MSci Y4 Guidelines for marking essays, literature reviews, critical analyses and other assignments
Guidelines for marking essays, literature reviews, critical analyses and other assignments
Class | Mark | Marking guidelines |
Distinction | 1) Narrative is both logical and coherent 2) Deep understanding of appropriate sources 3) Material well-selected and highly relevant, going beyond basic or ‘core’ materials 4) Strong evidence of original critical reflection and an analytical approach | |
Excellent Distinction | 100 | Assignment reaches an exceptional level of achievement that significantly exceeds the standards described by the above statements |
Good Distinction | 90 | Assignment exceeds the standards described by the above statements |
Solid Distinction | 80 | Assignment is well described by the above statements |
Low Distinction | 75 | Assignment mostly meets the standards described by the above statements |
Merit | 1) Narrative is mostly logical and coherent 2) Good understanding of appropriate sources 3) Material well-selected and relevant for the most part 4) Some evidence of original critical reflection and an analytical approach | |
Good Merit | 68 | Assignment exceeds the standards described by the above statements but does not meet the standards for a distinction |
Solid Merit | 65 | Assignment is well described by the above statements |
Low Merit | 62 | Assignment mostly meets the standards described by the above statements |
Pass | 1) Broadly logical and coherent narrative, but showing signs of structure breaking down 2) Clear understanding of appropriate sources, but somewhat superficial in scope 3) Material broadly relevant, but with evidence of irrelevant text 4) Superficial evidence of original critical reflection and an analytical approach | |
Good Pass | 58 | Assignment exceeds the standards described by the above statements but does not meet the standards for a merit |
Solid Pass | 55 | Assignment is well described by the above statements |
Low Pass | 52 | Assignment mostly meets the standards described by the above statements |
Marginal fail | 1) Narrative suffers from illogical or incoherent passages 2) Limited understanding of appropriate sources 3) Material relevant in parts, but irrelevant text also present throughout 4) Evidence of original critical reflection is lacking | |
48 | Assignment exceeds the standards described by the above statements but does not meet the standards for a pass | |
45 | Assignment is well described by the above statements | |
42 | Assignment falls below the standards described by the above statements | |
Clear Fail | 1) A minimally logical narrative, with incoherent structure throughout 2) No evidence that appropriate sources were understood 3) Material is almost entirely irrelevant to the topic | |
38 | Assignment exceeds the standards described by the above statements but does not meet the standards for a marginal fail | |
32 | Assignment is well described by the above statements | |
10 | Assignment falls below the standards described by the above statements | |
Zero Marks | 0 | 1) No psychology-related content. |
Grade assignment decision rules
Note. If an assignment meets some of the descriptive criteria for a degree class (e.g. Merit), and some of the descriptive criteria for another degree class (e.g. Pass), it is at the discretion of the marker where to assign the grade (i.e. somewhere in the Merit or Pass range).
To contact the Student Documentation maintainers please email psychology-student-docs-group@york.ac.uk (use your University of York email address).