Non-invigilated Assessments
In many modules students are required to submit essays, projects, laboratory notebooks, field reports or portfolios of exercises for assessment. Such assessment materials are generically known as 'non-invigilated assessments' since they are separate from formal examinations taken under supervised conditions in an examinations hall. It is the responsibility of the student to obtain a description of the non-invigilated work for a particular module from the appropriate module convenor.
Where there is a non-invigilated component in the assessment of a module, the convenor of the module will issue students with a written description of the material they are expected to prepare for the module. This description will normally be handed out during lectures or practicals associated with the module, be incorporated in any guide for the module provided at the start of the relevant semester or made available on the departmental web site, and will include:
- details of the nature of the work, length, and proportion it forms of the assessment of the module
- date and arrangements for submission, (both paper and electronic)
- marking criteria
The Department of Geography does not have a policy of requiring students to acknowledge receipt of these instructions in writing, but will require students to acknowledge submission of the work by signing a register kept for this purpose in the Departmental Office.
The overall preparation of non-invigilated work that a student is expected to complete will generally increase from level one through to level three. At each level the amount of non-invigilated work for each individual module will vary. For some modules, 100% of the assessed work will be non-invigilated whereas others may be 100% examination. Many modules will combine examined and non-invigilated material, with the latter generally forming between 33% and 50% of the total assessment for the module.
Students are reminded that they must attend classes and carry out set work. The staff convenor of each module will return information to the department on students who have not completed course work (without a satisfactory explanation). Students seeking an extension to the deadline for any piece of non-invigilated material should approach the module convenor in the first instance. Unsatisfactory performance will be indicated by a warning letter from the department indicating the penalties of failing to complete work to a satisfactory standard, within the specific deadlines. Details may be passed onto the Registrar if these deadlines are exceeded (unless a reasonable case can be made by the student for an extension) and penalties will be recorded.
Deadlines and Late Submissions
The deadlines for all non-invigilated material will be issued to each student at the start of each module. A scale of penalties will be imposed for the late submission of non-invigilated material.
Where only one copy of the non-invigilated work is required (eg field notebooks) a five percent penalty will be applied to the original mark for each working day late, up to a limit of five working days, after which the work will receive a mark of 0, as outlined in the table below.
|
Day(s) late
|
Multiply mark by
|
Mark awarded after penalty
|
|
|
Original mark 60
|
Original mark 50
|
||
|
1
|
0.95
|
57
|
48
|
|
2
|
0.90
|
54
|
45
|
|
3
|
0.85
|
51
|
43
|
|
4
|
0.80
|
48
|
40
|
|
5
|
0.75
|
45
|
38
|
|
>5
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
Where two copies are required
For many pieces of work two copies must be submitted.
- A paper copy which is marked and returned to the student, complete with markers' comments for feedback.
- An electronic copy submitted via Turnitin. This is used to check for plagiarism and collusion and is retained as the department's copy
The deadline for the electronic copy is 11:59pm on the day which the paper copy is due. In case of any problem with Turnitin, please email the departmental Examinations Officer immediately.
Having two copies means there are various combinations which may result in late submission penalties, as follows.
EITHER one copy is submitted on time and the other late but within five working days OR both copies are submitted late, but both within five working days.
- The standard penalty is applied, based on the later of the two submissions.
One copy is submitted on time or within five working days and the other is submitted after five working days or not at all.
- Strict application of the rules would mean a mark of 0 for the assessment. However, since one copy has been submitted, a 25% penalty is applied.
BOTH copies submitted after five working days or not submitted at all.
- In this case a mark of 0 is awarded.
For paper copies, 'working days' do not include weekends, but do include days within vacation periods. For example, if a submission day falls on the last Friday before the Easter vacation, penalties for late submission of the paper copy would be applied from the first Monday of the vacation period.
For electronic copies, every day counts as a working day, including weekends and vacations.
Late work MUST be submitted to the Department Office (C Floor) with a late slip attached and NOT directly to any staff member.
Requesting an Extension to a Submission Deadline
If medical problems or extreme family or personal problems mean that you are unable to submit work by the submission date you may apply for an extension to the deadline. Application must be made in writing (email is acceptable) to the Tutor for Undergraduate Studies and must be made before the submission deadline. Applications on medical grounds must be supported by documentation (see 'Illness' section).
Work granted an extension still normally needs to be submitted through Turnitin.
Note that you should normally allow time for printing work, and be sure to have backup copies, since last-minute computer-related problems will not normally be accepted as grounds for an extension.
Penalties for Over-Length Work
The length limit for each piece of non-invigilated assessment work associated with a particular module will be issued to each student at the start of the module. The length limit varies between modules. There is normally an allowance for the main body of the document, and an additional allowance for pages of diagrams, tables, references, etc. It is your responsibility to check what is required for each module.
Length limits will be specified by word limits. The table below shows the penalties that will be imposed on over-length work.
|
Amount over-length
|
Multiply mark by
|
Mark awarded after penalty
|
||
|
Page limit
|
Word limit |
Original mark 60
|
Original mark 50
|
|
|
1
|
10% over
|
0.95
|
57
|
48
|
|
2
|
20% over
|
0.90
|
54
|
45
|
|
3
|
30% over
|
0.85
|
51
|
43
|
|
4
|
40% over
|
0.80
|
48
|
40
|
|
5
|
50% over
|
0.75
|
45
|
38
|
|
>10
|
>100% over
|
0
|
0
|
0
|