Student Learning Unit, Victoria University, Melbourne

1. What makes a good team leader?
2. What are some ways of keeping a team motivated over time?
3. How do you get team members to take “ownership” of the project?
4. What is the best way to facilitate  communication within the team?
5. How do you get members to stick to the ground rules?
6. How can a team leader get the team to work brilliantly?
7. How can you develop a culture of co-operation in your team?
8. How can we make sure the team is continually improving?
9. What are some of the most common mistakes that teams make?

Have a look at this video and try to answer the questions
 

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Business Law

Workshop Notes (Semester 2, 2007)

Notes are now available from the workshop conducted on the Business Law Research Essay. Another workshop will be conducted on exam preparation at the end of Semester 2 (details to follow). Business Law Online Have you checked out the SLU  Business Law Online? It’s full of lots of useful information to help you with your studies. It can help in areas such as: 
The Legal System 
Cases
Research Essay
Lectures
Exams
Exercises

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Corporate Law

Workshop Notes (Semester 2, 2007)

There are also notes available from the Corporate Law Essay Assignment workshop which was held in Semester 2, 2007.

If you have any queries about business/ corporate law, or on how this resource could be improved, feel free to leave a comment/ reply below!

First, though, have a  look at the video below from Youtube, which shows a debate taking place on the topic of a controversial TV programme on the topic of global warming. As you watch, try to answer these questions:

What do you think the argument is?
What is the counter-argument?
How do the speakers try to convince or persuade the audience?

 .

If this is you, then read on………

The information below is about the various steps or stages in academic writing, with links to useful websites and other materials to help you on your way. Although the info is in a particular order, in practice, writers usually move freely between the steps. It is a good idea, however, to analyse the question at the beginning so that you are on the right track from the start.

(You can view the following steps as a Slideshow)

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Getting Started 

Essays will almost always ask you to answer a question. The question (or “essay topic”) will contain a key word or Process Words which is a guide to the way in which you should set about answering the question (have a look at an earlier post on Analysing Essay Questions for further help if you need it).

You should also consider what genre or writing style is required:

• Case Study
• Literature Review
• Report
• Annotated Bibliography
• Journal
• Essay
  

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Exploring Your Topic 

Think about what you know about the subject. Write it down in some way. Develop your ideas into a preliminary plan.

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Getting The Information You Need 

Use the Preliminary Plan to guide you in Information Finding.

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Creating A Working Plan 

When you have a basic understanding of the reading, prepare a Working Plan.

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Preparing Your Final Draft 

Use your Working Plan to prepare a first draft of the body of the essay, making sure you Write Good Paragrphs (using an academic writing style).

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Avoiding Plagiarism 

Be careful to Avoid Plagiarism by using other writers’ ideas and words carefully. in the text of your essay, try to use a variety of Reporting Verbs to refer to other writers’ work. This will help you develop a Critical Writing Style.

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Drafting An Introduction And Conclusion 

Draft an Introduction And Conclusion

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Preparing Your Reference List 

Prepare the reference list. For Oxford and Harvard systems in particular, see Reference List.

You might also like to have a look at the VU Library resources on referencing. After a break, Revise And Proofread, using the Essay Checklist.

If you have any queries about academic writing, or on how this resource could be improved, feel free to leave a comment/ reply below!

Students sometimes do not get the grades they expect in their essays and exams. This can be because their writing skills are not up to scratch, or they do not know the subject very well. In many cases, though, it can be because they have not fully understood what the essay question is asking them to do i.e. what the question means. If this sounds familiar, then read on…..

When you get your essay question, it is important to analyse it carefully. Most questions can be broken down into the following components:

1. Directive – words such as ‘trace’, ‘evaluate’, ‘compare’
2. Information
3. Focus

To find out how to identify these components in your question, and how to use them to analyse your question, then have a look at Analysing Questions at Learning Connections, University of South Australia.

The SLU also has some very useful resources that you can look at: a Glossary of Process Words, which gives a list of the most common ‘directives’ (or ‘instruction words’) such as ‘analyse’, compare’, ‘trace’ and so on, and Getting Started on Your Essay, which shows you how to break your essay question down and analyse it (includes examples of essay questions from Accounting Information Systems).

Remember that you can also discuss your analysis of the question with your subject lecturer or tutor. There is also the option of posting your query on the SLU Discussion Board and one of our Lecturers will get back in touch with you.