Methodological Drawbacks In Students’ Final Projects (mémoires)

At the end of their four years of undergraduate studies, the students of the department of English are expected to achieve an acceptable mastery of the language both in oral and written forms. To attain an effective communicative level and to lend their works credibility and substantiality, they have to respect the models of writing. Among these last are the standards of referencing which enable the students to successfully present their ideas in their final projects. They do also enable the readers (examiners, students, and supervisors) to check and verify the writers’ sources, and follow their argumentation. This communication concerns itself with academic matters the main focus of which is the students’ lack of precise methodological ways for presenting their research. In the projects, one can note several drawbacks, among which is the use of academic titles prefixed to the names of the authors. Another remark is that, nowadays, most students rely on the use of Arabic and electronic sources for referencing. The data are drawn from projects submitted during a period spanning from 1999 to 2011