Essay Assessment Details (Semester 2, 2016)

Marks
Weighting
Due Date
Length

30
30%
Week 9 (submit to Turn it in before the beginning of your tutorial in Week 9)
1200 words (+ or 10% i.e. from 1080 1320 words)

Widespread plagiarism is of considerable concern to universities as they often

Topic emphasise ethical aspects of the problem to their students. Discuss the factors that
lead university students to plagiarise and explain why ethical considerations are
so important to academics.
Required
Reading

Ting, S-H., Musa, M.K., & Mah, F. S-F. (2014). Plagiarism norms and practices in
coursework. International Journal of Education, 6(1), 73-89. Retrieved from
http://www.proquest.umi.com
The required reading will be issued in class.

Details

Use FIVE (5) academic sources, including the required reading. No additional sources
need be used as the aim is to select and use five (5) good quality sources only.

You CANNOT use Internet websites as sources of information for your essay. For
example, Wikipedia or Baidu.

You are advised NOT to focus on advantages and disadvantages in relation to the topic.
Rather you are encouraged to examine key points raised in the topic and consider
different perspectives found in the sources.

You are NOT required to provide solutions or recommendations for the topic in your
conclusion. Rather you are required to write a summary of the main point discussed in
your essay as a way to reinforce the ideas presented.

Present your essay using one consistent referencing style (APA 6th or Harvard if you are a
Design student). Indicate on the front page of your essay which style you are using.

Show your knowledge of the topic area as it is discussed in the literature.

Write in academic essay style (including paraphrases, quotations, citations, correctly

written paragraphs, appropriate introduction and conclusion and a clear argument, and a
reference list). Headings are NOT required in this essay.

Griffith College uses Turnitin to check the originality of your essay. Turnitin finds material
that is plagiarised from a range of sources such as other students essays, the web, databases
to help correct
and the Griffith Library Catalogue.
Use Turnitin

your essay
before final
submission

Before the final submission: Use Turnitin to check the originality of your essay and to allow
yourself to make improvements where necessary (paraphrasing in particular).
Your essay must be uploaded onto Turnitin as a Word file. In other words it must be a .docx

or .doc ONLY and NOT any other file type such as txt, .xml or .pdf.
Submission

Electronic submission

An Electronic Copy of your essay to Turnitin (Essays NOT submitted to Turnitin will
receive a mark of zero). Your tutor will provide details for you to do this.

Paper Submission

A Griffith College Assignment Coversheet filled in with all the details required
INCLUDING the Academic Integrity Declaration and Student Consent tick boxes.

You are required to provide the following paper copies. Highlight one example from your
research articles showing where you paraphrased an idea AND one example from your
research articles showing where you selected a quote. You may print the relevant pages
only showing the evidence you used but it must be clear to your teacher where the ideas
appear in your essay.

Each time you make a change to your essay document [drafting and editing] you MUST
save it with a new version number, e.g. Essay v1, and then Essay v2. This is to show you
have added new information or changed something [edited] to improve your essay. You
MUST be able to provide these early drafts of your essay for your tutor or the
Program Convenor if requested. Therefore, you are advised to save all your essay
drafts on the student drive or in another secure place.

A Paper Copy of your essay is to be submitted to your tutor ONLY IF YOUR TUTOR
REQUESTS IT.

Your essay will be marked electronically in Turnitin (called GradeMark). Once results
are released for the essay, you will be able to see your mark and feedback from your
teacher in Turnitin.

You will also be able to see your mark in the Results section of the student portal.

Marking

Submission
Turnitin Originality Report

Yes

No essay cannot be marked at this stage; tutor to investigate

Yes

No essay cannot be marked at this stage; student required to resubmit essay as a .doc or .docx.

shows appropriate matches

Document submitted in the
correct file type for checking

Penalties may be applied for late submission.

Authorship
Authorship authentication

Yes

No

language is representative of the

possible collusion OR copying from another person OR submitting another persons work as if it

students usual level of English

were the students own work

communication

drafts requested / student required to explain circumstances

essay cannot be marked at this stage; tutor to investigate

Marking Criteria and Standards

Dimensions of the
essay
Essay Plan
(completed)

Excellent

Very good

Good

Satisfactory

Unsatisfactory

- essay plan provides clear and

specific points directly relevant to
the topic (to establish the
argument)
- all sections are complete and
show development of ideas
- source material cited is selective

- essay plan provides clear points

directly relevant to the topic (to
establish the argument)
- all sections are complete and
show development of ideas
- source material cited is selective

- essay plan provides points directly

relevant to the topic (to establish
the argument)
- most sections are complete and
show some development of ideas
- source material cited is relevant

- essay plan provides points related

to the topic (to establish the
argument)
- most sections are complete and
show basic development of ideas
- source material cited is sound

