Erasmus Mundus Funding Category A deadline: 17 December 2010

Erasmus Mundus Funding Category B deadline: 29 April 2011

IMESS Bursary deadline: 29 April 2011

Non-scholarship deadline: 29 April 2011

Visiting Scholars deadline: 31 January 2011

 

 

 

IMESS Student Handbook

Guidance on the Preparation of Assessed Essays

Deadlines

Assessed coursework:

• For 16 ECTS courses which are 50 per cent examination, 50 per cent coursework (2 short essays), there are standard deadlines of Monday 11 January 2010 for the first essay and Monday 26 April 2010 for the second essay.
• For 16 ECTS courses which are 50 per cent examination, 50 per cent coursework (1 medium-length essay), there is a standard deadline of Monday 26 April 2010.
• For 16 ECTS courses which are 100 per cent coursework (2 medium-length essays), there are standard deadlines of Monday 11 January 2010 for the first essay and Monday 26 April 2010 for the second essay.
• For 16 ECTS courses which are 100 per cent coursework (1 long essay), there is a standard deadline of Monday 26 April 2010.
• For 8 ECTS courses (first term), which are 100 per cent coursework (2 short essays), there are standard deadlines of Monday 16 November 2009 for the first essay and Monday 11 January 2010 for the second essay.
• For 8 ECTS courses (first term), which are 100 per cent coursework (1 medium-length essay), there is a standard deadline of Monday 11 January 2010.
• For 8 ECTS courses (first term), which are 50 per cent examination, 50 per cent coursework (1 short essay) there is a standard deadline of Monday 11 January 2010.
• For 8 ECTS courses (second term), which are 100 per cent coursework (2 short essays), there are standard deadlines of Monday 22 February 2010 for the first essay and Monday 26 April 2010 for the second essay.
• For 8 ECTS courses (second term), which are 100 per cent coursework (1 medium-length essay), there is a standard deadline of Monday 26 April 2010.
• For 8 ECTS courses (second term), which are 50 per cent examination, 50 per cent coursework (1 short essay) there is a standard deadline of Monday 26 April 2010.
• For 4 ECTS courses which are 100 per cent coursework (1 short essay), the standard deadlines are Monday 16 November 2009 for courses in the first half of the first term, Monday 11 January 2010 for courses in the second half of the first term, Monday 22 February 2010 for the first half of the second term, and Monday 26 April 2010 for the second half of the second term.

When the deadlines vary from those listed above, tutors will inform the students of them at the beginning of the course.  

Submission

Note the deadlines at the beginning of the course. Two copies of essays should be handed in to the Graduate Administrator by 4.00 p.m. on the day of the deadline. You should fill in the three-part cover sheet with care. The first part contains the course, your name, student number and a signed declaration that the work is not plagiarised, which is kept by the Graduate Administrator, except for a slip at the bottom, which is given to you. The second part has your student number and the essay title, which goes to the first marker. There is a space for comments and a copy of this will be returned to you. The third part is for the marks. The forms can be downloaded here.

If your course features electronic submission of assessed coursework, or if you are required to submit your work to an electronic check, you will be fully briefed on this by your tutor.

Deferrals to the following year may be requested, but the request must be received in writing by the Graduate Tutor for approval by the Faculty Tutor before the submission deadline.

Extensions may be granted in exceptional circumstances (normally medical, where supported by a Medical Certificate). Requests for extensions on medical grounds must be received by the Graduate Tutor not later than 7 days after the submission deadline. Computer failure is considered to be a routine occurrence and may NOT be cited as grounds for an extension.

Late submission

5 marks will be deducted from the final mark for the piece of work for each 3 days (or part of 3 days) that it is overdue (including weekends) up until 12 days after the deadline, after which the mark will be zero unless a) a Medical Certificate supports the delay AND b) sufficient time remains for the work to be marked according to the Regulations. If insufficient time remains, the medical evidence will normally allow for a deferral without penalty to the following year.

Failure to submit the essay by the final deadline will result in a mark of 0% and disbarment from the examination.

Students whose overall (i.e. aggregated) mark is a fail for a course assessed by 50% examination and 50% coursework, but who have passed either the examination or the coursework, will be required to re-sit only the failed part on the next normal occasion. Where a student has been barred from an examination because of non-submission of coursework, both elements must be re-taken on the next normal occasion.

Plagiarism

Your essays and dissertation are the principal means by which you demonstrate your knowledge, understanding and maturity. It is crucial that they are entirely your own work. For this reason, please pay particular attention to the following guidance on plagiarism.

The UCL policy on plagiarism is as follows:

1. The College is subject to the University of London’s General Regulations for Internal Students and the policy detailed below has been drawn up in accordance with those Regulations.

2. Plagiarism is defined as the presentation of another person’s thoughts or words or artefacts or software as though they were a student’s own.

3. Any quotation from the published or unpublished works of other persons must, therefore, be clearly identified as such by being placed inside quotation marks, and students should identify their sources as accurately and fully as possible.

