MSci 4th yr Marking Criteria - Reflective Essay

Class

Mark

Marking guidelines

First

Descriptive Narrative: the student provides clear and detailed account of the internship that captures the key aspects of the opportunity.  The section should be succinct and very well written. 

Reflection: the student provides a thoughtful and reflective account of their opportunity that encompasses an exploration of their internship opportunity and an explanation of key events or actions.     

Outcome and Conclusion: Student provides a concise and clear account of how the internship opportunity has led to their personal development (including skills development and their changed perception of their own strengths and weaknesses).   

General communication: the student’s account is very well written and structured

Excellent First

100

Assignment reaches an exceptional level of achievement that significantly exceeds the standards described by the above statements

Good First

90

Assignment exceeds the standards described by the above statements

Solid First

80

Assignment is well described by the above statements

Low First

75

Assignment mostly meets the standards described by the above statements

Upper Second

Descriptive Narrative: the student provides clear and detailed account of the internship. The quality of the account can have some limitations in terms of either the detail provided or the quality of the writing (but not both). 

Reflection: the student provides a thoughtful and reflective account of their opportunity. However, there may be weaknesses in some of the elements of the reflection or main elements are present in the discussion of only some of the experiences 

Outcome and Conclusion: the student provides a concise and clear account of how the internship opportunity has led to their personal development (including skills development).  

General Communication: the student’s account is well written and structured but with a few minor lapses in writing clarity and structure.

Good 2.1

68

Assignment exceeds the standards described by the above statements but does not meet the standards for a first class mark

Solid 2.1

65

Assignment is well described by the above statements

Low 2.1

62

Assignment mostly meets the standards described by the above statements

Lower Second

Descriptive Narrative: the student provides reasonably clear and detailed account of the internship. The quality of the account can have some limitations in terms of the detail provided and there may be issues around the quality of the writing. 

Reflection: the student provides a reasonably thoughtful and reflective account of their opportunity.   However, elements of the reflection may be missing and only present for discussion of some of the experiences and the account may be overly descriptive in tone

Outcome and Conclusion: the student provides a reasonable account of how the internship opportunity has led to their personal development (including skills development). However, the student’s discussion will be focused too much on the descriptive aspects of the skill and limited in the reflection on the development.

General Communication: the student’s account is reasonably well written and structured but with some lapses in writing clarity and structure.

Good 2.2

58

Assignment exceeds the standards described by the above statements but does not meet the standards for an upper second class mark

Solid 2.2

55

Assignment is well described by the above statements

Low 2.2

52

Assignment mostly meets the standards described by the above statements

Third

Descriptive Narrative: the quality of the student’s account will have some limitations in terms of the detail provided.  There will be issues around the quality of the writing in that it is unclear or poorly structured.  There may be irrelevant detail within the section. 

Reflection: the student may have attempted to reflect on the experience.   However, a number of the elements of reflection will be missing and reflective discussion is provided for only some of the experiences. The focus of the account is on the description of the experience.

Outcome and Conclusion: the student’s discussion will have limited/no reflection on the skills development and will be focused too much on the description of the skills.

General Communication: the student’s account is comprehensible but with a number of weaknesses in writing clarity and structure.

Good Third

48

Assignment exceeds the standards described by the above statements but does not meet the standards for a second class mark

Solid Third

45

Assignment is well described by the above statements

Low Third

42

Assignment falls below the standards described by the above statements

Fail

Descriptive Narrative: the student’s writing shows no clear understanding of the role of the section or there are serious limitations in the writing and structure of the section (part of the section is very poorly written).

Reflection: The student provides no real attempt at a reflective account of their opportunity and the student makes no direct attempt to discuss the experience of the placement.

Outcome and Conclusion: the student’s discussion will have limited/no reflection on the skills development and will be focused too much on the description of the skills.

General Communication: the student’s account is very poorly worded and structured.

High Marginal Fail

38

Assignment exceeds the standards described by the above statements but does not meet the standards for a pass mark

Low Marginal Fail

32

Assignment is well described by the above statements

Outright Fail

10

Assignment falls below the standards described by the above statements