how are university assignments marked

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Understanding how markers operate will help you to write an assignment that meets (or exceeds!) their expectations. This section describes your marker's perspective when reading assignments.

In this section

• Using assignment feedback

Related sections

• Introduction to academic writing
• Editing and proofreading

Page authorised by Director - Centre for Learner Success Last updated on 25 October, 2012

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How to use the rubric

• Read through the assignment rubric alongside the assignment task instructions.
• Make a note of anything that is not clear and ask your lecturers or tutors for clarification.
• While you are doing your assignment, keep referring to the rubric to make sure you are on track.
• Before you hand in your assignment, have another look at the rubric to make a judgement of your work and make changes if needed.

How to learn from feedback

When you get your assignment back, it is very tempting to just look at the mark or grade and ignore any  written feedback .

Look at the marks on the rubric to understand the feedback given for your assignment. It can sometimes feel challenging to read comments that are critical of your work, especially when you believe that you have put a lot of effort into the assignment. Feedback can be very useful to you as it:

• Enables you to build on what you have done correctly.
• Helps you to identify where you went wrong.
• Identifies where you need to make improvements so that you can do better next time.

If you need to clarify any feedback you have been given, be proactive and contact your lecturer. Most lecturers have office hours where you can see them to discuss any course-related issues. Discuss the feedback with them so that you understand what you might need to improve for your next assignment.

Can I get feedback before I submit my assignment?

Some courses provide an opportunity for peer review or lecturer feedback prior to submission of the assignment. This is a way of getting early feedback so that you can improve the assignment before you hand it in. In most cases you will be guided in this process by your lecturer through your Canvas course page.

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5 tips on writing better university assignments

Lecturer in Student Learning and Communication Development, University of Sydney

Disclosure statement

Alexandra Garcia does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

University of Sydney provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

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University life comes with its share of challenges. One of these is writing longer assignments that require higher information, communication and critical thinking skills than what you might have been used to in high school. Here are five tips to help you get ahead.

1. Use all available sources of information

Beyond instructions and deadlines, lecturers make available an increasing number of resources. But students often overlook these.

For example, to understand how your assignment will be graded, you can examine the rubric . This is a chart indicating what you need to do to obtain a high distinction, a credit or a pass, as well as the course objectives – also known as “learning outcomes”.

Other resources include lecture recordings, reading lists, sample assignments and discussion boards. All this information is usually put together in an online platform called a learning management system (LMS). Examples include Blackboard , Moodle , Canvas and iLearn . Research shows students who use their LMS more frequently tend to obtain higher final grades.

If after scrolling through your LMS you still have questions about your assignment, you can check your lecturer’s consultation hours.

2. Take referencing seriously

Plagiarism – using somebody else’s words or ideas without attribution – is a serious offence at university. It is a form of cheating.

In many cases, though, students are unaware they have cheated. They are simply not familiar with referencing styles – such as APA , Harvard , Vancouver , Chicago , etc – or lack the skills to put the information from their sources into their own words.

To avoid making this mistake, you may approach your university’s library, which is likely to offer face-to-face workshops or online resources on referencing. Academic support units may also help with paraphrasing.

You can also use referencing management software, such as EndNote or Mendeley . You can then store your sources, retrieve citations and create reference lists with only a few clicks. For undergraduate students, Zotero has been recommended as it seems to be more user-friendly.

Using this kind of software will certainly save you time searching for and formatting references. However, you still need to become familiar with the citation style in your discipline and revise the formatting accordingly.

3. Plan before you write

If you were to build a house, you wouldn’t start by laying bricks at random. You’d start with a blueprint. Likewise, writing an academic paper requires careful planning: you need to decide the number of sections, their organisation, and the information and sources you will include in each.

Research shows students who prepare detailed outlines produce higher-quality texts. Planning will not only help you get better grades, but will also reduce the time you spend staring blankly at the screen thinking about what to write next.

During the planning stage, using programs like OneNote from Microsoft Office or Outline for Mac can make the task easier as they allow you to organise information in tabs. These bits of information can be easily rearranged for later drafting. Navigating through the tabs is also easier than scrolling through a long Word file.

4. Choose the right words

Which of these sentences is more appropriate for an assignment?

a. “This paper talks about why the planet is getting hotter”, or b. “This paper examines the causes of climate change”.

The written language used at university is more formal and technical than the language you normally use in social media or while chatting with your friends. Academic words tend to be longer and their meaning is also more precise. “Climate change” implies more than just the planet “getting hotter”.

To find the right words, you can use SkELL , which shows you the words that appear more frequently, with your search entry categorised grammatically. For example, if you enter “paper”, it will tell you it is often the subject of verbs such as “present”, “describe”, “examine” and “discuss”.

Another option is the Writefull app, which does a similar job without having to use an online browser.

5. Edit and proofread

If you’re typing the last paragraph of the assignment ten minutes before the deadline, you will be missing a very important step in the writing process: editing and proofreading your text. A 2018 study found a group of university students did significantly better in a test after incorporating the process of planning, drafting and editing in their writing.

You probably already know to check the spelling of a word if it appears underlined in red. You may even use a grammar checker such as Grammarly . However, no software to date can detect every error and it is not uncommon to be given inaccurate suggestions.

So, in addition to your choice of proofreader, you need to improve and expand your grammar knowledge. Check with the academic support services at your university if they offer any relevant courses.

Written communication is a skill that requires effort and dedication. That’s why universities are investing in support services – face-to-face workshops, individual consultations, and online courses – to help students in this process. You can also take advantage of a wide range of web-based resources such as spell checkers, vocabulary tools and referencing software – many of them free.

Improving your written communication will help you succeed at university and beyond.

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How we mark your work

The University has a 13-step process that is followed to ensure that your work is marked fairly and consistently. This applies to every piece of summative work that you submit.

To help explain this process, we have created a short animation and an infographic  so that you can see what happens at each step. 

File 101101 - MySurrey Mark Journey Infographic V4[2].pdf (622.06 KB)

If you have any questions about this process or would like to find out more then please search MySurrey Help , which has lots of useful articles about many aspects of University life.

Our 13 steps for marking your assessments 

• Your lecturer works out what assessment to set so you can show what you’ve learnt. A team of other Surrey academics monitor this. They make sure that the type, amount and weight or value are right. An ‘External Examiner’ (an academic from another university) might also review your lecturer’s approach to assessment as well at this stage. 
• Your lecturer shares details of your assessment with you, including the nature and timing of your assessment and how it will be marked. They will include an outline of what they’re looking for by sharing their marking criteria to help you. This may be brought together in an assessment brief. 
• Your lecturer answers questions in your seminar, discussion board or Q&A session. Please do make use of these opportunities and be aware of other sources of study support that we can offer you. 
• You submit your assessment or you sit your exam. 
• Assessment is normally marked and constructive feedback is provided within 3 semester weeks of the submission deadline. Remember not to count any non-semester, holiday weeks in this. (Exams follow a different timetable and slightly different process). 
• A sample of work is then moderated or second marked thoroughly by a second lecturer to ensure fairness and consistency between assignments and modules. 
• Some assessment, like final year dissertations, are marked twice, by two different lecturers. Sometimes they know the first mark. Sometimes they don’t and will meet to agree a mark together. 
• Marking teams note and resolve any disagreements. Sometimes marks are raised or lowered to ensure fairness and consistency. 
• Your provisional (non-exam) assessment marks and feedback become available on SurreyLearn. In 2020/21 a safety net will be applied to all eligible assessments in line with the safety net policy. This is designed to lessen the potential impact of the pandemic on assessment performance during the rest of the academic year.  
• You cannot ask for your work to be remarked but external examiners review samples of work. They report to and attend a Board of Examiners along with your lecturers. This Board makes sure that marks are fair and consistent across modules and in line with other institutions. The Board then agrees the marks. 
• Rarely they may find an unusual range and ask for an adjustment upwards or downwards. This is very carefully reviewed and approved by a high-level University committee called SPACE (Senate Progression and Conferment Executive). 
• After the Board of Examiners, your marks become ‘agreed’, rather than ‘provisional’ on your student record.  
• The University reflects on outcomes across all programmes. 

Your marks journey is complete! 

Don't forget that we have a dedicated online space for students, reps and staff to collectively raise, discuss and resolve academic and student life issues and feedback - MySurrey Voice .

Canvas Assignments

Online assessment can be set up in your module sites using the Canvas assignment functionality. We use SpeedGrader to mark online. SpeedGrader makes it easy to evaluate individual student assignments and group assignments quickly.

The university has also built in Marker Allocation functionality. Marker allocation is an optional tool. It is usually used by large marking teams, or if markers are required to mark particular students’ work anonymously.

Work that has been marked online, can also be internally moderated online, using the moderation tool. Online moderation should be completed after all marking has been completed. Any member of staff registered onto the module can act as the moderator. Both Marker Allocation and Moderation tool need VPN (links to external site) to be switched on.

Learn how to efficiently manage your assignments on Canvas with our comprehensive guide, covering everything from adding instructions to setting up group assignments and timed assessments.

