1. SSC Aims and Objectives
Student Selected Components (SSCs) are modules selected by students within the undergraduate medical curriculum in UK medical schools. In 2003, the GMC required that between 25% and 33% of curricular time be available for SSCs. However in the 2009 edition of Tomorrow's Doctors this requirement was reduced to a minimum of 10%. This is in response to some of the knowledge and skills previously acquired through the SSC programme now being acquired through part of the core.
SSCs at the University of Glasgow are 5 week dedicated blocks selected by students from a wide range of options and are undertaken in years 2, 3 and 4 of the curriculum. (in Year 3 and 4 onwards students are also provided with the opportunity to develop their own SSC). SSCs are delivered across a variety of teaching formats and cover topics such as research projects, the study of core curriculum-related topics in more depth, and topics outside medicine including humanities and languages.
Although programmes vary between Medical Schools, the major aims and objectives remain broadly similar and in 2003, the GMC provided the following guidance as to what particular skills students should have the opportunity to develop.

Learn about and begin to develop and use research skills.
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Have greater control over their own learning and develop their self-directed learning skills.
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Study, in depth, topics of particular interest outside the core curriculum.
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Develop greater confidence in their own skills and abilities.
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Present the results of their work verbally, visually or in writing.

Consider potential career paths.
SSCs also help in addressing the GMC graduate domain “Doctor as a Scholar and Scientist”.
2. SSC Format and Content
Supervisors decide on the format and content of their SSC, with guidance from the SSC team if required. The topics that students can choose are very heterogeneous, ranging from taught courses to fully autonomous learning activities with the options being provided on the website in advance of students making their choice. The following descriptors outline some of the different types of SSCs which students may encounter throughout the programme. The list is not exhaustive and some SSCs may involve more than one format type.
 Taught/classroom-based modules - These modules require students to attend lectures, tutorials and/or practical classes each week. Students may also be required to do some
 preparation in advance of these classes for example, some reading for discussion at a tutorial, preparation of oral presentations etc. Many students are accommodated in this type of SSC.
Laboratory-based SSCs - This could involve carrying out experiments or undertaking a structured review based on laboratory methodology or integrating practical laboratory
 elements alongside a structured review. Many students considering doing an intercalated degree consider this option.
Interpretative-based SSCs - Many staff members have performed research that has not been evaluated. Therefore, this could involve the student being given and asked to interpret


 quantitative or qualitative data. An example of a study of the quantitative data could be carrying out an audit and for a qualitative study could involve a review of results of interviews or focus group material.
Survey-based SSCs - This could involve undertaking a piece of primary research by developing a research proposal, data analysis and the writing up of the results.
Clinical Placement-based SSCs – This could encompass the scientific basis underlying the causes(s), diagnosis and treatment of various diseases/conditions and could be integrated with practical aspects of disease management. Practical sessions may also include interactive clinical rounds with consultants and registrars. Clinical modules often involve combinations of a project with clinical activities such as interviewing and examining patients, attending theatre,
 outpatients or ward rounds.
Self Proposed/Student Selected SSCs Students entering Years 3 and 4 may design their own student selected component. For this they are required to directly contact an appropriate supervisor, and Glasgow marker, if required (i.e. for SSCs undertaken either outwith the University or one of the University of Glasgow teaching hospitals) and agree the aims and objectives of the module.
3. SSC Selection and Allocation
SSCs in Year 2 are normally delivered by academic and honorary academic staff and are offered to students in a “menu” format. Outlines for each SSC are provided to allow students to make an informed choice. If students wish further information on a particular SSC outline then please approach the supervisor directly.
For allocation of SSC places a computerised ranked-choice allocation system is used. From the list of available SSCs, students are asked to rank their choice of 6 SSCs and submit these on line.
Thereafter, an algorithm within the VALE system randomly selects a student and allocates him/her to his/her highest choice available and this process is repeated until all students are allocated to
SSCs. The algorithm is run many times over until the best possible ‘fit’ is obtained in terms of all students getting their highest choice possible within the constraints of the number of places available. Thus, it is possible for one student to be allocated to a SSC lower down in his/her ranking than another student who had the same SSC ranked higher . We advise students to include a module with a high number of free places to ensure that you are allocated to a module of your choice
– please refer to column headed ‘seats’ to see the number of places available for the module .
Once students choice has been finalised both the student and staff will automatically be informed of the outcome. SSC Supervisors should make contact with the student in order to provide the date, time and place of the first meeting of the module. If such contact is not made 2/3 weeks before the start of the module, students should contact the SSC Supervisor directly.
Supervisors are responsible for monitoring student progress and attendance during the module and ensuring that the assessment process is fair and of an acceptable academic standard.
4. Assessment of SSCs a) Instruments Tools
As all SSCs are assessed and this process is scrutinised by the External Examiners, a particularly important issue is how the module is assessed. This is a crucial part of the SSC as it provides the only means by which the External Examiners can assess the academic rigour of students’ work.
Assessment instruments are very variable between SSCs but in all instances at least 60% must be in a form accessible to the External Examiners e.g. a written report or other piece of work (e.g. production of a DVD, development of a web page etc).
Ideally, the main assessment instrument should consist of a properly referenced report/dissertation/essay (2,500 to 3,500 words) on some aspect of the area of study. This should be the main outcome measure and have the largest weighting. Other assessment techniques that could be used to assess knowledge and skills include poster/web/oral presentation, practical skill
(could be laboratory, clinical), class tests (could be MCQ’s, SNQ’s), debate, literature review and

