UCL CENTRE FOR LANGUAGES
& INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
Course Units 2015-2016
Project:
Marking Criteria
These Marking Criteria should be read and implemented in conjunction with the Project information contained in the
current Student Handbook. These marking criteria apply to all modern foreign language course units except Translation
Skills and Art Historians.
1.
General



The overall mark for the Project should be an integer between 0-100;
When giving feedback students can see marking sheets;
Deadline for receipt of finalised Project marks in the Course Units office:
SSCs – year 1:
Monday 18 April 2016
SSCs – year 2:
Monday 15 February 2016
Course Units:
Tuesday 03 May 2016
As agreed in June 2008, in line with College, all marks are now stored as integers only. Once a mark has been agreed
it should be rounded up or down to the nearest whole number as follows:



If it is a whole number: leave it (e.g. 75).
If the first number after the decimal point is greater than or equal to 5: round up (i.e. drop the decimal and
add 1 to the number, e.g. 75.5 → 76).
If the first number after the decimal is less than 5: round down (i.e. drop the decimal, e.g. 75.4 → 75).
If the number has been rounded up or rounded down please ensure that both the original unrounded number
and the rounded number are on the coursework coversheet with the rounded number underlined or circled, so
it is clear how the final (rounded) number is obtained.
2.
Range of Marks
Although in principle the full range of marks can be used (i.e. 0-100) in practise it is unlikely that any candidate will
achieve this unless it an outstanding/perfect performance, particularly in the following areas:

Evaluation;

Organisation;

Style and register;

Content;

Vocabulary;

Grammar.
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3.
Corresponding grades for sub-totals*
Sub-total out of
25.0
22.0
21.0
19.0
18.0
15.0
12.5
11.0
10.0
9.0
8.0
7.0
6.0
4.5
Grade A
17.5-25.0
15.4-22.0
14.7-21.0
13.3-19.0
12.6-18.0
10.5-15.0
8.8-12.5
7.7-11.0
7.0-10.0
6.3-9.0
5.6-8.0
4.9-7.0
4.2-6.0
3.2-4.5
Grade B
15.0-17.4
13.2-15.3
12.6-14.6
11.4-13.2
10.8-12.5
9.0-10.4
7.5-8.7
6.6-7.6
6.0-6.9
5.4-6.2
4.8-5.5
4.2-4.8
3.6-4.1
2.7-3.1
Grade C
12.5-14.9
11.0-13.1
10.5-12.5
9.5-11.3
9.0-10.7
7.5-8.9
6.3-7.4
5.5-6.5
5.0-5.9
4.5-5.3
4.0-4.7
3.5-4.1
3.0-3.5
2.3-2.6
Grade D
10.0-12.4
8.8-10.9
8.4-10.4
7.6-9.4
7.2-8.9
6.0-7.4
5.0-6.2
4.4-5.4
4.0-4.9
3.6-4.4
3.2-3.9
2.8-3.4
2.4-2.9
1.8-2.2
Grade F
0.0-9.9
0.0-8.7
0.0-8.3
0.0-7.5
0.0-7.1
0.0-5.9
0.0-4.9
0.0-4.3
0.0-3.9
0.0-3.5
0.0-3.1
0.0-2.7
0.0-2.3
0.0-1.7
* Grades given here are indicative only and are for standard undergraduate modules. For full details of all
applicable mark/grade schemes (undergraduate, M Level, graduate, SSC) please refer to the appropriate
Component mark/grade schemes (available at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/clie/CourseUnits/General/Grades and
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/clie/SSCs/General/Grades).
4.
Reading
a.
Selection of material

Three sources: if fewer then tutor has discretion to ask student for them; if not submitted promptly
then deduct points pro rata (i.e. for each missing source deduct 33%);

If a source was originally in English then 0 points should be given for the source;

Variety of documents: must be different formats/text types from different sources (i.e. three
documents from one magazine is not acceptable) as proper research is required;

Relevance: documents must be relevant to the topic – if not deduct points pro rata (i.e. for each
irrelevant source deduct 33%);

Must be appropriate for the course language level;

For syllabi A and B: illustrations acceptable for description purposes but not as a document.
b.
Evaluation

