Essay guidelines for MN1019 Foundations of Finance Academic Year 2015 – 2016Deadline March 18, 2016
Please read this document also in conjunction with the essay elaborated by a second year student in the past on a similar topic (Northern Rock – How A System of Financial Growth Brought the Bank to its Knees).
Here are some brief essay guidelines for the coursework requirement of MN1019.
I. Weight and word count
1. The weight of the essay in your overall mark is 30%.
2. Word count on the essay is 1500 words (this excludes the bibliography).
3. You do not need to have precisely 1500 words in your essay. However, try to
stay within about +/-10% of this word limit.
4. Please type your essay and double space it with font size 12.
II. Essay topic choice
• This year the topic for the essay will be:
The Different Forms of Market Efficiency: Theoretical Arguments and
Experimental Evidence
Devote one section of your essay to discuss the three forms in which the financial literature typically expresses the efficient market hypothesis. Devote another section of your essay on your arguments why you think (or not think) these forms of efficiency actually hold in the financial market.
You are free to focus on a topic that relates to the three forms of market efficiency. You can consider different theoretical arguments, for example, you can start with the arguments we have developed during our lectures. You can also consider how existing literature refers to the empirical tests of the weak, semi-strong and strong forms of market efficiency. Is there any empirical evidence that one or more of these forms are actually violated in the financial market? You can finally consider possible connections between the efficient market hypothesis and the rational behaviour of investors.
DO PLEASE MAKE SURE THOUGH THAT YOU DEVOTE ONE SECTION OF YOUR ESSAY TO DISCUSS THE DIFFERENT FORMS OF MARKET EFFICIENCY AND THEIR CONNECTIONS WITH PRICES PREDICTABILITY. DO ALSO MAKE SURE YOU DEVOTE ANOTHER SECTION OF YOUR PAPER ON YOUR ARGUMENTS WHY YOU THINK (OR NOT THINK) THE VARIOUS FORMS OF EFFICIENCY ACTUALLY HOLD IN THE FINANCIAL MARKET.
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III.Referencing and minimum structure
1. If you use work from other sources (journals for instance) then you need to properly reference your use of those sources!!! This is VERY IMPORTANT. All of your essays will be submitted to the plagiarism checking software – ‘TURN IT IN’. Your essay is YOUR work. Please peruse the essay – “Northern Rock: How A System of Financial Growth Brought the Bank to its Knees” as an essay which gives a good example of the reference use.
2. All essays must contain the structure of: I. Introduction; II. A title of your choice which refers to the main part of your essay; III +IV. TWO SECTIONS WHICH DEAL WITH AN ANALYSIS OF THE THREE FORMS OF MARKET EFFICENCY (SECTION III OF YOUR ESSAY) AND ARGUMENTS ON WHY YOU THINK THAT THESE FORMS OF EFFICIENCY EFFECTIVELY HOLD IN THE FINANCIAL MARKET (SECTION IV OF YOUR ESSAY); and V. Conclusion. Please peruse the essay – “Northern Rock: How A System of Financial Growth Brought the Bank to its Knees” as an essay which gives a good example of a basic structure.
Please note: you can have as many sections as you want in the main body of the paper.
Please note: the template essay in points 1. and 2. was written by a student of the second year, not first year. Hence, you should take it as a good example for writing references and structuring your essay. But, you do not have to refer to it in terms of content and expectations.
IV . Hint
Essays, which contain ideas of your own, will very often be good essays. A key criterion I look for when assessing your essay is: has the student been thinking about (an) issue (s) he/she is raising in the essay.