Checklist for Assessed Work2

1

Contents

Checklist for assessed work2

Submitting your work4

Feedback6

Extensions7

Plagiarism & Academic Malpractice8

Examinations9

Resit Examinations/Essays10

POLISAssessment Criteria/Marking Scheme 11

Assessment Submission Dates23

The following guidecovers all aspects of submitting assessed work on POLIS modules.

Each school has its own rules regarding how assessed work should be formatted and submitted, so for assessment information on a non-POLIS module, please contact the school running the module.

Full rules, regulations and policies relating to all aspects of student education can be found on the Student Education Service website:

Rules relating to assessment can be found in the Code of Practice on Assessment (CoPA) which will be available in POLIS Organisations.

Checklist for assessed work

IMPORTANT: Please use this every time you submit assessed work.You should consider the following things before pressing submit:

-Student ID number

You must use your Student ID number as the submission title when uploading work to Turnitin.

In all, your student number should appear in three places:

- As the title of your submission on Turnitin (you do not need to put the module or the title of the work)

- Cover/title page (see below)

- In the footer at the bottom of every page

It is important to do this so that your work is identifiable whilst being marked anonymously.

-Word count

Your assessed work will be of a specified length, e.g. 3000 words/6000 words. You are permitted to go over the specified word limit by 10%. If you exceed the word limit by more than 10%, you will lose marks (see below). This is to prevent students gaining an unfair advantage by writing more. The specified word count includes all text(including text in graphs/pictures) and referencesas well as the title/cover page, but it excludes the final bibliography and any appendices.

For work that exceeds the word limit, the following penalties will be applied:

Word limit exceeded byMarks deducted

10.0%5

20.0%10

30.0%15

40.0%20

If the word count exceeds the word limit by more than 50%, the mark awarded for the work will be a maximum of 20.

The School does not set a minimum word count. An essay that is excessively short is likely to contain underdeveloped arguments or may fail to address the main issues, and the mark is likely to reflect this.

-File Formats

Please make sure you are using a file type supported by Turnitin. See here for a list of accepted file types and other information on submission: Please bear in mind that you will not be able to submit an assignment directly from OneDrive, Google Drive or any other equivalent cloud storage/file hosting service. If you are struggling with this when submitting, please get in touch with us ASAP before the deadline – we will not be able to accept difficulties of this kind as an acceptable reason for failed submission.

-Referencing

Harvard is the required referencing style used on all POLIS modules. In-depth information on Harvard can be accessed at:

-Bibliography

A bibliography is a list of all the sources of information you have consulted in your research, arranged alphabetically. For more details on how to compile a bibliography using Harvard referencing style see:

-Cover (title) page

You should include a cover/title page on your submission featuring the following information:

- Student ID number

- Module code (PIED___) and title

-Title/Question

- Word count

- Name of the tutor, who is usually your seminar tutor and who will mark your work

-Font

12pt Arial is the required font; the text should be double spaced.

-Page numbers

Every page on your work should be numbered, as this makes it easierto mark your work and to providespecific feedback.

-Anonymisation

The only thing that should identify your work is your unique, 9 digit, student number (e.g. 200100234, see above). Please make sure that you write this number down correctly so that you have it ready when you come to submit, and please make sure that you do not include your name anywhere on your work.

Submitting Your Work

-Turnitin

All assessed work should be handed in electronically, online, via Turnitin on Minerva, unless otherwise stated.

Work must be submitted through Turnitin by 12 noon on the due date.

You are welcome to submit assessed work at any time up to and including the due date (before 12 noon) once the Turnitin box is open.

By submitting your assessed essay through Minerva you are accepting the Declaration of Academic Integrity, extending to a declaration that the work is not plagiarised and that the word count is accurately stated.

It is essential that you check whether your submission has been successful by selecting the Check Tab on the top menu bar. You must note and keep a record of your Submission ID. This is the only evidence of submission that we will accept in any dispute regarding failed submission or lateness.

-Submission Receipts

An on-screen receipt will display when you've successfully submitted your assignment to Turnitin—don't close your browser/tab until you have seen this receipt. Familiarise yourself with the process by reading the online source at You’ll get an email copy later in the day. A receipt is the only proof of submission. No receipt: no submission.

