Last Updated on 06/11/2024
This page under review following a review of the Thesis Preparation Assignment (TPA) with updates to the page due in September 2024.
This guidance relates to the preparation of all documents except the thesis
General Guidance on submissions
All written coursework for the programme needs to be submitted online via the University’s Moodle virtual learning environment. This page provides a guide to let you know how to prepare and make your submissions, and tells you what happens after they are submitted.
Making a submission
Self- Assessment Exercise written report (SAE)
- A title page (set out in accordance with the guidance provided below) including word count (please state this for part 1 and part 2 of the SAE form separately) and trainee number
- SAE form with appendices attached as set out within the SAE form
Thesis Preparation Assignment (TPA)
- TPA assignment document
- Title page (set out in accordance with the guidance provided below) including word count (max 4,500), trainee number, title of the TPA
- The main body of the literature review
- A completed thesis proposal (1,500 words)
- The TPA Review Topic form (as approved by assignment co-ordinator)
- Thesis proposal (same version as in the assignment document)
Placement Assignment – Live Skills 1, 2 & 3 (PALS)
Your report should be submitted via Moodle. It should include;
- Front sheet at the start of the document
- Intro section
- Transcript template (complete with timings)
- Critical appraisal section
- References/appendices
Your video should be submitted via OneDrive.
Your supervisor also needs to send in a Supervisor Declaration Form to dclinpsymarking@Lancaster.ac.uk – this confirms that appropriate consent has been sought for the work.
Refer to the PALS handbook pages for more detail.
Placement Assignment – Service Evaluation (PASE)
- Title page (set out in accordance with the guidance provided below) including word count, trainee number, title of the PASE
- The report
- The PASE proposal form
- Documentary confirmation from the relevant NHS R&D department that the work included in the report will be classified as a service evaluation
- Any relevant protocols, participant information sheets or other materials either used during the conduct of the project or submitted to the R&D department to gain approval
Getting the right layout
General Presentation
Apart from specific exceptions (e.g. the SAE), trainees are required to submit their written work in APA (American Psychological Association) style. This includes all citation and referencing. Copies of the latest APA manual are available from the DClinPsy library resources. The APA style website also gives lots of advice.
The 2021 cohort and later cohorts should use APA 7th edition. The 2020 cohort and earlier cohorts may use APA 6th or 7th edition, but the style chosen should be stated on the assignment cover sheet.
APA 6th recommends 12-point Times New Roman. APA 7th allows a variety of fonts including sans serif fonts 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, or 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode and serif fonts such as 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Georgia, or normal (10-point) Computer Modern. The programme’s choice in its documents is 12-point Trebuchet. The text should be black on a white background. Use at least 1.5 line spacing for the main body of text. Tables can be 1.5 spaced or single spaced
The Title Page
The title page should include the following aspects:
- Title – all submissions should have a title descriptive of the specific content (e.g. NOT just ‘PALS1 initial report’, but ‘PALS1 Initial report regarding work with a staff team around a client with anxiety difficulties’)
- Trainee number – your trainee number is provided by the programme, it is not your university ID number
- Word count – this must be accurate and work will be returned to you if it is over the word limit (or if it claims to be over the limit), even by one word. Like completeness, we only check this after the deadline, so this is another way of being penalised for lateness. For assignments that have separate word limits for specific sections you must list the word count for each section here.
- You might also wish to have a running head and some further detail (name of assignment, place of study) but this is not essential.
Uploading your submission to Moodle
Please name your file in the following format before uploading it:
[Trainee Number]+[Assignment name]+[Month & Year] (e.g. 2201PALS1February2018.docx)
To make your electronic submission, you should log in to Moodle and click on the link for the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology VLE section and then the assignment submission area.
You will see the name of the assignment, which has a TurnItIn icon next to it. After clicking on the assignment you are presented with the Summary page outlining the name of the assignment. To submit your assignment, you should now click on the tab labelled “Add Submission”.
Drag and drop the file to submit. You must tick to accept the declaration in the form before clicking the Add Submission button.
If you have queries about the technical elements of the submission then please email Jen Whitfield.
APA style: a general guide
APA 7 quick reference guide
Specimen title page