Assignment FAQ

Covering anything not covered already in the assignment brief

Have you got any examples we could look at?

Yes! Here are two strong essays from an earlier version of the course, plus the marker notes. I have made redactions so you can’t see the student names. Example 1 is an essay on a set topic that we are not using this year. Example 2 is an essay on a topic the student came up with themselves, which was approved by me (i.e. this was the 2nd essay for a Masters student. Do not write an essay on either of these topics - neither are on our list of set topics, and for Masters students I won’t approve these as self-designed topics for assignment 2. The marks they got, plus the marker annotations, are at the end.

Is the word limit strict?

Yes it is.

Does the word limit include footnotes?

Yes it does.

Should I put the question number and full question I am answering at the top of my essay?

Yes that is a good idea - and (although it’s only a few words) you don’t have to include that when working out your word count. Putting the full question at the top of your essay is a good idea for two reasons. Firstly, it removes any ambiguity for your marker as to what question you are attempting to answer - in extreme cases this ambiguity can be really hard for us to resolve, which can lead to a low mark. Secondly, it’s also a really good reminder to you that your essay should be answering a question, rather than say taking an aimless ramble through the literature, so putting the question right at the top helps you focus on doing that.

Re-use

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