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What about Assessment and Evaluation?

Courses are assessed by a variety of means, but each course is generally evaluated on the basis of a combination of continuous assessment and examination. You should consult the individual course handouts for precise information concerning the assessment procedures for each course.

Please see also the department's "Guide to Written Work".

You are strongly encouraged to type or word-process your work. Hand-written work is acceptable provided the writing can be easily read. It is your responsibility to ensure that written work is submitted within the deadline, whether or not it is handed in by you personally. Except in the case of illness, an essay that is submitted after the deadline will lose two marks if submitted up to one week after the deadline, and will receive a mark of zero if submitted more than one week late.

Plagiarism/Disciplinary Action

The Department follows University policy in regarding all cheating as a disciplinary offence. Cheating includes plagiarism, defined by the University as follows:

"Plagiarism is the substantial use, without acknowledgement and with intent to deceive examiners or knowing that the examiners might be deceived, of the intellectual work of other people by representing, whether by copying or paraphrase, the ideas or discoveries of another or of others as one's own work submitted for assessment. The mere inclusion of the source in a bibliography shall not be considered sufficient acknowledgement."

Any student suspected of plagiarism will be seen by the Head of Department and the University's disciplinary procedures will be invoked where appropriate. Guidance on how to avoid plagiarism will be given by individual course co-ordinators and the departmental document, A Guide to Referencing in Assessed Work, should also be consulted.

Department of Hispanic Studies: Assessment and Evaluation

All assessments, both for individual assignments and for courses as a whole, are marked according to the University Common Assessment Scale (CAS). The Department of Hispanic Studies uses three sets of assessment descriptors when marking according to the type of activity in question: content courses, language work, or oral presentations. Of course, these brief descriptors cannot comprehend all the qualities that make for a particular grade, and where qualities other than those described appear in a piece of work, the mark may also take account of them. Also, superior qualities in some directions may be judged to compensate for deficiencies in others. N.B. "text" here is used in its broadest sense and refers to any kind of text: literary, film, visual image, etc.

Language (written and oral)--Assessment Descriptors

*Mark*	*Class*	*Description*
18-20	First	Very high level of comprehension Very high level of syntactical and morphological accuracy Provide evidence of extensive vocabulary and appreciation of and ability to use a wide variety of registers Very high level of oral fluency Near-native accent and intonation
15-17	2i	Good level of comprehension Good syntactical and morphological accuracy An above-average breadth of vocabulary and an appreciation of an ability to use an appropriate variety of registers Good oral fluency and phonetic accuracy
12-14	2ii	Accurate comprehension Reasonable accuracy of syntax and morphology Average breadth of vocabulary Ability to distinguish broad variations of register Competent oral fluency and phonetic accuracy
9-11	III	Adequate comprehension Some serious syntactic and morphological flaws, but overall demonstration of basic understanding of essential grammatical structures Competent but restricted vocabulary with some serious areas of weakness Restricted oral fluency, phonetic inaccuracies
6-8	Fail	Persistent errors of basic syntax and morphology Inadequate command of basic vocabulary Halting oral fluency, phonetically unacceptable
1-5	Fail	No serious attempt to offer an answer

Content Papers--Assessment Descriptors

*Mark*	*Class*	*Description*
18-20	First	Excellently constructed argument Very good use of examples to illustrate and justify an argument, which is articulately expressed Evidence of extensive reading
15-17	2i	Relevant, coherent, and balanced argument Good use of examples to illustrate points and justify the argument A clearly expressed answer Evidence of appropriate reading
12-14	2ii	A competently argued answer, using relevant material to substantiate points made Satisfactory analysis
9-11	III	Reasonable relevance Basic knowledge of the subject Limited ability to present a coherent argument Some illustration
6-8	Fail	Some attempt at an answer but seriously lacking in content and/or ability to organise thoughts Contains errors and shows a defective understanding of concepts Badly organised and presented
1-5	Fail	No serious attempt to offer an answer

Oral Presentations--Assessment Descriptors

*Mark*	*Class*	*Description*
18-20	First	Excellently constructed argument Very good use of examples to illustrate and justify an argument Articulate, convincing, and fluent delivery to an audience Evidence of extensive reading
15-17	2i	Relevant, coherent, and balanced argument Good use of examples to illustrate points and justify the argument Articulate delivery to an audience
12-14	2ii	Competently argued, using relevant material to substantiate points made Satisfactory analysis Reasonably articulate
9-11	III	Reasonable relevance Basic knowledge of the subject Limited ability to communicate effectively
6-8	Fail	Serious lack of ability to organise argument Defective knowledge of concept Failure to communicate effectively
1-5	Fail	No serious attempt to present an argument or maintain relevance

It is the Department's policy to be as helpful as possible in providing information on performance in continuously assessed work. Wherever possible, work will be handed back to students on an individual basis in order to supplement written comments on the assignment itself with oral feedback, and in order to allow students to clarify any areas where they might have doubts or queries.

Note that University regulations state that where details of illness and/or other personal circumstances are being submitted as grounds for academic appeal, students must submit these to the Head of Department within one week of the date of an assessment

Hispanic Studies, School of Language & Literature
Taylor Building · University of Aberdeen · Aberdeen · AB24 3UB · Scotland
Telephone: +44 (0)1224-272549 · Fax: +44 (0)1224-272624

Page last modified: Wednesday, 04-Aug-2004 12:03:25 BST

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