Degree/Diploma in English
The Marking Scheme Regulations
Submitting Essays for the Essay Marking Scheme
(English Literature Degree and Diploma for External Students)
Submitting essays
Returning essays
Choosing an essay title
Writing essays
Writing practice examination responses
Presenting essays
Essay grades
You can send practice essays to the department and receive marks and feedback on these essays from members of the academic staff.
If you wish to have your essays marked by members of the Goldsmiths English and Comparative Literature Department marking team, please read the instructions below and follow the appropriate procedures.
1) Submitting essays.
a) Quantity of essays that can be sent: You may send up to eight essays in total per academic year. These essays may be divided between the units you are studying as you see fit, though we recommend that you send two per unit.
b) Essay due date: 1 February, every year. You can submit your essays when you wish, but we are unable to mark any essays prior to 1 February.
c) Method of sending: we are now able to receive essays via the English Moodle VLE, on the portal (all students should have received a login and password to the VLE). This will enable tutors to collect and return work more promptly than in the past (we aim for within three weeks). In order to make this a viable process, we will no longer be accepting essays by email or by post. Both these systems cause considerable delays to the marking process, resulting in students getting work back too late in the academic year to apply any of the feedback effectively. Instructions on how to submit your essay via the English Moodle VLE are uploaded on the VLE, under ‘Study Support’ (see the document entitled ‘How to submit essays via the VLE’). They are also available to download [pdf: 2pgs, 21KB].
d) Payment: £26 per essay; discounts of up to 40% are available for wider participation in support schemes. Download a registration form [doc: 2pgs, 86KB] for further details of discounts and fee payment form [doc: 1pg, 188KB] for International Programmes Students BA/Diploma in English Support Schemes.
2) Returning essays.
a) We aim to return essays within three weeks, electronically, along with a comment form and typed comments on the essay script.
b) The comment form will include a percentage mark for your essay, general comments on specific issues in the text of the essay, and a summary of the marker's response to your essay. Markers will provide no further comment or guidance, and will not enter into correspondence with or take telephone, fax or other messages from students.
c) Any complaint or other comment or enquiry concerning the marking of an essay should be made in writing, and addressed to:
Dr Sarah Barnsley
Course Director
External English Programme
Department of English and Comparative Literature Goldsmiths, University of London New Cross London, SE14 6NW
UK
d) Grades given for practice essays are given so that you can assess your own progress, they do not in any way guarantee the grades you will receive in examinations.
e) Marking conventions are outlined below. Please note that the task of essay markers is not to correct ungrammatical use of English. Passages where English is used incorrectly will be indicated (and marks may be deducted) but markers will not rework your grammar for you.
3) Choosing an essay title.
Essay titles can be found in your subject guidebooks either at the end of each section as 'Sample Questions' or in the sample examination paper in the Appendix. These questions have been taken from past examination papers, or they have been devised with examinations in mind, so writing essays on these subjects will help you prepare for examinations and will prove valuable when you come to revise your subjects.
4) Writing essays.
Some advice concerning essay writing is given in the Handbook (in the 'Being Assessed' section). You may also find the following advice and information helpful.
Before starting your essay, make sure you have understood the question or title. In your introductory paragraph, you should outline briefly how you will approach or interpret the question (but without prolonged quibbling over terms and definitions). You should plan carefully the argument of your essay to make sure that it is coherent and that it can be supported by the relevant texts. Think of two or three good quotations to illustrate your arguments; then check the text briefly to make sure that these are really the best examples you could have chosen, and that other parts of the text do not contradict your argument. Always give precise references (e.g. line numbers in verse works) for your quotations.
Use long quotations sparingly. If you find yourself quoting a number of lines, you should draw the reader's attention to words and phrases within the passage which you think are particularly significant. A quotation by itself will not establish your argument for you: you have to explain the passage's significance for your argument, which will be weakened if your quotations are inadequately justified.