If you’re worried about a particular submission, you can check your submission yourself. For Turnitin assignments, you should normally receive an email confirmation within a few minutes after submission, but these can take a couple of hours to arrive during busy periods.

You can download a copy of your digital receipt. Return to the submission area, click on the download icon, then select digital receipt. You can also use the download icon to get a copy of your submitted file. See the Turnitin Guide for more information at

-Tips for Submission

Please ensure you leave yourself enough time to submit your assessments. At busy times, Turnitin can take a few minutes to process papers. If your internet connection is slow it could take longer than you think to navigate to the submission page and upload, especially on your home internet connection.

You should keep a copy of all of your assessments on your University ‘M’ drive, even if you also store it somewhere else. This has the advantage that it is backed up on a daily basis, and any work lost can be retrieved by ISS. Losing work because of computer failure/error/theft cannot be considered as an excuse for late/non-submission.

You may not submit the same, or substantially the same, piece of work for two different modules, be this within this university or work produced for another.This is classed as self-plagiarism and disciplinary action will be taken if you do. If you need further guidance, see your Module Tutor.

Please bear in mind that Turnitin no longer supports use of Internet Explorer, so please do not try to upload your work using this browser. Instead we recommend you use up-to-date versions of Chrome, Firefox or Safari (on a Mac), when uploading your submissions.

-Late Work

Work submitted after 12noon on the due date will be considered as late and will be penalised in accordance with University rules. A penalty of five marks per calendar day (including weekends) will be imposed. Any submissions after 12noon can only be uploaded once.

-Adding toAlready-Submitted Work

If you submit your work before the noon deadline, you are able to overwrite the initial submission. However, this option is not available once the deadline has passed.

-Assessed Presentations

Students must complete all assessment elements of a module, including presentations, in order to pass that module. In the event of illness or absence, alternative arrangements for assessment will be made.

-Group work

For some modules assessment can take the form of group work. Working in groups requires students to develop an important skill-set, and provides good preparation and experience for future employment.

Students should be aware that the whole group bears responsibility for the work produced and its submission. This means that if the work is submitted late, then the whole group will be subject to the penalty. Additionally, if a part of the work is plagiarised then the whole group will be considered to be responsible for the act of plagiarism.

We therefore advise all students who are undertaking group work to discuss and take responsibility for all parts of any written material that is produced. Furthermore, groups should not rely on one individual to submit work. Students are advised to organise themselves to meet before the submission deadline in order to check the final submission itself, and to discuss and finalise the arrangements for submitting (e.g. nominating an individual to upload the work onto Turnitin).

Feedback

Feedback is given on all submitted assessed assignments/exams to provide you with an overview on your performance, highlighting where you have done well and areas that need improvement.

Feedback is usually given through GradeMark, and can be viewed on Turnitin where you originally submitted the work. In rare cases where your work is not submitted by Turnitin or not marked through GradeMark, a hardcopy ‘Feedback sheet’ can be collected from the POLIS reception.

We encourage you to contact your module tutor once you have received your written feedback to discuss further means of improvement, and ways in which we may be able to further support you.

When feedback is available via Turnitin, an email announcement will be sent out through Minerva for the relevant module. Feedback is expected to be returned to students within three weeks (15 working days) of the submission date. If there is a delay in the release of feedback for any reason, students will be informed through a Minerva announcement by module leaders.

-Requests for re-marking

The School will follow the defined procedure for check marking/moderation, as set out below;

“Check marking/moderation means that in addition to the first marker, another member of staff samples or audits the marking to review overall marking standards and consistency between individual markers. “ (taken from the University Code of Practice on Assessment)

In addition, the School is subject to scrutiny from expert external examiners from other institutions. As a result of this, we have confidence in our marking. The School will not re-mark any work at your request. We will only do so if we are instructed to by the University following a formal appeal.

Extensions

To request an extension for assessed work, please contact atleast 48 hours before the submission date. This will allow us time to process your request before the submission date.

An extension will only be granted for adverse medical or personal circumstances. The standard extension in POLIS is one week, and this is the extension that will almost always be granted at least in the first instance.