reflective portfolios. Scientific rigour is expected and case reports (i.e. clerking of patients) are not acceptable unless accompanied by a reflective commentary of some 500 words, which should also include references. This commentary can cover aspects such as pathophysiology/management/ epidemiology etc. with the patient’s history and findings being illustrative. If only this type of case report is to be presented for assessment, a minimum of three are expected, to give reflective commentaries totalling about 1,500 words. The learning outcomes of the work (i.e. the educational objectives and the extent to which these have been achieved) should be clearly stated, preferably in a separate section in advance of the SSC.
Note : If a case report is included, it must be written in such a way that the patient should not be identifiable . Terms such as Mr X and the age of the patient should be used instead of initials and date of birth. b) Format of Written Work
To improve clarity, reports/dissertations/essays must include a cover page with a title of the work as well as the student’s registration number and contain relevant subsections e.g. introduction and conclusions. If appropriate, written work may be in the form of a scientific paper and should have the following subsections: introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusions and references. c) Submission Process
On completion of the module students will be required to submit their SSC work (eg essays, report, dissertations, etc) including bibliography and any figures/tables to the Turnitin plagiarism detection software available via Moodle. This is the same as the students have been asked to do for coursework submissions in Years 1 and 2. Students will also still have two revision version submissions available to check your work if needed before submission to the Final Version. Please compile all your work into a single document for submission (maximum file size is 20MB).
IN ADDITION students are also required to submit an electronic version for MARKING on VALE
(via Moodle and logging on to the MBChB 2 Student Support site to access the SSC website as normal). This is important as it is needed for the supervisor/marker to mark, External Examiners to review and it is also “date stamped”. Penalties will be incurred for late submissions. Students may also wish to, if appropriate, provide the supervisor with a hard copy of their written work. d) Code of Assessment
All work produced by students is assessed using the University of Glasgow code of assessment.
This involves using an A to G grading system http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/senateoffice/policies/calendar/ which employs descriptors of student performance based on learning outcomes – in effect, the extent to which the learning objectives of the module have been achieved. For each relevant assessment instrument, a grade with secondary band will be awarded. These will be summed subsequently to calculate the overall grade which will also be sub-banded. Please note that, in keeping with assessments in other parts of the course, there is no formal mechanism for challenging the grade awarded. e) Penalties for Late Submission
Students are expected to complete all written work by the end of the SSC block and submit this via a website to a secure server. This allows sto rage and “date stamping” of submitted work. Failure to do so will incur a penalty of reduction of the grade awarded by two secondary bands for each working day (or part of a working day) the work was submitted late. In circumstances where due to a minor problem a student is unable to submit coursework by this deadline, or who anticipates being unable to so submit, he/she may ask the SSC Supervisor for a deferral of the deadline, subject to a limit of three days .
Where a student experiences a major problem with submission e.g. due to illness or other adverse personal circumstances, he/she must make the circumstances known to the SSC Director or Deputy, and provide appropriate written evidence such as:
Medical documentation e.g. a medical certificate, a medical report or a note from a hospital