• Part one - Adding an assignment to units and using the Rich Content Editor to add a brief and instructions
• Part two - Points, Assignment group and Do not count towards final grade
• Part three - Submission Type, Submission Attempts and Plagiarism Review
• Part four - Group assignment, Anonymous grading and Assign to
• How to set up group assignments
• How to add extension into the assignment
• Timed Assessments
• Full step-by-step guidance for assignment management at UH can be found in the  Assignments Guide 2023.

The university has Turnitin as its plagiarism software that have been integrated into Canvas.

You can set up plagiarism detection during the assignment set up. The guide below demonstrates how to set up the Turnitin for your summative assignment and how to access the similarity reports:

• Setting up plagiarism review for summative assignments

The University provides text-matching software (Turnitin) to students as one of many aids to improve their academic writing skills and to promote the concept of self-regulation. In all cases where an assignment is submitted online via StudyNet, students have a single opportunity to submit each piece of coursework through Turnitin.

• Setting up TurnitIn for Students

Marker allocation is useful if you have a large marking team and/or tutors who need to mark particular students' work. Our comprehensive guide takes you through setting -up the Marker Allocation and marking using this tool.

Please note that you need to be on the  UH VPN (Links to an external site.) and be registered as a Module Leader, Tutor or Support Tutor to use the Marker Allocation tool. If you change your primary UH email in your Account Settings on Canvas you may not be able to use this tool.

• Marker Allocation

Moderation would take place after all assignments are marked in SpeedGrader. The Moderation tool allows the moderator to create a record of moderation activity, that can be viewed by any member of staff registered on the module and the external examiner.

Assessment marking and feedback on Canvas refer to the process of evaluating students' assignments or exams and providing feedback on their performance. Instructors can use various tools such as rubrics and comments to provide constructive feedback to students on their work.

• How to provide marks and feedback using SpeedGrader for an online submission
• How to provide feedback and return marks using SpeedGrader for an offline submission
• How to mark Group assignment
• How to release marks and feedbacks to students
• How to remove late policy from the gradebook

Rubrics in Canvas are the equivalent of Marking Schemes and can be used to provide feedback to students on how well they have met certain elements of the assignment and/or the specific learning outcomes relating to the assignment.

Referral and deferral assignments should be set-up as separate portals and only be assigned to students who are completing these assignments.

• How to set up Referral and Deferrals with the best of rule ( Link coming soon )

Grades has been enabled on 2022/23 modules. This is an option for students to see their weighted marks, track their marks more accurately and approximate their module mark with the 'What-If' feature.To support students to use this feature, all assignments should be weighted when they are set-up.

• Weighting your assignments
• Utilising the Grades Function
• Colour Coding in the Gradebook
• Adding or Importing Grades: Non-Canvas Submission assignments
• Exporting Grades to Student Record Administrators

Software Licences

Assignments in Canvas and Turnitin have institutional licences. Marker Allocation and Online Moderation were built in house.

Accessibility

Canvas: Ensuring an accessible and pleasant experience for all users, regardless of disability, is a key element of Canvas software. The Canvas platform was built using the most modern HTML and CSS technologies and is committed to W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative and  Section 508 (opens external site) guidelines. Canvas accessibility standards (opens external site).

Turnitin: Their accessibility program aims to incorporate accessibility into the entire product development lifecycle to ensure that our website and applications are accessible and usable by everyone regardless of disability or circumstance. Turnitin Commitment to Accessibility (opens external site).

Training and Support

• Upcoming training sessions are bookable via the Guided Learner Journey Module Calendar (0IND0002).
• Support queries may be sent to [email protected] .
• Professional colleagues and students should contact [email protected]

• +44 (0) 207 391 9032

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An insider’s guide to markers and the marking process

(Last updated: 12 May 2021)

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Writing essays and dissertations, at any level of university study, is a tough task. Add to that the fact that many students have little-to-no idea what the person marking their work is actually looking for , and this sets the average student on a course for struggle before they’ve even begun.

With that in mind, the goal of the blog posts in this series on marking is to reveal some of the realities of marking and the marking process so that students can know what they are up against. Hopefully, this will also help some of you avoid the mistakes and blunders that may cost you a better grade.

In this first blog post we break down the situation, the institution and practice of marking.

What is the process of marking?

Let us first consider what is actually happening. In the vast majority of university courses, you will be required to submit written work to a professor, lecturer, or teaching assistant who will read your work and assign it a mark. Simple. The process is part exchange (your paper for a grade) and part evaluation (your paper is worth however much according to the marker). Most students assume that this process is fair, and that they are being graded by the standards established by the university. Students often also believe that the markers are not biased, hold all students to the same standard, and that each marker would grade any one paper in a similar way. And this is true, sometimes.

It is also true that the economic realities that many universities face have seriously altered this rather old fashioned ideal. Generally, students would prefer to have a class taught by a professor who has published and researched in their area and become famous. Sadly, in order for many professors to keep up with the demands of publishing they will have to cut back on the time they can devote to other areas of their work, and one of these is marking.

Let us suppose that you have a course with a professor and they have set you the task of writing a seven-page paper (a modest length). This professor is fairly popular and has an average class size of 20-25 students. This amounts to 140-175 pages of student writing that will need to be read, considered, commented on, and assigned a grade. There are, of course, class sizes double and even quintuple that enrolment that will also have a writing component.

And a truly dutiful professor will read each essay twice to get some idea of how they all fit within the class. But this is rare. The vast majority of markers will only read a paper once, regardless of how ‘fair’ they are, or how skilled they are in their field.

So ask yourself honestly, knowing that there are many other demands on your time (e.g. publishing, committee work, supervision, family duties) and probably other work that you would prefer doing – how much time and effort would you spend reading each of these papers? Or want to?

If the professor is fortunate (for them, not necessarily for you), they will have one to a half-dozen teaching assistants that will be familiar with the material, attend the lectures (and in some cases prepare and/or deliver them). And when all those papers, yours included, land on the desk or are submitted online, the professor is not likely to read any of them unless 1) the teaching assistant is utterly useless, which is rare because most want to impress the senior staff; 2) the paper is so bad that they cannot decide between a low-pass or a fail and will ask for guidance (contrary to common belief few teaching assistants are comfortable failing students); and 3) there is a case of plagiarism or academic dishonesty to be addressed. So only when your paper falls into one of these unfortunate categories will a professor read your paper, if it is first being handled by an assistant.

Teaching assistants

Teaching assistants are really a bowl of mixed nuts. Some are fantastic, wonderful, and competent. Others are well-meaning, but not quite able. And others are just wicked (as far as marking goes) and confuse academic rigour with some sort of sadism.

Many of these markers are not “trained” in the sense that they all will have a uniform idea of what to look for in the papers. Often these assistants, and really even some new lecturers, just muddle through. In fact, most will mark based on either how they experienced marking in their own studies, or on a more alarming and no less subjective picture of how they think grades should be assigned. And when push comes to shove and you feel you have been graded unfairly, a professor will often feel a personal obligation to side with the marker.

How do you know who will be marking your paper? You don’t. And this is why it is vital, so vital, that to do well on written work you cover all the bases and do everything in your power to produce your very best effort. And this is a matter we will return to in subsequent posts.

Communicate ideas well to get the best mark

For now, understand that this is why your best work is imperative: academic papers often are not as simple as right or wrong, pass or fail. There is a certain amount of grey area in writing academic papers that many undergraduate students do not fully understand. This is why marking papers can be difficult, and why teaching writing is a challenge that can take years to improve. It is the little things that often make or break a paper. It is not really about the ideas, but the way in which the ideas are communicated, that matters. This is what markers are sensitive to. Brilliant and incisive ideas buried in a crappy unreadable scattered paper is a fail. Boring ideas in a well-structured intelligible paper will pass. Think about that!

It’s also safe to say that writing papers is something that most academics “pick up” as they go. It is not something that they are trained in, but over time acquire a kind of feel for what good writing should look like.

Many students think that the process of marking is more or less fair and that this fairness is enshrined in a notional anonymity where papers can only be identified by student number or a registration number. This should, at least, save the student from anything personal during marking. However, what about students whose first language is not English and maybe their ability to express themselves is not as strong as their native-speaking peers? Do you think markers can tell the difference between a paper written by a native English speaker and one written by a non-native English speaker? Of course they can. And do you think this might create a conscious or subconscious bias in the mind of the marker? Or what about gender? Or race? Or socio-economic background? Are there any “tells” in the paper – words, phrases, or ideas – that someone might use, and that could reveal something about who they are? While none of that should matter, the point we want to make is that there are biases that can be present even where they should not, and you may have no idea if they are working against you. In truth, in a good paper, there will be nothing present that gives away your background. Nevertheless, you would be surprised at how easily these things are to detect among markers.

Now, in an ideal situation, you will have a capable professor reading your paper, and they will give you helpful feedback. Indeed, it would be the feedback from a professor that would be the most helpful. The feedback that comes from a marking assistant might be great, but it might be unhelpful. In fact, you may not even receive any substantive feedback at all. Often markers are more focused on pointing out all the things that you might have done wrong and less concerned with the ways that you might improve. It is unfair, sadly, considering the substantial investment of time and money students put into their education . But it is unlikely to change soon.

