Research, Reasoning and Rhetoric: Thinking with History: Lecture 6 Understanding marks and feedback 7: Understanding marks and feedback Ted Vallance

Reminder Feedback on your draft portfolio has been posted on Mahara If you can’t see any feedback this is because you haven’t added your portfolio to the Mahara group or have not made it accessible (should be a separate view not your profile page) You can get technical advice on Mahara at the moodle bar in the library (open 12-2 weekdays) You can get support with academic writing from our academic learning adviser (Nicola.OKeefe@roehampton.ac.uk)

Checklist By now you should have: Identified a topic Found a relevant primary source Developed a hypothesis Drafted an initial bibliography Located other relevant primary sources Produced a journal for weeks 1-7

What is feedback and what is it for? = The return of a fraction of the output signal of the amplifier to the input

How do you use feedback? How do you use feedback?

How we hope feedback works Student writes assignment Student develops/improves work in light of comments Tutor marks assignment Student reads tutor’s comments

How it sometimes works Student writes assignment Student gets grade in summer, feels cross Tutor marks assignment Assignment lies unread on Turnitin

Feedback Does not = the grade Feedback offers you guidance on how you could improve future work. In the case of *formative* assessment (such as the draft portfolio) this can help you improve your final grade In the case of ALL assessment, learning from feedback will improve your grades overall

How we deliver feedback In writing on your assignments (feedback sheets) Online, via moodle and Turnitin Orally, in tutorials discussing your work or in class

How to make the best use of feedback Make a note of suggested areas for improvement – if these appear across a number of modules, you may want to talk to your personal tutor about them If anything is unclear or you want further guidance, contact your module tutor – remember the written feedback is only a starting point Develop an action plan – how are you going to improve?

Understanding marks You will get marks after you receive feedback but you can go a long way to understanding how your work will be graded by looking at our marking criteria and how we structure our feedback to you.

Key indicators There are six key indicators of quality that we use to assess work Relevance Length, structure, organisation Analysis Knowledge Understanding Literacy and referencing Each can affect the overall grade for the work Bring in the feedback form here.

Relevance Is this material you have produced relevant to the topic and question set? So, not just about whether your essay/assignment contains relevant information on the topic But more importantly about how well you have focused your response on the question in hand

Length, structure, organisation Have you kept within the word limit? (10% tolerance above and below word limit + limit excludes notes/bibliography). Work that is too long or too short will be penalised. Is the work well-structured and organised? Does it have a clear argument running through it and effective introduction and conclusion?

Analysis Does the assignment show a sustained, critical approach to the question/problem or is it largely descriptive? Have you synthesised and evaluated historians’ arguments effectively? Have you interrogated your primary sources thoroughly?

Knowledge Good work demonstrates in-depth knowledge of the subject matter. BUT command of factual detail, awareness of the historical context, needs to be used to support a clear argument You will not receive high marks simply for memorising facts.

Understanding You need to be able to show that you clearly grasp both the historical context and the nature of historiographical debates around an issue This is why quotations from other scholars need to be unpacked and explained rather than simply inserted into your text as ‘proof’. Similarly, you need to demonstrate in source commentary exercises that you fully understand the meaning of the source(s) you are analysing

Literacy and referencing Your work should be clearly written and as free from grammatical and spelling errors as possible. Poor expression/presentation makes it harder for your tutors to see what it is you are trying to say. Written work must also be appropriately referenced and those references should be properly formatted. Writing and referencing are not minor issues: you can go down a whole degree class for failing to take proper case with them.

Understanding marks 70 + = First-class work 60 + = Upper-second class work 50 + = Lower-second class work 40-49 = Third-class work Below 40 = Fail Note: You must pass all your year 1 modules in order to progress into year 2.

Final degree classification At Roehampton, the final degree classification is determined by a simple average of your marks across 200 credits in years 2 & 3. This means: You cannot do well on the basis of a good final year performance alone We do not consider ‘borderline’ cases – 59 is a 2.2 not a 2.1 You need to perform consistently well across years 2 & 3 to receive a good degree

Tasks for next week Read the feedback on your draft portfolio Book a tutorial slot for week 9 or 10 on moodle Continue to develop your portfolio