or
Other types of documentation e.g. a note from an independent responsible person who can vouch for the event(s) which led to difficulties; evidence from a member of staff who was alerted to the circumstances at the time (e.g. Advisor of Studies); a letter from a student counsellor or other professional that the student actually consulted during the period when the difficulties were occurring, or a note from the police.
Notification should normally be made before the end of the SSC block but not later than one week after the date at which submission of the work for assessment was due, otherwise this shall not be taken into account unless circumstances have prevented the student from notifying the SSC
Director or Deputy within this time. If the documentary evidence presented is accepted, a new deadline will be set to which the student must adhere, otherwise the late submission penalty described above will apply.
Appendix I shows a flow diagram of the procedure for applying penalties.
IMPORTANT: The work submitted to your Supervisor for marking will be accepted as the final version. Any subsequent versions (electronic or hard) will not be accepted.
Although the final grade cannot be confirmed until approved by the External Examiners, SSC
Supervisors can indicate the provisional grade, or at least the Pass/Fail divide. Students who fail the SSC should be informed by the Supervisor and offered the opportunity of remediation , unless the reason for failure is non-submission of requested assessments or non-attendance. In addition,
Supervisors are encouraged to offer feedback to students, both verbal and written.
An important point to bear in mind is that if one of the major assessment instruments is a group report or some other form of group activity (e.g. multimedia presentation) then some means of assessing individual student contribution or performance must be included e.g. a summary or reflective commentary of the report of 500 words. In particular, ‘A’ grades cannot be awarded on the basis of group assessments alone. The assessment proforma should be completed by the supervisor for each student in the module, although this may not be necessary for course-based modules with large student numbers. If fail grades are awarded then the assessment proforma must be completed, as the External Examiners will inspect these.
To comply with Medical School regulations, students must pass ALL SSC blocks. In addition, the
SSC grades will be used, in proportion to their contribution to the curriculum as a whole, for the award of Honours and Commendation, along with the “core” assessments from Final and other years of the course. To comply with the Data Protection Act, students’ written work (electronic or otherwise) will be kept for 6 months after publication of the SSC grades for that block and thereafter destroyed, these grades becoming immutable thereafter.
5) Feedback to Students
A document management system is in place requiring students to submit written work to a secure server at the end of the module. SSC Supervisors can access this work via the website, but students are also asked to submit a hard copy of their written work to their Supervisor. This offers the opportunity to provide students with feedback by return of their annotated written work after assessment. However, if a Fail grade has been awarded, the original written work should be forwarded to the SSC Office, as will be required for evaluation by the External Examiner .
Students should also be offered feedback about their performance during the module by SSC supervisors using the Comments section on the assessment proforma. This section must be completed if a Fail grade has been awarded, to assist the External Examiners. Fail grades will be made available for inspection by the External Examiners, along with a selection of other grades.
6) Feedback to Staff
An electronic evaluation form is available for students to complete at the end of every SSC module.
This help re-enforce good practice and for future module improvements. Also some supervisors