So why do academics often give poor feedback? Well, you should not suppose that all or even most of them do. It is quite likely that if they had sufficient time and motivation, markers could give excellent feedback. But consider the differences between professors/lecturers and marking assistants. Professors and lecturers will have not only gone through their graduate studies, which would involve a lot of writing, but they will have published (most likely) in peer-reviewed journals or a book (or more) with an academic press. This writing is reviewed by three experts anonymously - often by a professional and reputable company - and we can assure you, the evaluations do not hold back. Every small grammatical error that can be found will be pointed out. It is a thorough process and professors may, and should, hold graduate students to a high enough standard to prepare them for this publishing reality. The plain truth is that one of the reasons why professors and lecturers can give the best feedback is because they have experienced, no doubt, some of the hardest comments and criticisms to get their work published.

Conversely, markers do not have such experience. They haven’t gone through that process, and they are not yet professional academics. All they have is what they think that process might be like. This, we believe, is one of the biggest differences between the feedback you will get from the professional and, for all intents and purposes, the amateur.

The importance of multiple feedback

OK! We know exactly what you are thinking at this point. You are saying to yourself, but I am not a professional academic, amateur academic, or even aspiring academic. I am just a student on a course trying to find some way of getting a decent grade so I can graduate, go into the world to earn a living and have a nice life.

And that is fine, but if you want those high marks you have to understand that this is the system within which you are working. There are assumptions and rules, formal and informal, that affect how papers are written and how they are evaluated. It is, really, a culture, and you need to familiarise yourself with these rules in order to be successful.

Now, at this point, you are probably thinking, “Hang on! If writing is such a brutal process and professors get such scathing reports, how do they get published?! And what could this possibly have to do with me?”

Well, we are glad you asked.

There is probably a huge difference between what professors do and what you do. And it isn’t about style, or ideas, or content. Do this: go to the library and grab a little stack of academic books, somewhere between five and ten. Pretty much anything that has such-and-such university press will be an academic book. Now skim the prefaces of each of these books, do you notice anything they have in common?

Most prefaces are used by academic writers to say thank you for awards, or grants, and other forms of support. We are fairly certain that over half will have a few thanks to colleagues who read earlier drafts and provided feedback. This feedback allowed them to improve their work so that it could be published. Similarly, if they are fortunate, the anonymous reviewers will also offer helpful feedback.

Now, when was the last time you had a capable or professional reader go over your work before you handed it in? The chances are fairly good that the only person who read the work was you, while you were writing it. That is a bad route to follow.

A paper should always be read by someone else before it goes in for a formal evaluation. For more on this, read the next post in our marking series, Marking: the difference between right and wrong .

Marking: How we mark your essay to improve your grade

Marking: the difference between right and wrong

Marking: from a marker’s perspective

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Marking and assessment judgements, introduction.

Making sound assessment judgements is essential for reliable student assessment, and is the main mechanism whereby value (a mark) is attached to student work. However, that it is an unreliable process is well documented across the sector. In line with the principles embodied in our Education for Social Justice Framework (ESJF), all staff responsible for making assessment judgements should take action to maintain fairness and transparency in the decisions being made.   

A ssessment judgements should allow everyone involved in the process to have confidence that the marks awarded are a fair reflection of the quality of learning demonstrated in the work submitted. This will  includ e students, the university, markers, moderators, and external examiners. It is therefore extremely important that assessment judgements are conducted in a way that has been carefully considered and constructed so that the process can be explained to all concerned and is acknowledged to be fair.  

This section will consider the activities involved in making assessment decisions in 3 sections:   

• Preparation for marking,   
• Marking  
• Moderation of marks or external examining.   

Much of the work needed to ensure that assessment decisions are accurate, fair, and consistent will have taken place beforehand, in the design of assessment criteria and grade descriptors. Ensuring that the assessment decisions are useful to students also requires a careful feedback strategy   

Useful additional resources are available from Advance HE .   

• The design of assessment criteria and grade descriptors will be part of the process undertaken before assessment decisions are made.
• An assessment rubric (assessment criteria plus grading scheme) will have been prepared and shared with students and staff as part of the assessment process which shows evaluative criteria, quality definitions for those criteria at particular levels and a scoring strategy.  
• Reliability of assessment decisions is influenced by the nature of the subject and the markers’ own interpretation of criteria (Bloxham and Boyd 2007).  
• Prior to making assessment decisions, the markers should meet at a calibration event. This should occur before the assessment is launched to students.  
• A calibration event enables the markers and support staff to discuss the expectations of the assessment and the assessment and grading criteria.   
• Academic and other staff involved in supporting preparation for assessment should be involved in calibration processes. This should be an important part of inducting new staff responsible for teaching and assessing on a module.
• Students need to have the chance to discuss the expectations of the assessment as part of the assessment and feedback cycle (see, for example, Hounsell et al 2008).  
• Staff responsible for making assessment decisions are internal examiners and recruited by the Subject Standards Boards.  
• the quality of the introductory paragraph;  
• the readability of the text, surface features;  
• the accurate use of writing conventions;  
• the timing of the marking;  
• knowledge of the candidate;  
• the quality of preceding 5 papers, if poor, tends to result in higher grades for the subsequent paper;  
• the values and beliefs of the assessors;  
• experience in marking similar work;  
• being asked to explain a grade tends to result in grades gathering around the median.  

(Orrell 2008)

Assessment judgements may be undertaken for summative and/or formative purposes.  

Marking undertaken for grading or summative purposes is one of the means by which assessment is judged to be valid, reliable and fair. It is a complex process and reliability is influenced by the nature of the subject in that more discursive topics rely more on subjective judgements and the markers’ own interpretation of criteria. For this reason, the shared application of standards relies on negotiation and discussion of criteria interpretation in the local context.   

So whilst it is not possible to assure reliability across the sector or even across courses there are several aspects of good practice that can help to promote confidence in the reliability of marking within a specific module (Price 2005). (see P reparation for M arking).  

Subject Standards Boards have responsibility for ensuring that students’ work is marked by sufficiently experienced and professional staff, formally approved at the departmental level as internal examiners. Markers should be members of the university staff who are familiar with the teaching associated with the assignments being assessed, and the standard that is required of students. The status of the markers is an important factor to be considered in the choice of double marking procedure. Where staff are new to marking or from outside of the university, time should be provided to induct them into the standards for the course, perhaps through more extensive moderation or marking workshops.  

Each assessment task should be accompanied by a set of assessment criteria. These criteria will have been developed by the course team and discussed as part of preparation for marking.    

Discussion between markers ensure that assessment criteria provide a framework that helps to ensure that assessors are in broad agreement (i.e. increase inter-tutor reliability) about the basis of assessment decisions and to pinpoint areas of disagreement between markers (again, inter-tutor reliability). They are also important in supporting the internal consistency of the individual marker.

Use of Rubrics (assessment criteria & markscheme)  

A rubric is an extension of the assessment criteria to provide a mark scheme, a  scoring guide that provides students, markers, moderators and external examiners with evaluative criteria, quality definitions for those criteria at particular levels and a scoring strategy (Popham 1997; Dawson 2017). Guidance from Oxford Brookes University (OCSLD 2020) provides helpful, practical advice on their use.   

• Develop a rubric for each type of assessment task a student is asked to complete.   
• Within a programme, use the same rubric for a given type of assessment task across modules within a level of study.   
• Set out clearly each of the criteria that will be assessed for a given type of assessment task.   
• Show the weighting of each criterion in determining the grade awarded for the work.   
• Use criteria that describe features of the assessment task itself (for example, abstract, literature review and methods for a research project and voice and slide design for a screencast) and/or that describe knowledge and its application within the context of the assessment task, for example, critical understanding, analysis and synthesis, evaluation.  
• Describe the features and qualities of the work (performance standards) for each criterion separately in clear and simple English.   
• Describe the performance standards for each degree class and for work that fails to meet the pass mark expressed on a scale shown in percentages.   
• Share rubrics with students at the beginning of each module, in module handbooks, and on the VLE   
• Use assessment rubrics during in-class activities with students to encourage self and peer assessment and to develop students’ understanding of the performance standards and criteria in use for their work.   
• When offering feedback to students on their performance, provide comments that reflect the statements in the assessment rubric so students can make links between their performance and the criteria that were used to assess it.

Anonymous marking involves marking work without reference to the individual to derive a grade, and thereafter matching the work to the individual. University policy is that students’ work should, where possible,  be anonymized for marking, so that markers do not know the identity of the student who submitted the work. This is because there is good reason to suppose that non-anonymous marking raises a serious risk of introducing subliminal marking biases - an important consideration in addressing awarding gaps and fair practice and an essential element of the ESJF empha sis on Inclusive Assessment .  Recent research into racial inequalities in assessment in HE highlighted that black students wanted anonymous marking where possible, “because they felt this provided more chance of being judged fairly and without bias” (Campbell et al, 2021, p. 36).  