4. A series of short quotations from several different sources, if not clearly identified as such, constitutes plagiarism just as much as does a single unacknowledged long quotation from a single source. Equally, if a student summarises another person’s ideas, judgements, figures, diagrams or software, a reference to that person in the text must be made and the work referred to must be included in the bibliography.

5. Recourse to the services of ‘ghost-writing’ agencies (for example in the preparation of essays or reports) or of outside word-processing agencies which offer ‘correction/ improvement of English’ is strictly forbidden, and students who make use of the services of such agencies render themselves liable for an academic penalty.

6. Where part of an examination consists of “take-away” papers, essays or other work written in the student’s own time, or a coursework assessment, the work submitted must be the candidate’s own.

7. Some departments give specific advice about non-originality, plagiarism and the use of material by others, and students must make themselves aware of such departmental guidelines and abide by them. For such assessments it is also illicit to reproduce material which a student has used in other work/assessment for the course or programme concerned. Students should make themselves aware of their department’s rules on this ‘self-plagiarism’. If in doubt, students should consult their Personal Tutor or an appropriate other Tutor.

8. Failure to observe any of the provisions of this policy or of approved departmental guidelines constitutes an examination offence under the University Regulations. Examination offences will normally be treated as cheating or irregularities under the regulations for Proceedings in respect of Examination Irregularities. Under these Regulations students found to have committed an offence may be excluded from all further examinations of the University and/or the College.  

Key points

The issue of plagiarism relates to all the work that you do, including coursework that is not formally assessed.

Plagiarism is not just copying whole chunks from a book, article or the Internet.

Whenever you quote from a source or sources, whether a short quotation that may be incorporated in your sentence, a series of short quotations, or a longer quotation that is presented separately from your text, you must:

- PUT INVERTED COMMAS AROUND THE QUOTATION(S)

- ACKNOWLEDGE THE SOURCE(S) IN A REFERENCE

Whenever you summarise or paraphrase what someone else has said/argued, for example: ‘As Grant has argued, the most important factor in this process is ...’, you must:

- ACKNOWLEDGE THE SOURCE AND GIVE THE REFERENCE

If you summarise Grant’s ideas/argument without acknowledging this, you are plagiarising. Where an idea is commonly and widely accepted, then it may not be necessary or appropriate to acknowledge an individual source. However, it may still be appropriate or useful to acknowledge the original source of an idea. If in doubt, include a reference. Usually, this includes the page(s).

‘Unintentional’ plagiarism can occur through sloppy note-taking, e.g. if you take notes from a source but do not record the origin of your notes. This is still plagiarism. So you must:

- RECORD SOURCES/REFERENCES WHEN TAKING NOTES

You should list all your sources in the bibliography. Note, however, that unacknowledged use of a source in your text is not covered by your bibliography.

Copying another student’s work is also plagiarism. So-called ‘self-plagiarism’ is when you submit the same piece of work for assessment for two different courses or components of a course. Your Department and/or course tutor will inform you of any relevant regulations, for example, not being allowed to answer questions in the written examination which are on substantially the same topic as for an assessed essay.

Detecting plagiarism

It is a common misconception that plagiarism is hard to detect. Academics are experienced and skilled readers and can readily detect a change in style which is the tell-tale sign that you are using someone else’s words; internet sources are easily traced using a search engine. UCL has signed up to ‘Turnitin’, an advanced plagiarism detection software, which can compare essays against an enormous database of other essays and texts. You may be required to submit your work to such a check.

The penalties for plagiarism

Plagiarism is a serious matter and is subject to penalties that can range from reducing the mark or giving a mark of zero to barring from examinations: NB even a reduced mark can affect the overall classification of your degree, e.g. by reducing the average of your marks from Distinction to Pass.

A first case of plagiarism, unless its seriousness merits otherwise, will normally be handled within the School; second or repeated offences, and other cases as required by the regulations, are referred to the Registrar.

For further information, see:

UCL Academic Committee’s Policy on plagiarism

UCL Academic Committee’s Policy on examination irregularities

Marking

All formally assessed coursework will be first-marked by one internal examiner (a member of the academic staff, usually the course tutor) and second-marked (or moderated) by a second. Coursework is then monitored by the relevant Visiting Examiner. The final dissertation will be marked by at least one member of both UCL and the year two institution’s academic staff. Other year two coursework will be subject to local regulations and procedures.  

Anonymous Marking

SSEES operates anonymous marking of assessed coursework at Master’s level in order to ensure fairness. Unless it is a course with only one, two or three students (such as a directed reading course), your tutors will only discover the identity of the students after the internal mark for the piece of work has been agreed. Anonymity requires that the set procedures are followed exactly.

Feedback

Feedback on your work is an important part of learning. Once the internal marking of your coursework has been completed, you can collect the comments and one copy of the essay from the Graduate Studies Administrator. You can then make an appointment with your course tutor to discuss your performance in more detail. However, marks are subject to review by visiting examiners, and so no marks can be released until after they have been finalised by the examination board.

Submission Forms for assessed essays.

 

Back to Handbook contents