How essay grades are determined
What lecturers generally look for when grading
Essay assignments at Birkbeck are graded on a scale of 0-100, with 70% being a distinction and anything below 40% (for undergraduates) and 50% (for postgraduates) a fail.
A 'distinction' essay certainly doesn't have to be something that only a professor could write, but it does have to be spectacular work. Answering a question adequately and making no serious errors is not sufficient to earn a distinction.
Overall quality of the answer
- Is the central idea of the essay clear, insightful, and correct (if applicable—some questions have no right or wrong answers, only strongly or weakly supported arguments)?
- Does the essay, in general, display a sound understanding of the relevant subject matter and course material?
- Organisation of essay and quality of examples and explanations
- Is the essay written according to a clear system of organisation?
- Are the examples used to support the central idea of the essay appropriate and effective?
- Are the explanations of these examples clear and do they actually explain how the examples support the central idea?
- Do those explanations display a sound understanding of course material?
- If diagrams are used, are they supported within the essay?
Mechanics and style
- Is the language of the essay effective and at a level appropriate to a postgraduate essay?
- Does the language of the essay reflect proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation?
- Is the vocabulary (both general and subject-specific) used correctly in the essay?