For guidance on setting up online assessments including making provision for anonymous submission and marking, see the WebLearn guide to assessment tools.  

The process could still provide for personalised feedback comments where the assessment has a formative purpose, but that step would be decoupled from the grading process. A recent study of anonymous marking revealed that “[f]eedback on non-anonymously marked work was perceived by students to have greater potential for learning than feedback on anonymously marked work” (Pitt and Winstone (2018) cited in Pitt and Quinlan (2022) p.53).  

E xceptions to a nonymous marking include research degrees and forms of assessment approved by standards boards as impractical.   

Research projects  

Research projects may provide challenges for anonymous marking as  they are  often marked with the students identity revealed to the markers. Approaches to help solve resulting  bias in marking include :   

• E xclude staff from marking projects they have supervised, so that projects can be marked anonymously. In a trial of this procedure (reported by Newstead, 2002) marks went down by 5% on average, but students were much more satisfied with the process.  
• H ave every student project marked anonymously by a second marker as well as the supervisor. This is probably the minimum requirement for marking what is usually a substantial piece of work that contributes more than any other item of assessment to the overall grade awarded for a course.  
• I ntroducing a larger number of markers into the process may reduce the chance of, or impact of, unconscious bias.         

Oral presentations   

Oral presentations cannot be anonymised even for the second marker, and this is a compelling reason for oral presentations to be double marked particularly if they contribute to an overall degree classification. If the presentations are video-taped, or audio-taped, they can also be reviewed by a third marker, and  although they cannot avoid being aware of the gender and appearance of the students, will at least be unaware of the students’ personal histories in the department and will have no personal relationship with the students that could bias their appraisal of their performance.

  In addition to formal methods for controlling the quality of marking, such as moderation, there are a number of activities and processes that can help to achieve and maintain consistency of marking across markers.   

These are all different aspects of one underlying principle – that of involving all staff who take part in the assessment of student as active members of a community of shared practice and understanding.  

Shared staff involvement in all aspects of student assessment (communities of practice)  

Tightly knit communities of practice among academics involved in student assessment were at one time much easier to maintain in higher education. This has become much more difficult with the increasing trend towards fragmentation of the academic communities in higher education, which is part of the rationale for greater transparency of the process through increased documentation. Activities that help to promote such communities of practice are:  

• Common involvement in and ownership of the formal assessment criteria through calibration activities forming part of preparation for assessment (see above)  
• Attendance at moderation meetings and discussions of student performance.  
• Pre-meetings of markers in advance of the main marking task, to discuss what is required of students and what markers should be looking for in their work, and to marker’s applications of the assessment criteria. This can usefully be done with a small sample of work marked independently and with judgements shared before completing the remaining marking. This process is a second calibration exercise.  
• Team preparation of course/programme (re)validation documents.  
• Team development of programme handbooks and module booklets.  
• Marking workshops - a useful way of inducting new or less experienced tutors and part-time lecturers. This might include a similar process to pre-meetings of markers, more extensive collective marking or marking of work from a previous cohort – the principle is to share interpretations of the assessment criteria.  
• Discussion of, and common approaches (within subjects) to, ways of dealing with language proficiency, referencing and plagiarism.  – This recognizes that learning how to write and communicate appropriately in different subject contexts is a developmental learning process which continues throughout the course of study.  

When pairs of markers meet to compare examination marks and resolve any differences through  discussion, a record of the basis for the marks awarded based on the assessment criteria can save time and make the agreement process fairer.   

Rather than having to read the answer again and try to remember why they awarded the mark they did, markers of discursive papers who have used a form like this EXTRA can quickly locate the reasons for their different marks and focus on those to agree a mark more quickly and more fairly. Such a form may also be useful in interpreting detailed mark schemes for feedback to students.  

  The purpose of moderation and external examining relates to the assurance of  academic standards.   

Calibration before the launch of an assessment activity (see above) and moderation of marked work afterwards are designed to  safeguard against errors and biases in marking and help to create an assessment community amongst academic staff .   

Moderation is an expensive and time-consuming process but will improve reliability, particularly when used in conjunction with calibration activities, so that awareness of assessment criteria and/or marking schemes act along with discussion of marking decisions.    

The method chosen for moderation after the assessment task has been completed should suit the module, task and level of the assessment.    

Seven methods of moderation have been identified  

• universal unseen double marking (where two markers mark all the assignments, with the second marker not having sight of the marks awarded by the first marker),  
• universal seen double marking (where a second marker sees all the assignments and has access to marks awarded by the first marker),  
• universal second marking as a check or audit (where the second marker sees all the assignments to review the work of the first marker),  
• second marking as sampling (where the second marker sees only a sample of the students’ work),  
• partial second marking (where second marking is applied only to certain categories of assignment, such as fails, firsts and borderlines),  
• marking teams (where groups of markers work together), and  
• second marking for clerical aspects of the first marking (such as transcription or addition of marks).  

What system to select for a given module or assignment? The minimum standards required by the University assessment policy are for second marking for a 20% sample of the assignments, with no requirement for the second marker to work blind to the marks awarded by the first.   

Course/Subject leaders and Subject Standards Boards should consider whether the minimum standard is always sufficient, however, given the principles of fairness to students, fitness for purpose, and the requirement for mechanisms to avoid and detect biases and errors. There are several factors to bear in mind:  

• Where students do not routinely receive feedback on their work, there is a greater likelihood of lapses in attention on the part of markers. This means that there is a much stronger need for universal double or second marking for examination scripts than for coursework.  
• There is potentially a trade off between the expertise and experience of the marker and the level of quality control required. This means that there is a much stronger need for universal double or second marking where less experienced markers or staff from outside the university are involved in student assessment.  
• The importance of the assignment, and the significance of the decisions being taken by markers, should influence the choice of the moderation model. This means that there is a much stronger case for universal double unseen marking for assignments that contribute significantly to students’ degree classification.  

Moderation is an expensive process which can delay the return of feedback to students therefore it is useful to spend some time in deciding on the method of double or second marking. Key factors include:  

• the form and function of the assessment  
• the contributory weight of the assessment  
• the level of study  
• the norms of the discipline  
• the number of students  
• the number of markers and their level of experience and responsibility  
• the necessity of making adjustments to marks across the whole cohort, not just the sample of work moderated.  

Whatever model is adopted, the decision should be formalised through a Subject Standards Board and the rationale for the choice should be made clear.

If work has been universally double marked (seen or unseen) the two markers will agree or negotiate the mark for each individual piece of work. Where moderation is based on a sample and there is general agreement, the first marker’s marks stand for the cohort. If there is substantial variation in marks then further discussion and exploration is needed to determine the extent of the differences. Whatever adjustment is made must be applied fairly to all relevant candidates and not just to those sampled by the second marker. If the two markers cannot agree a third internal marker is used (Bloxham and Boyd 2007). There should be a record of the moderation process available for quality audits and reviews. All involved in marking should take responsibility for their work by signing off the mark sheets at the end of the process.  

External examining (see Chapter 5 of the Quality Manual 21-22 )    

External examiners are recruited by the university to provide oversight of academic standards on a module or course.     

• Staff making assessment decisions should be fully familiar with the academic regulations.
• The process used for arriving at assessment decisions should be fair and transparent,  considered and constructed to that it can be effectively communicated to markers, moderators, students, and external examiners,   
• Assessment decisions should be guided by assessment criteria specifically designed for the assessment task, and suitable grade descriptors. (See section 5:  Assessment criteria).
• Staff teams engaged in making assessment decisions should meet before the assessment is launched to agree the criteria and benchmarks that will apply, to ensure consistency and fairness.   
• A calibration event involving all those involved in making assessment decisions should take place before marking commences.  
• Wherever possible, student work should be marked anonymously.  
• A suitable second or double marking process that complies with academic regulations must be carried out; there may be a need for further moderation or parity exercises where there is a large cohort and/ or a large marking team, or where the work is complex or carrying a high credit load.  
• That a moderation process has been carried out should be visible on the work assessed normally through the addition of comments by, or the name of, a moderator.  
• Staff should always be mindful to assess only the work presented for assessment and avoid introducing knowledge of the student and their circumstances.  
• Students should have the opportunity to participate in or observe the process of making assessment decisions eg through reviewing and grading prior submissions or providing a video guidance on how the marker on the module reviews/grades the work etc. This is particularly important where self- or peer- assessment takes place  
• Students should not be engaged in summative assessment of their own or others’ work.  
• Marks and feedback should be issued in accordance with academic regulations and University policy.  
• Close the assessment loop by sharing external examiner feedback with students and the actions taken to improve the assessment (if necessary) as a result of this.

Bloxham, S. and Boyd, P. (2007). Developing Effective Assessment in Higher Education . Maidenhead: McGraw Hill.   

Campbell, P. et al (2021) Available at: Tackling Racial Inequalities in Assessment in Higher Education. A Multi-Disciplinary Case Study. University of Leicester . 

Dawson, P. (2017). Assessment rubrics: towards clearer and more replicable design, research and practice. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education , 42(3), 347-360.  