Try not to be too reliant on secondary sources (works of criticism, etc.): your tutors and examiners want to see what you have decided about the topic at hand. There is, though, often much to be learned from consulting secondary works, so long as you explain in your own terms why you have found their views valuable and so long as you acknowledge properly the source of your ideas. Your examiners will assume that everything in the essay that is not acknowledged as somebody else's idea will represent your considered opinion. It is therefore unnecessary and obtrusive to use the first person voice prominently (e.g. ‘In my own opinion...’ or ‘I maintain that...’) although there is nothing wrong with using the first person at some points (e.g. in such ‘link’ passages as: ‘So far I have considered x; in the next section I shall go on to discuss y.’)
In structuring your essay, ensure that you make links between its different sections, to keep your argument coherent and fluent. Make sure that all the points you make are relevant to the question or topic; this may mean dropping a favourite point if it would involve digression. You are not expected to say everything that might be said on the subject: it is better to develop a few major points in detail. Make small points briefly, and do not pad out points that you know to be weak or minor. Do not waste time summarising the plots of novels or plays. In your conclusion, do not just summarise repetitiously; try to draw out a strong closing point from the material discussed.
5) Writing practice examination responses
If you wish you may send in an essay that you have written under examination conditions (i.e. timed, and without notes and materials to hand). This may help you to practice writing under pressure, and the marks you receive may give a clearer indication of the kind of marks you might get in an examination. If you decide to send an essay written in examination conditions you must indicate this clearly on the title page of the essay, otherwise the marker will treat the essay as if it were not a timed piece of work. Timed essays should conform to the conventions used in an examination, and not the conventions used for ordinary essays outlined below.
6) Presenting essays.
You will be expected to use the following scholarly conventions in writing essays for the marking scheme. Note that you are NOT expected to use all these conventions in examination conditions - they are conventions that are used specifically for essay writing that is undertaken outside of an examination. For full information on essay writing conventions used in examinations please consult the handbook.
a) All essays submitted for the marking scheme must be typed or word-processed, with double spacing. The pages of the essay should be numbered. Essays should be no more than 1,500 words. This word limit must not be exceeded.
b) Titles of works cited. Whenever you refer to a book, play, film, journal, or long poem, always underline or italicise the title. Titles of short poems, essays, or chapters, though, should be put in single quotation marks without underlining: this distinguishes them from book titles which may otherwise be the same (i.e. "the poem 'North' in Seamus Heaney's collection North".)
c) Quotations. Short quotations (one line or less of verse, five lines or less of prose) should be run on as part of your own text, within single quotation marks. Longer quotations should be indented, and left without quotation marks. Verse must always be quoted in lines, not re-arranged as prose.
d) References and citations. When referring to (or quoting) passages in the primary literary texts you are discussing, give a brief line reference (from a poem or verse play) or chapter reference (from a novel) in brackets after your quotation. This saves you from writing out countless endnotes, and actually makes it easier for your reader to trace the quotation if s/he has a different edition of the same text. But the text you have used must be listed properly in your bibliography. Otherwise, for all other quotations and references, you will need to use endnotes (at the end of your essay) or footnotes (at the foot of the page). Endnotes are perfectly acceptable; only use footnotes if you are certain that you can manage this tidily. To do this properly, place a number (in small superscript - i.e. above the line) after each quotation or reference in your text; then provide the information about your source in the numbered footnotes or endnotes. This information should include: author; title of book (underlined); place of publication; publisher; date of edition used; page reference. If you are referring to an article, give its title before that of the journal (with journal volume number; no publisher or place of publication required) or book (with name of editor) in which it appeared. For example:
12. Anne Barton, The Names of Comedy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), pp. 5-6.
13. Catherine Belsey, `Love in Venice', Shakespeare Survey, 44 (1992), p. 43.
14. Linda Hutcheon, `Telling Stories: Fiction and History', in Peter Brooker (ed.), Modernism/Postmodernism (London: Longman, 1992), p. 237.
e) Bibliography. At the end of your essay you must give a list of all works you have consulted while preparing it (even if you have not quoted them all). The list should be alphabetical by authors' surnames, with surnames first (e.g. Barton, Anne). The bibliography must be separate from any endnotes. The information you give here will be the same as for endnotes or footnotes, but of course without the page number.
f) Final checking. Before you submit the final version, check your spelling and punctuation and make sure you have followed the correct conventions for quotations and references. Failure to do so will result in deducted marks.
