Assessment Information
This assignment is designed to assess learning outcomes:
| 1.) Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the range and scope of legal and professional responsibilities within the business sector. |
| 2.) Identify and understand the key concepts of contract and how they relate to business organisations and professional behaviour |
| 3.) Demonstrate an ability to use legal authority appropriately and apply relevant law to a range of business scenarios
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This assignment is an individual assignment.
This assignment requires you to write an individual 2000 word original advice to the following scenario:
Simon has now reached an agreement with Beyoncé for her to be on the judging panel for the new season of his TV show “You’re Hired!” and for her to sing live at the finale for a fee of £10,000,000.
As a gift and by way of thanks Simon arranges for his florist to prepare and deliver a bouquet of flowers to Beyoncé at home. Unfortunately the florist includes the pretty white bell shaped flowers called “Lily of the Valley” not knowing they contain dangerous toxins capable of slowing the heart rate. After she arranges them in water, Beyoncé becomes ill and as her heart rate is so slow she is hospitalised for several days and cannot attend an exclusive photo shoot for Vogue magazine for which she was to be paid £500,000.
Advise Beyoncé:-
Of the responsibilities the florist owes to her under the tort of negligence
AND
- Of any remedy that she may have against them.
AND
- What alternative resolution methods she could consider in an attempt to avoid court action.
Please note that this scenario is fictitious and is to be considered and used only for the purpose of academic debate for this assessment.
Word Count
The word count is 2,000
There will be a penalty of a deduction of 10% of the mark (after internal moderation) for work exceeding the word limit by 10% or more.
The word limit includes quotations, but excludes the final reference list and appendices.
How to submit your assessment
- Your coursework will be given a zero mark if you do not submit a copy through Turnitin. Please take care to ensure that you have fully submitted your work.
- All work submitted after the submission deadline without a valid and approved reason (see below) will be given a mark of zero.
- The University wants you to do your best. However we know that sometimes events happen which mean that you can’t submit your coursework by the deadline – these events should be beyond your control and not easy to predict. If this happens, you can apply for an extension to your deadline for up to two weeks, or if you need longer, you can apply for a deferral, which takes you to the next assessment period (for example, to the resit period following the main Assessment Boards). You must apply before the deadline.
You will find information about the process and what is or is not considered to be an event beyond your control at https://share.coventry.ac.uk/students/Registry/Pages/Deferrals-and-Extension.aspx
- Students MUST keep a copy and/or an electronic file of their assignment.
- Checks will be made on your work using anti-plagiarism software and approved plagiarism checking websites.
GUIDELINES AND BACKGROUND TO THIS ASSIGNMENT
Plagiarism
As part of your study you will be involved in carrying out research and using this when writing up your coursework. It is important that you correctly acknowledge someone else’s writing, thoughts or ideas and that you do not attempt to pass this off as your own work. Doing so is known as plagiarism. It is not acceptable to copy from another source without acknowledging that it is someone else’s writing or thinking. This includes using paraphrasing as well as direct quotations. You are expected to correctly cite and reference the works of others. The Centre for Academic Writing provides documents to help you get this right. If you are unsure, please visit www.coventry.ac.uk/caw. You can also check your understanding of academic conduct by completing the Good Academic Practice quiz available on Moodle.
Moodle includes a plagiarism detection system and assessors are experienced enough to recognise plagiarism when it occurs. Copying another student’s work, using previous work of your own or copying large sections from a book or the internet are examples of plagiarism and carry serious consequences. Please familiarize yourself with the CU Harvard Reference Style (on Moodle) and use it correctly to avoid a case of plagiarism or cheating being brought. Again, if you are unsure, please contact the Centre for Academic Writing, your Academic Personal Tutor or a member of the course team.
Return of Marked Work
You can expect to have marked work returned to you 15 working days after submission. If for any reason there is a delay you will be kept informed. Marks and feedback will be provided online. As always, marks will have been internally moderated only, and will therefore be provisional; your mark will be formally agreed later in the year once the external examiner has completed his / her review.