Ecclestone, K. (2001). “I know a 2.1 when I see it”: understanding degree standards in programmes franchised to colleges. Journal of Further and Higher Education , 25, 301-313.  

Edd, P. and Quinlan, K.(2022) Available at:  Impacts of Higher Education Assessment and Feedback Policy and Practice on Students: A Review of the Literature 2016-2021 .

Newstead, S.E. & Dennis, I. (1990). Blind marking and sex bias in student assessment . Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education , 15, 132-139.  

Newstead, S.E.(. (2002). Examining the examiners; why are we so bad at assessing students?.  Psychology Learning and Teaching , 2, 70-75  

Orrell, J. (2008) ‘Assessment beyond belief: the cognitive process of grading,’ in Havnes, A. and McDowell,L. (eds) Balancing dilemmas in assessment and learning in contemporary education. London, Routledge, pp.251-263.  

OCSLD (2020). The Design and Use of Assessment Rubrics . Oxford Brookes University  

Popham, W. J. (1997). What's wrong and what's right-with rubrics. Educational Leadership , 55, 72-75.  

Price, M. (2005) Assessment standards: the role of communities of practice and the scholarship of assessment, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher education , 30, 3, 213-230  

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Assignments give you the opportunity to showcase what you’ve learned and build a foundation to improve on.

Explore the different types of assignment we use at the OU in the sections below.

Assessment types

When your module starts, you’ll have access to its unique assessment guide, which will detail what you need to do on each assignment.

Rest assured, you’ll also have a module tutor to help you with your studies. So if you’ve got a question about an assignment, they’re there to give you a hand.

There will be different types of assessment throughout your study. Here’s a quick run-down of the types you may come across:

Tutor-Marked Assignments (TMAs)

• You’ll usually have a number of these throughout each module.
• Each one can be an essay, a series of questions, a skills test, a speaking assessment or something else that allows you to show what you’ve learned.
• They’ll each have a submission deadline.
• When your tutor returns them, they’ll provide you with detailed feedback on where you can improve.

Interactive Computer-Marked Assignments (iCMAs)

• Generally these will be available a couple of weeks before the deadline date.
• They’re always completed online.
• They’re normally marked by a computer, but may be marked by your tutor.

End-of-Module Assessments (EMAs)/End-of-Module Tutor-Marked Assignments (emTMAs)

• These are the final, marked piece of work on some modules.
• They may be similar to TMAs you’ve done on the module, but will usually be a longer piece of work.
• They'll usually cover the whole module rather than a part of it.
• Your EMA/emTMA deadline will always be fixed.
• If your module has an EMA or emTMA, you won’t normally have an exam as well.
• Exams are the final assessed task on some modules. If your module has an exam, you won’t normally have an EMA as well.
• Your exam date will be fixed.
• Exams will normally take place remotely, and you will complete them at home or at an alternative location. If a module requires you to take a face-to-face exam, this will be made clear in the module description.
• If your personal circumstances or disability are likely to have an impact on your ability to take your exam remotely, we may be able to put alternative arrangements in place or make reasonable adjustments. This would need to be discussed with your Student Support Team.

Residential schools

• Only a few modules have a residential school. Some residential schools will be compulsory – you’ll need to attend to pass the module. Others will be optional.
• The module description will tell you whether or not it includes a residential school.
• If you have any concerns about attending a residential school, we’d recommend you talk to us before your module starts.

Progressing to a point where I felt more comfortable writing my assignments and having my scores reflecting that made me quite happy because it showed the hard work was being rewarded. Patrick ‘Ricky’ Skene, BSc (Hons) Sport, Fitness and Coaching

It wasn’t easy, but when I handed a completed assignment in I felt such a sense of achievement and knew I was one step closer to my dream. Gareth Hand, BA (Hons) Music

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Section 4: Module Marking

4.1 about this section.

In this section, you will find information on:

• Marking policy and practices;
• Marking scales;
• Consideration, approval, and publication of module marks.

These procedures apply to the Leeds University Business School.

If you are also studying modules in other schools, you should consult the teaching school’s CoPA for information on their process for module marking.

4.2 Assessment Criteria

Each school has agreed assessment criteria which describe in detail how your performance for a piece of work will be rewarded, in respect of the learning outcomes. These statements specify the standards that must be met and what evidence is expected to show that you have achieved the learning outcomes.

Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate assessment criteria can be found in Annex I of this document.

The process of determining final module grades is the responsibility of the school teaching each module.

4.3 Anonymous Marking

4.3a anonymous marking.

In accordance with the University’s expectations, assessment is marked anonymously. However, the School may make exceptions to this rule, including:

• Where the assessment takes the form of a practical demonstration performed in the presence of examiners (such as orals, scientific practical’s, lab books, clinical examinations, or performances);
• Where the assessment takes place over a period of time with support from a designated supervisor or tutor (such as projects, dissertations, and portfolios);
• Where the assessment takes place during a module for formative purposes, and anonymity might prevent speedy and effective feedback.

It is students’ responsibility to follow those instructions regarding the submission of assessment that enable anonymous marking, such as the correct use of student identification numbers (SID) in electronic file names. Failure to do so may remove the ability to mark anonymously.

4.3b Exceptions to Anonymous Marking

In particular, individual and group presentations, video projects and dissertation/projects (including in some cases research proposals or reflective logs) are all exceptions to anonymous marking.

4.4 Assessment of Written English

Assessment criteria will clearly specify the approach to assessing technical accuracy in written expression and, where appropriate, the approach will be referenced in assessment rubrics.

4.5 Double Marking/Check Marking

4.5a definitions.

Double marking means that in addition to the first marker, another member of staff independently marks your work. Check marking means that in addition to the first marker, another member of staff samples or audits the marking across the module to review overall marking standards and consistency between individual markers.

In cases where a student attempts more than the required number of questions and does not clearly indicate on the script by crossing out those that should not be marked, the markers shall mark only the required number of answers.

The markers shall mark the answers in the order that they are completed in the script booklet, or as indicated by the student on the front of the booklet as the order in which they were answered, or if completed in separate script booklets, in numerical order.

4.5b Processes for Double Marking/Check Marking

On completion of first marking, marks are checked by another marker who will check all fails, a representative sample * of firsts, and a representative sample* of the middle range of marks, including all borderline cases.

Any changes to marks should be made by the first marker/module leader in agreement with the person checking the marks. Once agreed both the first marker/ module leader and person checking the marks need to sign off the marks before they are sent to the External Examiner.

In Leeds University Business School, with the exception of modules covered in 4.5c, it is normal practice to check mark.

* (Suggested representative sample 20%)

4.5c Projects and Dissertations

Projects and Dissertations must be double marked. The rationale for this is based on typically larger credit value, the student-led or independent nature of the topic, and one-to-one supervision conventions (typically supervisors support and mark some students on the module and double marking ensures that one or more of the markers is independent).

Dissertations are generally first-marked by the supervisor and then second-marked by another appropriate academic member of staff. The first and second markers then agree the mark to be awarded and return feedback for students to the Assessment team within the Student Education Service. The marks and samples are then sent to an external examiner to be signed off.

4.5d Resolution of Discrepancies between Markers

Discrepancies between internal markers are resolved within the relevant Department before the marks are returned to the Assessment team within the Student Education Service.

4.5e The External Examiner

The role of the External Examiner is to ensure comparability of the University’s standards with those in peer institutions and national benchmarks. It is not to contribute to the assessment of individual students. If an External Examiner cannot endorse the marks given to assessed work within a sample, they may require:

• Additional marking of all the student work within the group;
• Additional marking of an element of the assessed work of all students within the group;
• Adjustment of the marks for all students within the group.

In this way, the External Examiner has oversight of the whole cohort of marks, rather than those of individual students. However, in exceptional circumstances, an External Examiner may be permitted to determine an individual mark where they have been specifically invited to adjudicate between markers.

4.6 Requests for Re-marking

Your School will follow the defined procedure for double marking/check marking as set out above. Assessed work will not be re-marked at your request. This will only be done if the School is instructed to do so by the University following a formal appeal .

4.7 Normalisation

Normalisation refers to a process of adjusting mark profiles for each module so that the overall average falls within an expected range. Normalisation is used only exceptionally and if your school does normalise marks for a module, particular attention will be paid to setting and marking of assessment in that module the next time it is offered.

4.8 Marking Scales

The University uses a number of different scales to express results at different stages of the assessment and classification process. Further information about marking scales is available on the For Students website page .

4.8a Marking Scales

For the purposes of publishing module marks, all assessments are marked on a 0 – 100 scale (or a categorical marking scale aligned to a 0 – 100 scale) and all module marks are returned on a 0 – 100 scale.

4.8b Pass/Fail Modules

For a limited number of modules, you will not receive a numerical mark but instead a “pass” or “fail” grade. Within the Leeds University Business School, the following modules are assessed on a pass/fail basis:

• LUBS8003 Year in Research
• LUBS5999M Postgraduate Study Abroad

The following modules are assessed on a distinction/merit/pass/fail basis:

• LUBS7001 Year in Enterprise
• LUBS8001 Training in the Workplace

The following modules are assessed on a merit/pass/fail basis:

• LUBS9001 Study Year Abroad

4.8c Module Marks

Although local marking scales for individual pieces of work may differ, a single marking scale is used when expressing module marks. All module marks are expressed on the University’s 0-100 scale.

