

Footnotes are a useful tool for including author’s notes or additional information that may otherwise disrupt the flow of the main text. Their content does not form part of the permitted word count.

Where more than a sentence of text appears in a footnote the examiner will consider whether the point being made should have been included in the body of the assignment. If so, it will be disregarded by the examiner and you will not gain marks for that observation.

Appendices are acceptable if you wish to include material that is unsuitable for the main body of text. Material that is vital to your argument should be included in the main body rather than as an appendix.

Collusion and Plagiarism

The D6 Independent Research Assignment must be entirely your own work. This means you should not collaborate with other students or your teachers to produce it. Presenting a piece of work as your own when it is in fact the work of a group is considered collusion.

Plagiarism is claiming another person’s thoughts or work as your own. Copying or paraphrasing material from a fellow student is plagiarism. Take care not to share your notes or research findings with other students if you suspect they may copy them. You may find it difficult to prove that you were the originator of the work and where it is unclear which piece of work is the copy and which the original, both candidates will be penalised.

Quoting directly from a source without using quotation marks or otherwise using information in your assignment (copying or paraphrasing) without referencing the source also constitutes plagiarism. For this reason, you must make sure that every source you have consulted and relied on in the preparation of your assignment is correctly referenced throughout the text and listed in your bibliography.

Penalties for plagiarism and collusion, as with other forms of cheating, include an automatic fail grade for D6. You may also be disqualified from future WSET examinations.

Students are reminded that educators and subject specialists at their APP have been through a registration process with WSET to ensure that they have the necessary qualifications and experience to teach the WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines. WSET does not authorise any individuals to offer private tuition or workshops and any student who uses this type of service does so at their own risk.

Increasingly, upon the release of the D6 briefs individuals not connected to WSET have been producing podcasts or other material addressing the topic set in the brief. Whilst these may prove useful, students should be aware that many other students can end up referencing the same source.

Finding unique examples and using a wide variety of sources will make your work stand out from other candidates.