Relevant sections highlighted/chosen;

Documents are referred to in the Project – if not then deduct points pro rata (i.e. for each document
not referred to deduct 33%) and also deduct points pro rata for relevance (see under Selection of
Material above);

Acceptable ways of referring to documents: summarising, quoting and paraphrasing;

Unacceptable ways of referring: copying.
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5.
Writing
a.
Organisation

Clearly structured (introduction, main arguments, conclusion);

Appropriate linking of structural parts (especially at higher levels).
b.
Style and Register

Syntax/sentence structure – appropriateness and variety;

Clarity;

Consistency.
c.
Content

Pertinent information;

Relevance;

Evaluation, reaction;

Appropriate for level.
d.
Vocabulary

Appropriateness;

Accuracy;

Range.
e.
Grammar

Appropriate for level/syllabus;

Accuracy.
f.
Spelling

To include punctuation;

Accuracy.
Number of words
If the number of words written by the candidate is:

Under the specified amount (-⅓) then deduct 10% of their overall mark for writing;

Over the specified amount see Over-length penalties (point 9 below).
6.
Plagiarism




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Tutors should check all Projects briefly WITHIN ONE WEEK OF THE SUBMISSION DEADLINE and flag those
suspected of plagiarism;
The tutor should then ask the student concerned if they have anything they would like to say; if the student
denies any wrongdoing they will be asked to recreate part of their Project, using their sources and a
dictionary, sitting supervised in a room for one hour. They will then get a mark based on what they produce
under these conditions (Reading and Writing marks);
If the student admits plagiarising then they will be given three days to redo their Project – either on a different
aspect of the topic or by changing the format (e.g. turn it into a diary), using the same sources;
Minor plagiarism (copying sources) should be penalised as follows:

10% plagiarised: 10% of total mark for Writing deducted;

20% plagiarised: 20% of total mark for Writing deducted;

30% plagiarised: 30% of total mark for Writing deducted;

40% plagiarised: 40% of total mark for Writing deducted;

50% plagiarised: 50% of total mark for Writing deducted;

Over 50% plagiarised: 100% of total mark for Writing deducted (i.e. zero points for Writing).
7.
Turnitin
Tutors can view similarity reports for Projects submitted to Turnitin via Moodle. Tutors are recommended to look
at these to check that flagged instances are benign, as e.g.

If students have mistakenly also submitted sources then these will generally be flagged as matching an
external source;

Quotes if not clearly identified as such may also be flagged as matching an external source;

Low level Projects have low word counts and use less complicated (and so less unique) constructions, and so
have a greater likelihood of being flagged as matching an external source.
8.
Late submission penalties
Penalties for late submission of the Project WILL BE CALCULATED AND APPLIED AUTOMATICALLY BY THE OFFICE
once Project marks have been entered in the database. The penalty will be deducted from the OVERALL Project
mark.
9.
Over-length penalties
The word count should include the main text and any tables, diagrams and illustrations together with their captions,
plus footnotes and endnotes, but not the table of contents, bibliography or appendices.
Quotations
A/B/C/AP-Intro:
D/BCA/CA+Cu/PPII/APII:
Quotes should NOT be included in the word count.
Short quotes SHOULD be included in the word count. Extended quotations
(of more than two lines) should be indented in the text and should NOT be
included in the word count.
There should not be excessive quoting.
Penalty

Projects should not exceed the prescribed length;

If a Project exceeds the specified maximum length by less than 10%: 10 points will be deducted, but the mark
should not be reduced below the minimum pass mark, assuming that the Project merits a pass;

If a Project exceeds the specified maximum length by 10% or more: a mark of zero will be recorded. However,
provided the Project contains material that can be assessed then the assessment will be considered to be
complete.

If a Project is submitted both late and over-length: the greater penalty will apply.
Over-length penalties should be applied BY THE TUTOR and deducted from the OVERALL Project mark
PLEASE INDICATE CLEARLY ON THE COVERSHEET IF A PENALTY DUE TO OVER-LENGTH HAS BEEN APPLIED.
10.
Change of marks
If a mark changes (due to e.g. double marking) it is ESSENTIAL that you inform the office of the new mark by email
IMMEDIATELY.
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