7) Essay grades.
a) Marking scale. Marks are given out of 100, according to the following scheme:
First Class Honours 80-100% ('exceptional')
First Class Honours 70-79% ('excellent')
Second Class Honours (Upper Division) 60-69%
Second Class Honours (Lower Division) 50-59%
Third Class Honours 40-49%
Pass 35-39%
Fail 25-34%
Bad fail 10-24%
Very bad fail 1-9%
0%
The general basis on which these marks are awarded is explained in the marking criteria below.
b) Marking criteria. Students' written work will be assessed according to the specific requirements of a particular assignment, dissertation or examination answer with regard to these qualities
- Discussion and argument that is relevant to the topic; the ability to discriminate between merely descriptive statements and critical analysis, and to identify pertinent issues with precision.
- The ability to present, sustain and conclude a discussion, investigation or complex argument based on close engagement with the text(s) in question, and to draw reasoned and logical conclusions.
- The clear presentation of the work in terms of legibility, spelling, punctuation, grammar and layout in accordance with the department's published specifications.
c) The meaning of percentages. Coursework will be returned with a percentage mark. The following explanations will give you an idea of what this mark means.
First Class Honours 80-100% ('exceptional')
Written work in this range shows exceptional grasp of all the issues raised by the question, but also a truly original, creative approach to the question challenging current scholarship. It demonstrates full independence of thought, exceptional powers of analysis and synthesis and exceptional insight into primary texts and critical contexts. It is communicated with literary brilliance in a superbly structured essay to an exceptional professional standard of execution displaying evidence of an exceptional application of knowledge, understanding and skills detailed in course unit and programme outcomes.
First Class Honours 70-79% ('excellent')
Written work in this range is characterised by mature and full grasp of issues raised by the question, communicated fluently within a structured essay demonstrating analytical rigour and an element of independent thought and reaching cogent conclusions; supported by detailed insight into primary texts and (where appropriate) into context and/or secondary criticism; and excellent professional standard of execution displaying evidence of an excellent application of knowledge, understanding and skills detailed in course unit and programme outcomes
Second Class Honours (Upper Division) 60-69%
Lucid and analytical discussion showing clear understanding of some of the issues raised by the question, and making aptly selective use of course text(s) and concerns in a firmly structured way to reach well substantiated conclusions. Well articulated and presented to a good standard of professionalism. A mark in this range represents the overall achievement of the course and programme learning outcomes to a very good level.
Second Class Honours (Lower Division) 50-59%
Recognition of some significant implications in the question, and an ability to ground discussion and conclusions in a satisfactory range of primary and (where appropriate) secondary reading; evidence of some facility in professional modes of structure, expression and presentation. A mark in this range represents the overall achievement of the course and programme learning outcomes to a good level.
Third Class Honours 40-49%
A limited attempt to answer the question, demonstrating a basic familiarity with course text(s) and/or issues; adequate competence in organisation and expression. A mark in this range represents the overall achievement of the course and programme learning outcomes to a satisfactory level.
Pass 35-39%
Some evidence of an attempt to address the question, with a minimal range of detail and analysis; some evidence that the concerns of the course have been understood; bare degree-level competence in expression and organisation. A mark in this range represents the overall achievement of the course and programme learning outcomes to a threshold level.
Fail 25-34%
A mark in this range represents the overall failure to achieve the appropriate course and programme outcomes. An essay may fail on grounds of inadequate relevance to the question; insufficient detail and analysis; lack of evidence of having studied the work set for the course unit; incoherent expression and argument.
Bad fail 10-24%
A mark in this range represents a significant overall failure to achieve the appropriate course and programme outcomes. Written work shows no evidence of an attempt to address the question. It shall be deemed a valid attempt and not necessarily required to be re-sat.
Very bad fail 1-9%
A submission that does not even attempt to address the appropriate course and programme outcomes. Work shall be deemed a nonvalid attempt and course unit must be re-sat.
0%
This is a categorical mark for work representing either the failure to write answers within an exam, a wholly illegible script, or a mark assigned for a plagiarised assessment.