If you are experiencing difficulties that you feel are impacting upon your studies you can apply for an extension to the original deadline. To apply for an extension please contact atleast 48 hours before the submission date, as this will allow us time to process your request before the submission date.

The extension request form can be found on Minerva: under the Teach tab go to ‘Organisations', then 'Politicsand International Studies', then 'Extensions & Mitigating Circumstances'. If you cannot submit a form electronically you can also complete a form and return it to POLIS reception (we also have some paper copies at reception), but please note that extension requests will be confirmed by email only. We cannot authorise extensions verbally either over the telephone or at reception.

Please note: extensions are only granted in cases where a student has experienced some serious difficulty which has prevented the completion of work within the normal time period. This may be because of illness, bereavement, family problems or similar. Extensions are not normally given for minor or less serious issues and documentary evidence must be supplied, ideally at the time the request is made..

The final decision as to how much additional time is granted will be made by the School based on your circumstances and evidence, and may not be the same as what you have asked for. In the majority of cases we would not expect to provide more than an additional one week extension to the original deadline.

For any extensions that have been granted, all work must be submitted by 12 noon of the new deadlineto the late/extension box for the module. Submissions after the 12 noon deadline of the revised date will incur a penalty of five marks per calendar day (including weekends) will be imposed.

Examples of reasons for requesting an extension likely to be granted include:

-Suffering a serious illness (including ongoing mental health problems) or injury

-The death or critical illness of a close family member, or a significant family crisis

-Severe personal difficulties that are beyond the control of the student

Examples of reasons for requesting an extension unlikely to be granted include:

-Holidays or other events that were planned or could reasonably have been expected

-Workload owing to assessment datesbeing scheduled close together or on the same day

-Misunderstanding the requirements for the assessment

-Inadequate planning or time management

-Failure, loss or theft of a computer or other equipment

-Consequences of paid employment

-Last-minute or careless travel arrangements

-Mitigating Circumstances

If you have experienced adverse medical or personal circumstances that you feel have seriously affected your work (prevented you from submitting your work, or being unable to sit an examination) and wish to be considered by the School Special Circumstances committee, you may be eligible to apply for mitigating circumstances. For information on mitigating circumstances please consult the guidance document, which can be found in the POLIS Organisation page in the same place as the extension request form. This will usually apply to unforeseen circumstances where an extension has not been sought; mitigating circumstances usually cannot be accepted where an extension has already been granted.

Plagiarism & Academic Malpractice

Malpractice includes submissionof assessment work obtained from others, including by theft, misrepresentation, fabrication of results or evidence, and theft or misrepresentation of identity.

Plagiarism is defined as presenting someone else’s work as your own. Work means any intellectual output, and typically includes text, data, images, sound or performance(Office of Academic Appeals & Regulation, 2005). Note that it is possible to self-plagiarise by reusing work of your own from another assignment without referencing it. You should not submit the same, or substantially the same piece of work, for two different modules. If you need further guidance, see your module tutor.

Detailed information about what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it can be found at: and at the Skills@Library site at:

The latest University policy on plagiarism and academic malpractice can be found at:

The University regards cheating and plagiarism and other instances of academic malpractice with the utmost seriousness. Such cases can be dealt with at the School or University level, depending on the nature of the offence, and the penalties imposed can vary from receiving a mark of zero (on the 0-100 scale) or 20 (on the 20 – 90 scale) for a piece of work to exclusion from the University.

We recognise that you are often required to work together in practical classes or other assessments, and it is often good to discuss assignments with other students. However, unless you are advised specifically for any particular task, all coursework you submit must be your own work, in your own words, and not merely a copy or paraphrase of the work of another student, lecture notes and handouts or some other source.

Note that it is possible to self-plagiarise by reusing work of your own from another assignment without referencing it. You should not submit the same, or substantially the same piece of work, for two different modules – this includes modules in other schools and even other universities. If you need further guidance, see your module tutor.

If you are not certain about what plagiarism is, then you must ask. Ignorance is not an excuse.

Examinations

University examinations are held at the end of each semester – in January for modules whose teaching is completed in semester 1 and in May for modules finishing in semester 2.

The number and duration of examinations per module is clearly detailed in the specification for each module. The majority of examinations are timetabled centrally and the times, dates and locations are published by the Examinations Section of Taught Student Administration: