Assignment:
Please choose ONE person to submit on behalf of the group but make sure the cover sheet within the assignment includes all member's names and student IDs on that copy.
Before commencing ...
1. Please thoroughly read the assessment and other information in the MAF707 Unit Guide. It contains important information regarding assessment in this unit.
2. Please monitor Cloud Deakin ‘ANNOUNCEMENTS' and the ‘ASSIGNMENT DISCUSSION' area prior to attempting this assignment.
3. ALL questions regarding this assignment must be left in the ‘ASSIGNMENT DISCUSSION' area. This ensures that we have a transparent process with assistance and all students have access to the same information.
4. YOU WILL COMPLETE THIS ASSIGNMENT IN A GROUP of four members. This assignment will not be completed individually.
5. Be familiar with the assignment submission policy found later in this document under the heading "Assignment Submission Policy".
ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS
To successfully complete this assessment each student group needs to prepare equity research reports for two Australian listed firms. These two firms should be from two different industries.
In general, equity analysts prepare equity research reports for the investors. These reports provide expert opinion about the investment opportunities in companies analysed. These reports also provide clear ‘buy' or ‘sell' recommendation to the investors. The equity research reports for the group assessment should at least include following:
• Basic information about the company: such as-Company name, industry, stock ticker, market capitalization, past return, P/E, etc.
• Description of the business and analysis of its strategic position in the industry.
• Financial analysis-including ratio analysis to explain financial health/strength of the firms. At least past 3 years financial history needs to be analysed.
• Investment recommendations with explanation.
• Large forecast errors related to equity analysis
Please try to stick to the word limit (3000 words). Number of words is calculated excluding tables, graphs/figures and references.
Avoiding plagiarism
What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the using of another person's ideas or expressions without appropriate acknowledgment and presenting these ideas or forms of expression as your own. It includes not only written works such as books or journals but data or images that may be presented in tables, diagrams, designs, plans, photographs, film, music, formulae, web sites and computer programs. Plagiarism also includes the use of the work of lecturers or other students as your own without acknowledgment.
Intention to cheat is irrelevant in determining whether plagiarism has occurred - if you pass off the work of others as your own without acknowledgement, then you have offended, whether you knew you were doing it or not. Even the ‘George Harrison defence' is irrelevant in determining if plagiarism has occurred. George's explanation for ‘My Sweet Lord' sounding like ‘He's So Fine' as recorded by the Chiffons in 1962 was "I did not knowingly copy another's work - it was just in my head so that I assumed it was original". George still plagiarised.
Plagiarism is not limited to the direct copying of another person's work. For example, paraphrasing the work of someone else is still considered to be plagiarism if you do not provide appropriate acknowledgment of the source of the ideas.
Avoiding plagiarism
Plagiarism is avoided by appropriately acknowledging sources of your ideas or expressions. In this unit this entails:
1. Providing an in-text citation using the author-date (Harvard) style at the place where any idea or expression from another source is used, whether directly quoted or paraphrased; and
2. Clearly indicating where material is directly quoted (a direct quote occurs if 5 or more words from another source are used exactly as they are used in the original) by using quotation marks for short quotes or indenting for longer quotes; and
3. Providing a full reference to the source in a list of references at the end of the work, again using the Harvard style. For more details of the Harvard style, see www.deakin.edu.au/studentlife/academic-skills/undergraduate/handouts/ref-index.php