For more information, see the Rules for Award . For more information on how module marks contribute to classification decisions, see Section 2 Module Assessment .

4.9 Pass Mark and Award of Credit

If you pass a module, you will gain the entire credit for that module. However, if you do not pass a module, you receive no credit for that module (the University does not award partial credit). The pass mark for modules at levels 0, 1, 2 and 3 is 40. The pass mark for modules at level 5M is 50.

4.10 Consideration of Module Marks

4.10a school assessment board.

</div. The School Assessment Board agrees the modules marks/grades for all students. The School adopts the standard Terms of Reference and Membership for School Assessment Boards .

4.10b Semester 1 and Semester 2

The School Assessment Board normally meets after Semester 1 to agree recommended marks and grades for completed modules. These are published via Minerva. The marks/grades are provisional at this stage.

The School Assessment Board meets again after completion of Semester 2 to agree recommended marks/grades for completed modules.

The marks/grades for all undergraduate Semester 1 and 2 modules (those at levels 0, 1, 2 and 3) will be approved by the Progression & Awards Board (of which the External Examiner is a member).

The marks for taught postgraduate modules (those at level 5M) may be provisional if they have not yet been endorsed by the External Examiner(s).

4.10c Taught Postgraduate Modules

For all Taught Postgraduate modules the Progression and Award board meets in November to agree externally endorsed marks and award classifications.

For all taught modules undertaken by PhD students, the School Assessment Board meets in November to agree externally endorsed marks.

4.10d Consideration of Resit Results for Undergraduate Modules

The School Assessment Board normally meets again in September to agree marks/grades for August resits.

4.10e Consideration of Resit Results for Taught Postgraduate Modules

Taught Postgraduate re-sit results are considered at the annual November School Assessment Board and the June Undergraduate Assessment Board.

4.11 Publication of Module Marks

If your school publishes provisional marks, you should be aware that these have not been approved by the School Progression & Awards Board (see 4.10b above). The final published marks may be higher or lower than the provisional marks.

Module marks are published to students by the School on specific dates published each year on Minerva and communicated to students via email. From those dates, students can also view their feedback, where this is available.

Module marks may be published via Minerva, the Portal, or by email.

The University will publish final confirmed marks and classifications on Minerva on 8 July 2024 for undergraduate students and on 21 November 2024 for taught postgraduate students.

4.12 Changes to Module Marks

Once the University has published the formal decisions of the School Progression & Awards Board, module marks will not be changed. The only exception is if the School is instructed to make amendments by the University following a formal appeal or consideration of an exceptional case.

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Assessment and marking policies

The policies below apply to all students on taught courses (ie. sub-degree, undergraduate and taught postgraduate courses).

Marking policy

The policy applies to assessment contributing to a mark at all levels, including level three, level four, as well as the mark appearing on the Examination Board grids from which a student's final degree classification is derived.

A list of definitions and marking policies is given in the document below and includes a table showing the requirements applied to different forms of assessment. Where a particular mode of assessment requires moderation, second-marking or double-marking, the requirements outlined in the policy are a minimum. Departments can moderate, second-mark or double-mark more work if they wish or if they are required to do so by a professional body.

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Assessment policy

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Types of Assignments

Cristy Bartlett and Kate Derrington

Introduction

As discussed in the previous chapter, assignments are a common method of assessment at university. You may encounter many assignments over your years of study, yet some will look quite different from others. By recognising different types of assignments and understanding the purpose of the task, you can direct your writing skills effectively to meet task requirements. This chapter draws on the skills from the previous chapter, and extends the discussion, showing you where to aim with different types of assignments.

The chapter begins by exploring the popular essay assignment, with its two common categories, analytical and argumentative essays. It then examines assignments requiring case study responses , as often encountered in fields such as health or business. This is followed by a discussion of assignments seeking a report (such as a scientific report) and reflective writing assignments, common in nursing, education and human services. The chapter concludes with an examination of annotated bibliographies and literature reviews. The chapter also has a selection of templates and examples throughout to enhance your understanding and improve the efficacy of  your assignment writing skills.

Different Types of Written Assignments

At university, an essay is a common form of assessment. In the previous chapter Writing Assignments we discussed what was meant by showing academic writing in your assignments. It is important that you consider these aspects of structure, tone and language when writing an essay.

Components of an essay

Essays should use formal but reader friendly language and have a clear and logical structure. They must include research from credible academic sources such as peer reviewed journal articles and textbooks. This research should be referenced throughout your essay to support your ideas (See the chapter Working with Information ).

If you have never written an essay before, you may feel unsure about how to start.  Breaking your essay into sections and allocating words accordingly will make this process more manageable and will make planning the overall essay structure much easier.

• An essay requires an introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion.
• Generally, an introduction and conclusion are approximately 10% each of the total word count.
• The remaining words can then be divided into sections and a paragraph allowed for each area of content you need to cover.
• Use your task and criteria sheet to decide what content needs to be in your plan

An effective essay introduction needs to inform your reader by doing four basic things:

Table 15.1 An effective essay

[table “17” not found /]

An effective essay body paragraph needs to:

[table “18” not found /]

An effective essay conclusion needs to:

[table “19” not found /]

Common types of essays

You may be required to write different types of essays, depending on your study area and topic. Two of the most commonly used essays are analytical and argumentative .  The task analysis process discussed in the previous chapter Writing Assignments will help you determine the type of essay required. For example, if your assignment question uses task words such as analyse, examine, discuss, determine or explore, you would be writing an analytical essay . If your assignment question has task words such as argue, evaluate, justify or assess, you would be writing an argumentative essay . Despite the type of essay, your ability to analyse and think critically is important and common across genres.  

Analytical essays

These essays usually provide some background description of the relevant theory, situation, problem, case, image, etcetera that is your topic. Being analytical requires you to look carefully at various components or sections of your topic in a methodical and logical way to create understanding.

The purpose of the analytical essay is to demonstrate your ability to examine the topic thoroughly. This requires you to go deeper than description by considering different sides of the situation, comparing and contrasting a variety of theories and the positives and negatives of the topic. Although in an analytical essay your position on the topic may be clear, it is not necessarily a requirement that you explicitly identify this with a thesis statement, as is the case with an argumentative essay. If you are unsure whether you are required to take a position, and provide a thesis statement, it is best to check with your tutor.

Argumentative essays

These essays require you to take a position on the assignment topic. This is expressed through your thesis statement in your introduction. You must then present and develop your arguments throughout the body of your assignment using logically structured paragraphs. Each of these paragraphs needs a topic sentence that relates to the thesis statement. In an argumentative essay, you must reach a conclusion based on the evidence you have presented.

Case Study Responses

Case studies are a common form of assignment in many study areas and students can underperform in this genre for a number of key reasons.

Students typically lose marks for not:

• Relating their answer sufficiently to the case details
• Applying critical thinking
• Writing with clear structure
• Using appropriate or sufficient sources
• Using accurate referencing

When structuring your response to a case study, remember to refer to the case. Structure your paragraphs similarly to an essay paragraph structure but include examples and data from the case as additional evidence to support your points (see Figure 15.5). The colours in the sample paragraph below show the function of each component.

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) Code of Conduct and Nursing Standards (2018) play a crucial role in determining the scope of practice for nurses and midwives. A key component discussed in the code is the provision of person-centred care and the formation of therapeutic relationships between nurses and patients (NMBA, 2018). This ensures patient safety and promotes health and wellbeing (NMBA, 2018). The standards also discuss the importance of partnership and shared decision-making in the delivery of care (NMBA, 2018, 4). Boyd and Dare (2014) argue that good communication skills are vital for building therapeutic relationships and trust between patients and care givers. This will help ensure the patient is treated with dignity and respect and improve their overall hospital experience. In the case, the therapeutic relationship with the client has been compromised in several ways. Firstly, the nurse did not conform adequately to the guidelines for seeking informed consent before performing the examination as outlined in principle 2.3 (NMBA, 2018). Although she explained the procedure, she failed to give the patient appropriate choices regarding her health care. 

Topic sentence | Explanations using paraphrased evidence including in-text references | Critical thinking (asks the so what? question to demonstrate your student voice). | Relating the theory back to the specifics of the case. The case becomes a source of examples as extra evidence to support the points you are making.

Reports are a common form of assessment at university and are also used widely in many professions. It is a common form of writing in business, government, scientific, and technical occupations.

Reports can take many different structures. A report is normally written to present information in a structured manner, which may include explaining laboratory experiments, technical information, or a business case.  Reports may be written for different audiences including clients, your manager, technical staff, or senior leadership within an organisation. The structure of reports can vary, and it is important to consider what format is required. The choice of structure will depend upon professional requirements and the ultimate aims of the report. Consider some of the options in the table below (see Table 15.2).

