Professional word-processing of A level project?

[Pebbles574]

Would be interested in people's views on this.

A student has to submit a written report for an A level subject - produced in Word, with lots of sections/ screen grabs, bibliography etc. Probably about 80 -100 pages.

The mark scheme clearly identifies that marks are given for written content and ideas/ report of progression of the project i.e. not explicitly for 'presentation'.

The student, who is not especially competent on Word, wants to send the final document to a third party who will properly format it into a professional looking report for about £20.
All the content would be provided and would remain unchanged - it would just be made to look 'tidier.'

Acceptable or not?

I think it's ok. Back in the day it was normal for people to ask for their dissertations to be typed up.

Does the student have some sort of special need though? I ask because if they don't, in any job in future they're going to need basic competence in Microsoft Office products. If they can learn how to do it themselves it would be a good skillset to learn.

Unnecessary rather than unacceptable I would think. Presumably the report has to be the student's own work?

I agree with 80pp. Unless the student in question has specific special needs that make it difficult for them to use Word, learning how to use that programme well enough to do the formatting/laying out themselves is a valuable skill in itself.

Again assuming no special needs I'd be amazed you get to A level stage without being able to do that properly yourself.

Far better (albeit time-consuming) for the student to do this themselves.
Word has a number of templates which will help with formatting reports, which, with a little practice, are easy to use.

If the student is intending to go on to have a professional career one day being able to use word is probably a more useful long term life skill than knowing the information in the project.

Just to be clear, the student's own report would be 'OK' level of layout/formatting, but he wants a highly 'finished' looking version.

I'm not sure I agree about the time spent learning extended level Word skills being worth it - in all the (professional level) places I've worked we've always had admin people who would take the 'raw' material and work it up into a 'client-ready' presentation format.

I don't really have a problem with this (and yes, the student is my child!) but I've discovered that some people consider it on a par with 'essay-writing' services, which I DO agree are wrong.

Who will be marking this magnum opus?

If it's an external examiner, I wouldn't be surprised if the document is returned to the examination centre so that the centre staff can verify that it's the work of the student whose name and number is on the cover sheet.

If it's an internal marker (ie a teacher of the same subject in the school) it does seem a bit doubtful, as that person would have a vested interest in ensuring a high mark.

If the latter, get your son/daughter to ask the subject teacher to explain how many marks are given for presentation, (OP says none) and what the rules are. If it's permitted get him/her to pay with own pocket money.

How would candidates who are visually impaired, or genuinely unable to type be able to submit a document of this kind? It sounds a bit fishy.

Seek the advice of the exam board, and get the student to think about why they want to do this and of what actual benefit it will be?

Students need to sign and hand in a form declaring that the work handed in is all their own work and declare any assistance given. The form for AQA coursework is attached store.aqa.org.uk/admin/crf_pdf/AQA-CDS-18.PDF.
If the work submitted to the teacher is of a significantly different standard to their usual homework would think the teacher would be suspicious.
If it's suspected by the external moderator, there is a significant risk that your ds could be disqualified (zero marks) for receiving unauthorized help.
This may seem harsh but have seen it happen!

I'm not sure I agree about the time spent learning extended level Word skills being worth it - in all the (professional level) places I've worked we've always had admin people who would take the 'raw' material and work it up into a 'client-ready' presentation format.

For the love of all that is holy, please don't let your child become yet another 'professional' adult who can't edit and format their own work

I think this is completely unacceptable, and would agree that it's not dissimilar to essay-writing services. Paying someone else to do any part of coursework is not okay.

Producing a neatly laid out Word document doesn't require any advanced knowledge of word, there are even templates available. Using outline mode will make things a bit easier (that was a game changer for me in uni!).

FWIW, I'm a professional and I produce my own reports.

Spam - I'm also a professional and can produce my own reports, however the view taken by my company is that given my hourly rate it's more efficient/ profitable for me to spend my time on the actual content, rather than fiddling around with fonts and spacing and general 'tarting up' as it gets called. The team who do that are way better than me at it anyway, so it seems a fair division of labour!

