LEARNER GUIDE
Learner guide
National 4 Assignment – Learner Overview
This unit is a research-based assignment. You have to research a topic or
issue related to the Course, that you are interested in and present a finished
product that shows that you have researched and developed your knowledge
and understanding within your chosen area of study. Your final product can
take a variety of forms and this should be discussed and agreed with your
practitioner who will be able to assess what resources are available for you to
utilise.
It may prove helpful to keep a checklist to help you with planning your time
and organising tasks.
After you have worked on your project for a number of periods or weeks it
might help to complete a midpoint check to help you evaluate the work that
you have completed so far and to assess what still needs to be completed.
You should discuss your next steps with your practitioner.
Guidelines for planning how your assignment may look
Decide on a topic – your practitioner will help you with this
 Choose an issue/topic from the course that you find interesting.
 Choose an issue/topic where you can show off your knowledge and
understanding.
 Be clear what it is you are doing; if you are unsure what you should be
doing ask for help.
Thinking about your assignment
 What are you going to do and how are you going to do it? Obviously it’s
no good planning to use film if you don’t have access to the right
equipment.
 Be realistic – you have deadlines to work to. Discuss deadlines with your
practitioner and work within the agreed deadlines.
 Brainstorm. If someone else is investigating the same topic why not do it
together?
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LEARNER GUIDE
 What would you like your project to look like? Where are your strengths?
Can you use skills from other areas of the curriculum to help y ou?
 Make a list of possible sources and resources. What books are available in
school? Use the internet appropriately – there are a lot of sites that provide
information that may be very biased, out of date or inaccurate.
 Your practitioner can help you with your assignment.
Research a range of information sources and use them to help present
your ideas
 Gather relevant information. Use up-to-date statistics and laws where
appropriate. Make sure that you use credible sources.
 Explain the issue/topic in detail.
 Make sure you understand the words you use . Don’t plagiarise.
 Keep a note of all the sources that you use. You can use this later to
provide evidence of the research you have done.
Discuss some religious, philosophical and/or moral aspects of the topic
 Include different viewpoints. These may be from within one religion, from
a variety of religions or from philosophers or other relevant groups/people .
 Present arguments about the issue/topic.
 You might refer to a wide selection or choose a more select in-depth
approach.
Present your findings
 You can state your own ideas and opinions about the issue or you can
discuss the ideas and opinions of others. This is a chance for you to put
across your findings, so your ideas should be backed up with evidence
from the research you have done.
Evaluate your work
 Complete an evaluation sheet.
 Be reflective. How do you think you did? What could be improved? What
are you really pleased about?
 Be honest.
 Ask your practitioner for feedback.
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ADDED VALUE UNIT (NATIONAL 4, RMPS)
© Crown copyright 2012