Table 15.2 Explanations of different types of reports

[table “20” not found /]

Reflective writing

Reflective writing is a popular method of assessment at university. It is used to help you explore feelings, experiences, opinions, events or new information to gain a clearer and deeper understanding of your learning. A reflective writing task requires more than a description or summary.  It requires you to analyse a situation, problem or experience, consider what you may have learnt and evaluate how this may impact your thinking and actions in the future. This requires critical thinking, analysis, and usually the application of good quality research, to demonstrate your understanding or learning from a situation. Essentially, reflective practice is the process of looking back on past experiences and engaging with them in a thoughtful way and drawing conclusions to inform future experiences. The reflection skills you develop at university will be vital in the workplace to assist you to use feedback for growth and continuous improvement. There are numerous models of reflective writing and you should refer to your subject guidelines for your expected format. If there is no specific framework, a simple model to help frame your thinking is What? So what? Now what?   (Rolfe et al., 2001).

Table 15.3 What? So What? Now What? Explained.

[table “21” not found /]

The Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle

The Gibbs’ Cycle of reflection encourages you to consider your feelings as part of the reflective process. There are six specific steps to work through. Following this model carefully and being clear of the requirements of each stage, will help you focus your thinking and reflect more deeply. This model is popular in Health.

The 4 R’s of reflective thinking

This model (Ryan and Ryan, 2013) was designed specifically for university students engaged in experiential learning.  Experiential learning includes any ‘real-world’ activities including practice led activities, placements and internships.  Experiential learning, and the use of reflective practice to heighten this learning, is common in Creative Arts, Health and Education.

Annotated Bibliography

What is it.

An annotated bibliography is an alphabetical list of appropriate sources (books, journals or websites) on a topic, accompanied by a brief summary, evaluation and sometimes an explanation or reflection on their usefulness or relevance to your topic. Its purpose is to teach you to research carefully, evaluate sources and systematically organise your notes. An annotated bibliography may be one part of a larger assessment item or a stand-alone assessment piece. Check your task guidelines for the number of sources you are required to annotate and the word limit for each entry.

How do I know what to include?

When choosing sources for your annotated bibliography it is important to determine:

• The topic you are investigating and if there is a specific question to answer
• The type of sources on which you need to focus
• Whether they are reputable and of high quality

What do I say?

Important considerations include:

• Is the work current?
• Is the work relevant to your topic?
• Is the author credible/reliable?
• Is there any author bias?
• The strength and limitations (this may include an evaluation of research methodology).

Literature Reviews

It is easy to get confused by the terminology used for literature reviews. Some tasks may be described as a systematic literature review when actually the requirement is simpler; to review the literature on the topic but do it in a systematic way. There is a distinct difference (see Table 15.4). As a commencing undergraduate student, it is unlikely you would be expected to complete a systematic literature review as this is a complex and more advanced research task. It is important to check with your lecturer or tutor if you are unsure of the requirements.

Table 15.4 Comparison of Literature Reviews

[table “22” not found /]

Generally, you are required to establish the main ideas that have been written on your chosen topic. You may also be expected to identify gaps in the research. A literature review does not summarise and evaluate each resource you find (this is what you would do in an annotated bibliography). You are expected to analyse and synthesise or organise common ideas from multiple texts into key themes which are relevant to your topic (see Figure 15.10). Use a table or a spreadsheet, if you know how, to organise the information you find. Record the full reference details of the sources as this will save you time later when compiling your reference list (see Table 15.5).

Overall, this chapter has provided an introduction to the types of assignments you can expect to complete at university, as well as outlined some tips and strategies with examples and templates for completing them. First, the chapter investigated essay assignments, including analytical and argumentative essays. It then examined case study assignments, followed by a discussion of the report format. Reflective writing , popular in nursing, education and human services, was also considered. Finally, the chapter briefly addressed annotated bibliographies and literature reviews. The chapter also has a selection of templates and examples throughout to enhance your understanding and improve the efficacy of your assignment writing skills.

• Not all assignments at university are the same. Understanding the requirements of different types of assignments will assist in meeting the criteria more effectively.
• There are many different types of assignments. Most will require an introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion.
• An essay should have a clear and logical structure and use formal but reader friendly language.
• Breaking your assignment into manageable chunks makes it easier to approach.
• Effective body paragraphs contain a topic sentence.
• A case study structure is similar to an essay, but you must remember to provide examples from the case or scenario to demonstrate your points.
• The type of report you may be required to write will depend on its purpose and audience. A report requires structured writing and uses headings.
• Reflective writing is popular in many disciplines and is used to explore feelings, experiences, opinions or events to discover what learning or understanding has occurred. Reflective writing requires more than description. You need to be analytical, consider what has been learnt and evaluate the impact of this on future actions.
• Annotated bibliographies teach you to research and evaluate sources and systematically organise your notes. They may be part of a larger assignment.
• Literature reviews require you to look across the literature and analyse and synthesise the information you find into themes.

Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Further Education Unit, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford.

Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., Jasper, M. (2001). Critical reflection in nursing and the helping professions: a user’s guide . Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Ryan, M. & Ryan, M. (2013). Theorising a model for teaching and assessing reflective learning in higher education.  Higher Education Research & Development , 32(2), 244-257. doi: 10.1080/07294360.2012.661704

Academic Success Copyright © 2021 by Cristy Bartlett and Kate Derrington is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Assessments and grades

Types of assessments, feedback and grades

Over the duration of your studies, you will be assessed in many different ways that will be relevant to your subject area. Your course has been designed to give you a variety of assessment experiences. This will mean that the assessment tasks for individual modules will be different to each other.

You will come across two main types of assessment activities:

• Formative:  You receive feedback and a mark that does not contribute to the overall module grade. 
• Summative:  The mark you receive will contribute towards the completion of your modules and overall grade.

The  academic calendar  contains University-wide assessment weeks, which take place at the end of our semesters; however, you may be required to submit work at any time during your studies.

Assessments, marking and grades

Assessment briefs.

Assessment briefs are summaries of each assessment activity that you will be asked to complete for your modules. Assessment briefs provide important information such as submission date, the size of the assessment (e.g. word limits), the weighting of activity (if there is more than one assessment point for your module), and additional information that you will need to complete the assessment activity successfully.

All assessment briefs have to be approved by University reviewers to ensure that they are appropriate, inclusive and provide all students with the opportunity to demonstrate that they have met the relevant learning outcomes of the module.

All approved assessment briefs are sent to academic staff from a different University (known as External Examiners), who provide an independent opinion of the proposed assessment. At this stage, the External Examiners have to approve the assignment brief before receiving it at the start of your modules.

Assessment unpacking

In the first few weeks of a module, you will be given an opportunity to discuss the details of the assessment brief to ensure that you understand the tasks that have been set. You will share your understanding of the assessment brief with the tutor, who will be able to address any queries and provide clarification.

Anonymous submission

Where possible, your work will be submitted anonymously. The nature of some assignments means that anonymous submission is not possible (e.g. presentations, practical examinations, oral examinations). When academic staff mark your work, you will only be identified by your student number and not by your name.  This is done to avoid any unintentional bias when your work is marked.

Marking your work

Each piece of submitted assessment will receive a percentage mark. Your marks will relate to performance descriptors that outline the generic characteristics of a piece of work at your level of study.  

To ensure consistency of marking across a module, every assessment activity is moderated by an independent member of staff (i.e. a member of staff who is not part of the module teaching team).  The role of the moderator is to ensure that the marks are at the appropriate level and that the feedback provided to you is appropriate, supportive and will allow you to develop and enhance your future work.

Feedback to students

You will be provided with your percentage mark and some feedback comments. The feedback will explain why your work has been given a particular mark.  It will also explain how you could improve this mark in future assessment tasks.

External grade approval

The external examiner will look at a sample of work from each module. At this stage, the role of the external examiner is to ensure consistency of marking within the module and that the level of the work is equivalent to that at other universities in the country.

Assessment boards

Your percentage mark remains unconfirmed until an assessment board has considered it. The role of the assessment board is to receive and confirm the marks for your work whilst applying our academic regulations to ensure our assessment processes have been consistent and fair. Assessment boards are chaired by a senior independent member of staff and take into account comments that have been made by the external examiner.

Academic appeals

The University academic appeals procedure is in place to enable students to appeal against the decisions of an assessment board , for example, where a grade has been recorded incorrectly, or there has been or an error in the application of the University regulations in a decision regarding progression, completion or classification.  Visit the  Academic Appeals  webpages for further details.

Academic integrity

We are committed to supporting the development of your academic integrity. This means that any work that you write or create has been produced in an honest, fair, and transparent way. Academic integrity is important for recognising and acknowledging the work of other people that you have used in the preparation of your assignments. We know, however, that there are occasions where academic integrity is not maintained (for example, through plagiarism, collusion and cheating), and that this may be unintentional or deliberate. These instances are known as academic misconduct. All examples of academic misconduct will be investigated and penalties may be applied if proven.

As a student, you will have access to a wide range of support services and resources designed to help you to develop your academic skills and to ensure the academic integrity of your work. In addition to the support available through your course, you can also access the Learning for Skills services provided by the libraries, both in-person and online.

Read the  academic integrity  policy for details.