Thanks for the links to exam board regulations - I'll take a look.
It's an internally assessed project, with I think, a selection of the projects then being externally moderated.
He asked his teacher if he could ask someone else to help with formatting and his teacher said it didn't matter if he did as it's only the content that is marked. However he believes that a well presented document creates a better overall impression, and he has nothing to lose by doing it ( so long as it is not against the rules, clearly).

Assuming it's the EPQ - your child should do it themselves including the referencing. Which will take forever.bitter experience

In most industries these days having admin bods to make stuff look nice is a luxury so it's a useful skill to learn.

OK, so I've looked at JCQ guidelines for assessed work and found this line:

• candidates must not submit work that has been word processed by a third party without acknowledgement;

So it looks as if it's a no no. Perhaps his teacher didn't understand what he meant.

While I agree it's a useful skill to have, I do think some people are just naturally better at layout/ design etc and can do it much quicker. And people do subconsciously react to the professionalism of a piece of work I.e. The same words in a poorly presented document are less likely to be accepted than in a polished, professional one.

I think it’s the wrong thing to do. At university your child will have to get to grips with doing this sort of thing themselves. For example ensuring that assignments are double-spaced in word, that the margins are

Sorry- hit send too quickly.
...margins are correctly set. Better that they learn now.

This is ridiculous!

OK, so as I've already said down thread I've established that he couldn't do this unless he declared it, so it's not going to happen.

However, I'm surprised by how many people are saying 'ridiculous' and 'he needs to learn to do it for uni' etc.
People pay 'experts' to do tasks for them all the time - it's normally a much more efficient way of getting things done. I can decorate, do gardening, do my tax return, alter clothing, clean my house etc perfectly adequately if I have to, but in all cases I usually get someone else (who does these tasks all the time for a living) to do these things for me, and that then frees up time for me to do what I choose to do for my work. It just makes sense.

As a pp said, students have been getting their dissertations professionally typed up for years and there's a HUGE market these days for services such as this one: proofreadmyessay.co.uk/services/formatting

Unless you go on to be an academic, you might only write one, or two, huge dissertations at uni and £30 sounds like a bargain, especially if you are short on time.

Most of those services though find themselves on the wrong side of plagiarism. Look at the title of the site you posted - you're supposed to proof read your own stuff at uni, getting someone else to do it for you is cheating.

When you pay your gardener you're not then pretending to have done the gardening yourself are you and entering yourself at Chelsea?!

You don't then use academic credits gained from work your cleaner/gardener etc does towards achieving qualifications though. It's not comparable.

Things is, you’re not being assessed on your gardening or your DIY.

As you say presentation of reports can make a big difference, which is exactly why I think it would be ridiculous if students could pay someone else to do that for them without needing to declare it, or be marked on a level footing with those who did it themselves.

Typing up dissertations is becoming increasingly uncommon (given that typing work is now standard, it would be very unusual to hand write a dissertation before typing up these days). It’s also becoming increasingly contentious in the universities I’m acquainted with.

As long as it’s not ICT, it should be fine. Best to check with the school exam officer.

There's a MASSIVE difference between essay writing/plagiarism and proof-reading and formatting!!

I'm sorry titchy but this is bollocks:
" you're supposed to proofread your own stuff at uni, getting someone else to do it for you is cheating"

Universities offer guidance on how to go about getting your work proofread! (e.g. see documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=29482)

I agree nobody is likely to handwrite a thesis, but mostly people type up something in a basic Word document and list their references etc at the end, but then a proofreader/ formatting person will correctly lay it out, according to the various academic conventions.
You get your degree for the quality of your research and thinking - not your typing skills, but as I said before, a well presented document makes a better impression.

By the way, on the subject of Chelsea, you DO realise that the garden designers don't do their own digging and planting don't you? They do the thinking, research, design and then let someone else do the execution.
So it's exactly the same!