use this for appraisal purposes. Therefore to complete this evaluation is most helpful and strongly encouraged.
7) Attendance
Attendance in all the SSC blocks is compulsory. If there is any medical or other problem that will interfere with attendance, the SSC Supervisor must be informed immediately, along with the SSC secretary ( SSM@clinmed.gla.ac.uk
).
If absent for less than 5 term days, then self-certificate is required; if more, a relevant medical certificate should be provided. You must also update your absences record on MyCampus. From experience, students who miss more than 5 days find it challenging to make up the time and are likely to fail the SSC. Also, patterns of absences are closely monitored by the Medical School and is an example of a concern in relation to fitness to practice. Please note that you have signed the
Student Agreement, which includes agreeing to attend all MBChB sessions and to follow absence procedures if you are unable to attend.
Poor attendance without good cause will be considered to be unprofessional behaviour and dealt with accordingly.
8) Plagiarism, citation and referencing
An increasingly recognized problem is a tendency amongst students to use someone else’s work without giving credit to the original author by providing a reference. The following statement appears in the COPE Report (1999): “Plagiarism ranges from the unreferenced use of others’ published and unpublished ideas, including research grant applications to submission under ‘new’ authorship of a complete paper, sometimes in a different language. It may occur at any stage of planning, research, writing or publication: it applies to print and electronic versions”. The ease of access to the internet, and download from there, sometimes results in large chunks of text being
“lifted” and inserted into an essay, report etc without referencing. This is an unacceptable practice and if detected can result in disciplinary action.
The rules for citation and referencing are quite simple and will avoid plagiarism: Verbatim duplication of someone else’s work must be enclosed by inverted commas and referenced.
Modification (e.g. rewriting) of someone else’s work while still conveying the original author’s concepts always requires referencing. This should go all the way back to the original author and not simply a reference to a review article which itself refers to others’ work. It goes without saying that the original reference must always be read and critically evaluated by the student.
Caution is required with material derived from the Internet as little of this is peer-reviewed, unless from recognised scientific journals. Students should use the Vancouver style of referencing:
(http://www2.le.ac.uk/library/help/citing/vancouver-numbered-system/vancouver-numberedsystem) where references are numbered in the text (the number being superscripted or bracketed), with the bibliographic details appearing in numerical order at the end of the text in a section labelled “References”. Footnotes should never be used for referencing and are discouraged as they break up the flow of text. Footnotes are never used in scientific papers to communicate any information of relevance to the main text, which should be self-contained. In a few cases the use of the Harvard referencing system may be more appropriate than Vancouver. Please check with your supervisor and ensure that you follow the University guidelines.
The University ’s regulation define plagiarism as the submission or presentation of work, in any form, which is not ones own, without acknowledgement of the sources and may include inappropriate collaboration or the reuse of a student’s own previous work. Plagiarism is considered to be an act of fraudulence and an offence against University discipline. The University reserves the right to use plagiarism detection systems in the interests of improving academic standards www.gla.ac.uk/services/senateoffice/academic/plagiarism/. As mentioned above at the
Medical School we use the anti-plagiarism software Turnitin.
Practical Advice about plagiarism

The following tutorial from the University of Leicester will provide some practical advice. https://connect.le.ac.uk/p13088722/
Students should include and sign the following statement about their written work:
Plagiarism Statement
I am aware of and understand the University’s policy on plagiarism (under "University Fees and
General Information for Students" in the University Calendar ( http://senate.gla.ac.uk/calendar/ ) and certify that this assignment is my own work, except where indicated by referencing, and that I have followed the good academic practices noted below
Signed___________________________________________________________________
Declaration of Originality
I confirm that this assignment is my own work and I have
 Read and understood the guidance on plagiarism in the Undergraduate Handbook, including the University of Glasgow Statement on Plagiarism.
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Clearly referenced, in both the text and the bibliography or references, all sources used in the work.
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Fully referenced (including page numbers) and used inverted commas for all text quoted from books, journals, web etc. (Please check with the Subject which referencing style is to be used).
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Provided the sources for all tables, figures, data etc. that are not my own work.
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Not made use of the work of any other student(s) past or present without acknowledgement. This included any of my own work, that has previously, or concurrently, submitted for assessment, either at this or any other institution, including school.
 Not sought or used the services of any professional agencies to produce this work.
 In addition, I understand that any false claim in respect of this work will result in disciplinary action in accordance with University regulations.
SSC Secretary
Wolfson Medical School Building
University of Glasgow
Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Tel:
Fax:
0141 330 8037
0141 330 2776
E-mail:

Friday Week 5 of SSC Block
Deadline for Submission of All Assignments
(submit electronically by 12 midnight)
Submitted by Deadline
-Work Graded
Contact Medical School (in advance)
SSC Director or Deputies
Provide appropriate evidence e.g medical certificate (see regulations)
New submission date set
Major Problem with Submission e.g health problem/major personal issue
No Submission & No Contact with SSC Supervisor
Work penalised according to
University Guidelines
2 subgrade points per working day late
Minor Problem with Submission e.g computer problems
Contact SSC Supervisor
(in advance)
Arrange deferral of submission date up to a max of 3 working days
No Submission & No Contact with SSC Supervisor
Work penalised according to
University Guidelines
2 subgrade points per working day late
Submitted by Deadline
-Work Graded
No or Late Submission & No Contact with
SSC Director or Deputies
Work penalised according to University
Guidelines
2 subgrade points per working day late
Submitted by Deadline
-Work Graded
No or Late Submission & No Contact with SSC Supervisor
Work penalised according to University
Guidelines
2 subgrade points per working day late