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How is Coursework Marked and Returned?

Marking criteria.

• CLAS Marking Criteria General Assessment .PDF download
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When Will I Get My Marks?

Staff members have three weeks in which to mark assignments AND complete due moderation, so you should not expect to receive feedback on your assignments until this process is complete.

Your assignments are returned on Moodle, where you submitted them, with the mark and feedback on performance supplied. You are responsible for reaching and absorbing the feedback on your assessments. You should make an appointment with your lecturer or seminar leader if you have any questions about the comments they have given you.

How is My Work Marked?

All assessed work is marked according to Kent’s Marking Scale and the CLAS Marking Criteria (below).

Your lecturers and seminar leaders put in a lot of time and effort to comment on your work in an effort to help you improve your writing and reasoning.

It is important that you read this feedback and use it to improve your next writing assignment using the CLAS Cover Sheet.

If you do not include a complete CLAS coversheet, your marks will be withheld on moodle and KentVision until you submit it.

The Provisional Status of Marked Work

When your work is returned, the mark is still provisional because all second and third year marks are “moderated” by internal and external examiners. Marks are not fully finalized until the Board of Examiners meets in June.

What is “Moderation”?

According to the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), moderation allows us to ensure that the assessment criteria have been applied appropriately, reflecting the shared understanding of the markers, and an approach which enables comparability across academic subjects (in particular recognising that students may be studying more than one subject). Moderation focuses on the marks awarded to the full set of assessed work for a task, module or programme, in the context of the academic standards for the award. It is therefore separate from the question of how differences in marks between two or more markers are resolved, and is not about making changes to an individual student’s marks.

Appeals Against the Recommendations of Boards of Examiners

Appeals from students will be considered in the following circumstances:

(i) where there is reasonable ground supported by objective evidence to believe that there has been administrative, procedural or clerical error of such a nature as to have affected the recommendation of the Board of Examiners; or

(ii) where there is evidence of illness or other misfortune such as to cause exceptional interference with academic performance and which the student was, for good reason, unable to submit by the published deadline; or

(iii) where evidence relating to illness or other misfortune submitted under extenuating circumstances procedures within the prescribed time limit was not properly considered by the Board of Examiners.

(iv) Appeals that are based on mitigating circumstances which, without good reason, were not brought to the attention of the Board of Examiners through extenuating circumstances procedures at the appropriate time will not be considered.

In all cases, appeals must be submitted to the appropriate Division Support Office and will be considered only where:

• submitted by means of the Appeal Form (contact the taught programmes coordinator: ([email protected])
• accompanied by a letter explaining in full the grounds for the appeal and the remedial action sought from the Board of Examiners;
• providing all necessary documentary evidence substantiating the grounds of the appeal;
• submitted within the applicable deadline.

External Examiners

For information about the External Examiner(s) responsible for the CLAS programmes, see: https://www.kent.ac.uk/teaching/qa/extexaminers/local/ee-info-students.html

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This article about how the UK university grading system was updated by the Great British Mag content team on 5 September, 2019

The UK grading system is not terribly different to the grading systems in China , India, USA or the EU. The top grades go to the people who excel and get very high percentages and the pass grades are given to anyone who manages to achieve the minimum grade percentage required. But that is where the similarities end.

Whereas other systems use the alphabet to demonstrate the achievements of the student, the UK system uses a class grade order. This system dates all the way back to the invention of the university itself and reflects the archetype of the British class system .

The UK grading system:

First (1 st ): The best grade you can get. The student has got higher than 70% on their course or assignment. An almost perfect piece of work. You should be very happy with it. The markers definitely were…

2:1 (upper second class): Student achieved between 60%-69%. The work was at a very good level, but there was still room for improvement. Kick back, smile and relax. You’ve done a good job! You will need to get a 2:1 or higher if you’re planning on staying on for a masters or post-graduate degree.

2:2 (lower second class): If you got 50%-59% on a course or assignment, then you have this grade. Even though it is not a perfect score it is still very good. You should still be happy about getting this mark.

Third: If you get between 45%-49%, you need to start thinking about where you went wrong. It’s not the worst mark, but perhaps some tutoring might help next time.

Ordinary degree: The absolute minimum you need to pass the course. Getting between 40%-44% is not where you want to be. You should definitely seek out some extra help if you want to do more than scrape by. Or maybe cut down on the time spent in the pub…

Fail: Anything below 40% constitutes failure. Sorry, but you will need to take the course again to pass.

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Embattled columbia president minouche shafik resigns due to ‘period of turmoil’ after anti-israel student protests.

Embattled Columbia University president Minouche Shafik suddenly resigned Wednesday and is escaping back to her home country after leading the elite institution for less than a year that was marked by constant — and sometimes destructive — anti-Israel protests.

Shafik announced she would be “stepping down” from the Ivy League in a letter to the student body and blamed the “period of turmoil” for her shocking departure.

“This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community,” Shafik wrote.

“Over the summer, I have been able to reflect and have decided that my moving on at this point would best enable Columbia to traverse the challenges ahead.

“I am making this announcement now so that new leadership can be in place before the new term begins.”

In her letter, the scholar revealed she is leaving the prestigious school to return to the United Kingdom — where she spent most of her career — for a gig with its foreign secretary as a chair tasked with reviewing the government’s approach to international development.

“I have tried to navigate a path that upholds academic principles and treats everyone with fairness and compassion. It has been distressing — for the community, for me as president and on a personal level — to find myself, colleagues, and students the subject of threats and abuse,” she wrote.

Dr. Katrina Armstrong, the CEO of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, will be stepping in as interim president, the school announced.

In her own letter to the student body, Armstrong accepted the job with a slight nod to the year-long debacle that splashed Columbia across national headlines.

“As I step into this role, I am acutely aware of the trials the University has faced over the past year. We should neither understate their significance nor allow them to define who we are and what we will become,” Armstrong wrote.

The community, however, is not convinced the change in leadership will have any effect on stopping last year’s chaos from trickling into the fall semester.

“University leadership has been promising that combating antisemitism is a priority, but many students are arriving in just a few weeks, and I don’t have confidence that the campus situation this fall is going to look any different than it did in the spring,” Matthew Waxman, a law professor and member of the school’s task force on antisemitism, told The Post.

Waxman was shocked by the resignation and said it was too soon to tell whether it was the right move for the school. The bigger question, he continued, is whether Columbia is going to crack down on new rules aimed at mitigating antisemitism.

“We’re going to have a big test in just a few weeks,” he said.

“And if they’re not enforced, then we’ll know that the university just isn’t serious.”

‘Step in the right direction’

Students expressed mixed emotions after learning the news outside the Morningside Heights campus Wednesday night.

A 28-year-old junior studying human rights feared that the leadership upheaval so close to the start of the new school year would only add to the turmoil students, faculty and staff have faced amid protests and arrests over the last year. 

“I just found out an hour ago. It’s very fresh,” said the student who asked not to be named. “We have two and a half weeks until school starts, and I think it’s going to be a very tumultuous time. I think this year is gonna be twofold when it comes to protests.”

A Barnard junior who also refused to give her name for fear of repercussions said she was shocked — and relieved — to learn Shafik resigned, but similarly worried that the president switch-up happened just before classes began. 

“So close to the beginning of the school year, it feels a little daunting,” she said. 

“There are going to be a lot of new students that are going to be scared,” she added. “And I am hopeful that they will be able to experience the community separate from the discourse they chose or chose not to participate in.”

The junior said she’s hopeful a new president will guide the university better than Shafik did.  

“I would not say that I’m happy about it but I would say that I’m relieved that there is going to be a spot for new leadership,” the student told The Post. “For her to resign is a symbol for me of hope for a better way to go about things.

“I have seen others — no matter who you are — been affected by this conflict overseas. And it’s heartbreaking. And I have cried over it — many times. And those tears are shed over everybody who is hurting right now,” she added.

“And I think that President Shafik resigning, honestly, is a step in the right direction.“

Poisoned Ivy

Shafik had been facing mounting calls to resign for months over her handling of the protests, which broke out following Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion of Israel.

She was accused of “gross negligence” while testifying before Congress after refusing to say whether the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” should be considered antisemitic.

Critics claimed Shafik was not sufficiently cracking down on campus protests until the tent encampments took over the Ivy League school’s lawn in the weeks leading up to graduation.

“I’m a member of this community, and it’s heartbreaking on all sides. It has not only affected everyone that is involved in the conflict but it has affected everyone on campus… it disrupted learning,” the Barnard junior said. 

Hundreds of students were arrested on trespassing charges for refusing to pack up, but the demonstrations escalated when a destructive mob illegally took over the Hamilton Hall academic building in April .

Shafik’s resignation comes just one week after  three university deans resigned from Columbia  following the exposure of their “very troubling” text chain that disparaged Israeli and Jewish students’ fears of rising anti-Semitism on campus.

Susan Chang-Kim, Matthew Patashnick and Cristen Kromm messaged vomit emojis and accused Jewish students of asserting “privilege” during a panel discussion the month prior about antisemitism on campus stoked by Israel’s war against Hamas.

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