Criteria for Assessment
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70 – 100%
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In order to secure a mark in this range, a candidate must submit an outstanding answer that could hardly be bettered. In addition to the criteria identified below , for a mark of 70% or above the advice would show an excellent level of understanding and critical/analytic skills
Work in this range will demonstrate a strong understanding of the concepts and issues relating to the tort of negligence and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) under UK law. There will be evidence of wide-ranging application of academic law and case law to the facts
The assignment must be written in a clear, well-structured way with a coherent and seamless flow and show evidence of independent, critical thought. It must show intelligent use of the material to present well-balanced and well-argued advice. For example, the student will have considered a range of relevant issues and be able to assess the strength and weaknesses of various approaches/arguments and put forward a confident and articulate view of their own which is fully supported by appropriate legal sources |
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60 – 69% |
Advice in this mark range will demonstrate a good understanding of the requirements of the assignment and of concepts and issues relating to the tort of negligence. An assignment in this percentage range will include a balanced discussion showing critical thinking and extensive evidence of understanding of tortious terminology, application of relevant principles and use of ADR and case law under UK law.
The answer will be contain few errors and little, if any, irrelevant material. All sources should be of relevant academic merit. Unreferenced material from non-credible internet sources and non UK legal systems MUST be avoided.
All sources must be included and properly referenced in the references. The assignment will be well-organized and clearly written/presented overall. |
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50 – 59%
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The advice will demonstrate reasonable understanding of relevant concepts and issues relating to the duty of care, breach of duty, consequential damage and remedies in negligence together with advice on alternative dispute resolution methods to avoid court action under UK law but with some minor errors of law, fact or understanding. The assignment will not be based on an extensive range of sources, or much evidence that they have been read closely or well-understood. For example, the assignment will retell sources rather than analyze them.
The assignment may be quite general in part. Some errors may be present and some irrelevant material may be included.
The advice may not be particularly well-structured, and/or clearly presented and contain some spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. A few sentences may be unclear. |
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40 – 49%
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A mark within this percentage range will be given to advise which: – Shows some limited basic understanding of the tort of negligence and ADR under UK law but is incomplete. For example, if it answers one part of a question but not the rest. – makes only very general statements – Includes some factual errors or misunderstandings e.g. confusion between different legal concepts or misuse of certain key legal terms. – shows limited use and understanding of material, not all of which are included in the references – Includes spelling mistakes, is poorly structured with no clear argument and grammar mistakes making it difficult to understand. – Includes some irrelevant material. |
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35 – 39% |
A mark within this percentage range will be given to an assignment which: – Includes only a limited and/or simplistic amount of relevant material. – Shows little evidence of reading the course materials on the topic. – Shows only a very basic understanding and /or application of the tort of negligence and ADR under UK law. – Is poorly presented with bad grammar, some spelling mistakes and an incomplete reference list. – Has a poor structure and does not flow e.g. if there is no conclusion or new facts are introduced in the conclusion rather than introduction or main discussion. – Contains some fundamental errors. |
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20 – 34%
0 – 19% |
A poor fail on this assignment means the assignment submitted: – Is poor and suggests that the student has spent very little time on it e.g. if the answer is considerably under the word requirement and/or presented in note form rather than as a fully written up piece of advice. – Bears little relation to the assignment topic. – Shows a poor understanding of, concepts and issues relating to the tort of negligence and ADR under UK law and to the learning outcomes detailed in this document. – Contains some or many fundamental errors and misunderstandings of the academic or other material used. For example many of the facts cited are incorrect. – Uses literature or other material which is largely irrelevant or has no academic value – Is poorly structured and poorly presented. For example, sentences may be hard to understand and contain many spelling or grammatical mistakes. – Contains no references.
Work within this mark range shows a complete failure to meet the requirements of the assignment. A mark in this range will be given for advice which: – Is below 500 words in length. – Bears no link to the question chosen and shows very little or no knowledge or understanding of any of the concepts and issues relating to the tort of negligence and ADR under UK law. The answer may be fundamentally wrong or trivial. – Contains no references and/or evidence of relevant reading. – Shows little understanding of the requirements of the assignment and only a vague knowledge of the subject area. – Includes numerous fundamental errors in the understanding or presentation of the material discussed. There is a general lack of facts/evidence and what is provided is mostly incorrect and/or irrelevant. – Is poorly structured and poorly presented. Spelling and grammar are poor. Many sentences are incomprehensible. – The examiners do not feel could be described as a serious attempt by any reasonable standards.
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