Please read this document in its entirety before attempting your assignment.
RMY 101 Assignment fall 2020
Instructions :
1. Begin in the Name of Allah SWT
2. Read the question carefully and ensure that you understand what is required of you.
3. Plan the structure of your academic research essay prior to writing it.
4. Ensure that you use the APA referencing system for your assignment with in-text
citations and a bibliography/ list of references at the end. Access online tutorials from
the net to guide your usage of APA. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with
the APA convention. As you a university student, please consult various sources on the
net to clarify any concepts that are new to you (in-text citations, academic essay
structure, etc.). Assignments that do not have in-text citations AND an end reference list
will not be accepted.
5. Do not submit any part of the assignment as a scanned copy of handwritten text.
6. Ensure that you structure your academic research essay with an introduction, body and
conclusion.
7. Critically analyse the literature (websites, books, articles, transcripts, etc.). Ensure you
demonstrate critical analysis in the writing of your essay. Access online tutorials that can
guide you to review literature critically.
8. Adhere to the following formatting :-
a. Spacing: 1.5 (as in MS Word) You may use single spacing if completed in
another programme.
b. Regular Text: Arial, Size 12
9. Once you have uploaded your essay, please ensure that your Similarity Index
(percentage) is far below 50%. Submissions exceeding 50% will automatically be
rejected. Remember to paraphrase content more often than using direct quotations as
this will lower the index. All resources, whether directly quoted, paraphrased or
summarized must contain in-text citations and full references at the end.
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Academic Research Essay
Write an academic essay of 800-1000 words and typed in Arial, size 12. All
references must be clearly indicated (in-text citations) with a complete
reference list attached to the essay. Essays without in-text citations and a
reference list at the end will not be accepted.
Choose ONE of the following topics:
Topic 1
Explore the concept of being a Muslim researcher in the 21st century.
Consider precautions, challenges and opportunities. Make reference to
literature to justify your arguments. Ensure you apply all principles of
Research Methodology in the writing of your essay.
Topic 2
Write a descriptive essay on a leading Muslim scholar/researcher of the
current day. Provide a biographical account of his/her life and explore some
of his/her publications. Do not conduct any personal interviews with your
subject. Rely on secondary research to support your work and make
reference to literature to justify your arguments.
Assessment Rubric
Presentation & formatting /5
Introduction to essay (academic format) /5
Paragraph structure and content / 30
Conclusion /5
Relevance as per the question / 10
Language usage, grammar, academic style / 10
Referencing / 30
Paper length /5
/ 100
All the best, Insha Allah.
Your lecturer,
Nazeefah Raban
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Uploading Instructions
1. Create a new MS Word file. Before typing your answer please add the following information
on the first page:
• Student Name:
• Student ID:
• Course Name/Code:
• Assignment Question:
• Attempt Count: (1 or 2) [Type 1 if it is your first attempt. Type 2 if you are uploading a
revised version of your assignment after checking the plagiarism percentage.]
2. Please upload as a Word Document only; do not make a PDF file and upload it.
3. Before you upload, you should suffix your name to the file name along with the course code
and your attempt count. E.g., if a student is uploading RMY 101 assignment for the first time, then
the file name should be as follows: RMY101_FirstName_1.
5. Kindly note that you only have one attempt to submit your task.
6.Double check your document before submitting and uploading your task.
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IOU’S Plagiarism Policy
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the universe and peace and blessing be upon the last
messenger Muhammad and all those who follow his path with righteousness until the Last Day.
Please read and understand this policy in details before attempting any assignments at IOU.
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, "He who deceives us is not one of us." (Saheeh
Muslim)
Definition of Plagiarism:
A common form of deception in studies is plagiarism. Plagiarism is sometimes misunderstood to
refer to copying alone; however, plagiarism is much deeper than just copying. It includes quoting
without proper references, collaboration, and stealing other people's ideas while passing them
off as one’s own. Plagiarism is the “failure to acknowledge the ideas or writing of another” or
“presentation of the ideas or writing of another as one’s own” and should be read to cover
intentional and unintentional failure to acknowledge the ideas of others. In this context “others”
means any other person including a student, academic, professional, published author or other
resource such as the Internet. The Islamic Online University believes that failing to acknowledge
the use of ideas of others constitutes an important breach of Islamic and academic values and
conventions of the institution.
IOU Stance on Plagiarism
The Islamic Online University will not tolerate plagiarism in any form, and any student caught
plagiarizing will be penalized. Depending on the severity of the plagiarism, the penalty could range
from reduction of marks to rejection of the paper itself.
With respect to the assignments, the following constitutes plagiarism:
1) Copying someone else's assignment
2) Collaboration and working together on an assignment
3) Copying and Pasting entire articles of the internet
4) Quoting someone else’s work without referencing the author
5) Using someone else’s ideas or words without referencing them
To avoid plagiarism, be sure to:
• Use quotation marks around a quote and cite the source.
• Reference all quotations and citations
• Reword/paraphrase. Don’t write word for word what you have read. Take notes first in
your own words, then write your assignment from your notes (not the text).
For more information on how to avoid plagiarism and how to properly cite a source, visit the
following websites:
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http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/college-success/10314.html
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/plagiarism.html
You may also test your understanding of plagiarism by using this link:
https://ilrb.cf.ac.uk/plagiarism/tutorial/whatis1.html
Similarity Indicator
IOU reserves the right to submit all academic assignments to a plagiarism checker to produce
similarity ratings for each assignment. The similarity indicator provides a rating of how similar text
in the assignment is to resources available on the Internet.
In line with universal academic writing practices, IOU prefers that text be paraphrased in the
words of the student and not quoted directly, with the original author of the knowledge being
duly cited and referenced.
As a University-wide norm, IOU recommends that the similarity indicator does not exceed 20%.
Result of Plagiarism
Assignments that contain a rating higher than 50% will be automatically rejected and validated
for plagiarism with a manual check by the tutorial assistant or relevant academic. The student will
be given a grade of 0 and there will be no second chances for submitting the assignment.
The Tutorial Assistant or relevant academic will use the similarity rating in determining the final
grade of the submission.
Remember that we are Muslims studying Allah’s religion, and so plagiarizing in Islamic Studies is
a sin and can rob your studies of reward.
May Allah bless you all with success with your coursework. Ameen.
IOU Admin.
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