Word count - Report and SLS (Self-reflection)

Hi All, I want to inform you guys that RAP word count has been increased from 6,500 to 7,500 words for Session 27 onward. Ensure that your research report comprise minimum of 7,000 words. For SLS count is 2,000 (Same as before). See latest Information Pack Thank You. FOOTNOTE: The word count is now covered in our Forum FAQs (Trephena)

I have read this and it states that everything in the research report will now be included in the word count. My question is does it include words of graphs and pie charts and so on?. if so, how can i calculate it because Microsoft word does not calculates the words in graphs and charts. Secondly, it doesn't states the same about SLS. so does the title page in SLS be included in the word count?

@jk0323 Yes, everything except for list of references and appendices. You roughly count them but no need to be specific, remember it is always a good approach to give a spread of 90 to 100 words. Thank You.

Dear Hammad, what about references in SLS, should we give them at the end of sls or include with reference list of RAP. Thanks

@bassaniobroke Include within list of references. Thank You.

This thread is to discuss all your word count & breakdown for each of the 3 parts for the RR. Here is mine. Title page + content page : 210 words Part 1 : 900 words Part 2 : 1900 words Part 3 : 4415 words (including wordings in graphs/tables) Total: 7425 words

i have seen somewhere that the number of word should be more than than 7000 words is that true??

Since the word limit is now 7500, it will definitely be better to have at least 7000 words. If you want to increase the chances of passing the RAP, definitely have at least 7000 words. However, I believe that the 6500 word limit can still be used for this session. I know many people from my country are still going to submit 6500 words for their RR.

no dear , 7500 words for this session.

How can i count the words in the graphs?

Manually count them.

@ngswr is that necessary? i mean, words in the graphs, figures.

Not sure, but I manually counted them. It doesn't that time consuming for me cause I only have 7 graphs NOTE Oh please! You do not have to manually count your words! Get real! Is the marker going to sit there and do this when Microsoft Word has a word count facility ? (Trephena) :-)

My word count is Title n contents page 150 Part 1- 834 words Part 2- 1200 Part 3 -5100 Is that ok?

yeah

Salahuddin: i did not count my graphs n tables n the new word count is part 1- 834 part 2- 1450 part 3-5000

while we're on the topic can anyone tell that do we need to do exactly 7500 words or it is the maximum number of words we can do?

@sameed 7500 includes all headings, tables, title page and the contents page and in text references (but not the reference list which that should be loaded as a separate file) and is a guide. It should not be exceeded as I believe that anything after the maximum words has been reached will not be marked. The RAP check list (appendix 6 of the Info Pack) asks "Is your Research Report more than 7,000 words and your SLS more than 1800 words? Any submission under this word count is unlikely to pass."

Hi trephena, I want to ask that if my project's word count is than the 7500 word limit, is it okay ? Does this make an issue ? Thank you for your help.

@nada000 This very much depends on which topic you have done and how well you have done your graphs and charts. It is always a case of quality not quantity ( as long as 7500 words is not exceeded) You need to have done adequate evaluation & analysis - I have detected a trend in markers demanding a better quality of this particularly with T8 - they are starting to expect better comparator analysis for example with more reasoned explanations. If you have done this type of detail in less than 7,500 words, with good graphs, tables and a clear writing style it is possible to pass. However for most RAPs with fewer than 7,000 words it is unlikely that there is sufficient analysis to meet the assessment criteria adequately enough for a pass.

@sadsingh - your RAP grade depends on your evaluation (see p.22 of the Info PacK). So the question really is not the total number of words but how well you have covered this. In the Submission check list there is a question that asks if your RAP is less than 7,000 (but it doesn't make any further comment on this). So I can only say if you have done a quality analysis under 7,500 words that is the important thing. If it is 6,800 you will not be penalised on word count but if the evaluation does not meet the assessment criteria you will fail regardless of the number of words

My SLS was pass, the only reason for my failure in RR was the referencing section. Can word count be a new reason for my failure this time???

@sultanmahmood888- well first the good news that if you failed on Referencing then word count should not really enter the equation. However it has always been the rule that with T8 you must always update your work to include the latest financial statements. Passes are carried forward if you submit on the same topic and same company (but if you change these then it is treated as new from the assessment point of view and then you can be failed on additional sections). Remember the section you have failed on is Information Gathering & Referencing. This should mean that provided your referencing is up to scratch, you use the latest financial statements and your topic & company are the same as in P27 it should pass but you will obviously need to wait until next week to find out for sure.

I used same company and same topic with updated financial statements (Offcourse). I have improved my report just as asked by the marker. I just want to know that word count can be a new reason for my failure this time? or the marker will only check the section on which I got failed last time? As far as I know marker only checks whether a student acts upon the advice given in the feedback or not?

Generally that is true - having marked exam scripts for a professional body I know that markers want to get the jobdone as quickly as poss but to the standards required. There tends to be a bit of a tick-list for these sorts of things like referencing, so having established that the FS and graphs etc are up to date I would expect them to home in on the referencing: looking to see that they are placed in the right place in the text, that you haven't copied & pasted long passages. They would then probably test some of them e.g see if they can locate them in the ref list and then try to retrieve the document using the URL or check via a search engine that the source exists -that type of thing. If they find this all fine then they would pass it I think. However if the fail was for both Info gathering & referencing then they would also look at 'breadth' of sources to see it wasn't all annual reports but normally this also means there was a fail for Evaluation too as the sources were too narrow to give a good adequate evaluation & analysis. As you passed E & A this is unlikely unless they mentioned 'range of sources' in their feedback. :-)

So marker cannot fail me on word count :) I'm not worried about any other reason :p

Well in my previous result they mentioned "Range of Sources" along with "Weak Reference" :( , I am justing hoping that word count would not become a reason for failure this time, because I have adjusted my report to the best of my abilities and accordingly to the feedback. According to me the only reason for my can be this new World Count rule. :(

@sultanmahmood888 The word count is not in itself a cause of failure if you look at the Assessment Criteria. If it is exceeded the markers stop marking but if it is low then the E & A may not be covered adequately - that's it! If you rectified the narrow range of sources problem and the referencing is adequate then there should be no problem :-)

Thanks alot dear :)

@Anna - low word count of itself is not a cause of failure -fact! It has been and still is quality of content -especially in the E&A - not quantity that counts. Too few words and the quality may be compromised. Passing and failing always depends on the marker! but they have to apply the assessment criteria and there are none that relate just to word count. Too many words could technically be a fail for someone submitting in P28 onwards as OBU reserve the right to fail for exceeding the limit and that would most probably be on 5. Communication. I have stated the correct position on this matter in my posts above :-D