4.5 5.0

4 4.25

3.25 3.75

2.5 3.0

- essay plan provides points

that show minimal / no
relation to the topic
most sections are complete /
incomplete and show little
development of ideas
- source material provided is
scant / not provided
0 2.25

- begins with a clear statement of

the general topic area.
- provides well selected and cited
and uncited background material.
- provides a comprehensive
position statement which gives
an excellent indication of the full
essay argument

- begins with a clear statement of

the general topic area.
- provides well selected and cited
background material.
- provides a comprehensive
position statement which gives a
good indication of the essay
argument

- begins with some

acknowledgement of the general
topic area.
- provides fairly well selected
background material. Citation may
have been used.
- provides a position statement
which gives an adequate indication
of the essay argument

- begins with some indication of the

general topic area
- provides adequate background
with a citation or is relevant but
does not come from the literature.
- provides a very basic position
statement or provides a basic
outline of all the main content
areas for the essay

- no topic sentence or deviates

from the set topic area.
- provides no or inappropriate
background material.
- provides little or no outline of
the essay content

Paragraph order &

topic sentences

- paragraphs follow the order

indicated in the position
statement and progress logically
- topic sentences clearly express
the topic and position of
paragraph

- paragraphs follow the order

indicated in the position
statement and progress logically
- topic sentences clearly indicate
the topic and position of
paragraph

- paragraphs follow the order

indicated in the position statement.
- topic sentences generally provide
an indication of the topic and
position of the paragraph

- paragraphs sometimes follow the

order indicated in the outline.
- some topic sentences provide an
indication of the topic and position
of the paragraph

Conclusion

- conclusion gives a clear

summary of the content and
skilfully returns to the
background to provide a strong
conclusion
8.5 - 10

- conclusion gives a clear

summary of the content and
makes some attempt at linking
back to the background

- conclusion gives a clear summary

of the content

- conclusion gives a basic or partial

summary of the content and/or
contains new material

- paragraphs order lacks

logicality and argument
detracts.
- no topic sentences provided
or topic sentences do not
indicate the topic or position of
the paragraph
- conclusion gives an
inadequate summary of the
content or it is not evident

6.5 7.25

5 6.25

0 4.75

Essay Structure

Introduction - First
sentence,
background
sentences
Position statement or
argument

7.5 8.25

Dimensions of the
essay
Quality of sources
Required reading

Essay Content

Evidence of working
across the literature
(distinctions)
Evidence of working
across the literature
(building ideas,
showing agreement,
providing rich detail
in explanations,
examples and
elaborations)

Quality of response

Excellent

Very good

Good

Satisfactory

Unsatisfactory

- selected a diverse range of

relevant and reliable sources
(from more than one discipline
and including a book).
- selectively used evidence from
the required reading

- used the required number of

sources
Selected a range of relevant and
reliable sources from more than
one discipline.
- ably used evidence from the
required reading

- used the required number of

sources
- selected relevant and reliable
sources.
- used evidence from the required
reading

- used the required number of

sources
-selected relevant and reliable
sources, generally appropriate for
the topic.
- adequately used evidence from
the required reading

- selected fewer than the

required number of sources or
sources that are not relevant or
reliable.
- not used or have partially
used evidence from the
required reading

- thoroughly examined
distinctions within the content
keywords that appear in the
literature used.
-effectively build argument
sometimes using more than 2
sources
- used a range of the following in
a sophisticated manner:
explanations, examples,
elaborations and links
- provision of meaningful
background/context and the
appropriate use of tentative
language
-examined disagreement

- examined distinctions within

the content keywords that
appear in the literature used
well.
-built ideas using 2 or more cited
supporting sources;
-effectively used some of the
following: explanations,
examples, elaborations and links
-adequate provision of
background/context and/or the
use of tentative language
-indicated disagreement

- adequately examined distinctions

within the content keywords that
appear in the literature used.

- adequately examined distinctions

within the content keywords that
appear in the literature used.

- not / poorly examined

distinctions the literature used

-at least 2 supporting and cited

claims provided;
- used mostly correctly some of the
following: explanations, examples,
elaborations and links
-an attempt at providing
background/context and
-some appropriate use of tentative
language
- indicated disagreement to some
extent

-at least 2 supporting and cited

claims provided;
-have attempted but flaws are
evident in: explanations, examples,
elaborations and links

- not attempted the following

or are inappropriately handled:
Supporting claims do not
support position or are
uncited/subjective or are not
provide; explanation/examples
are inadequate; only one
supporting claim provided

- addressed all parts of the essay

question capably; response is
unified and convincing; response
shows a thorough understanding
of the scope of the topic

- addressed all parts of the essay

question, with most aspects
addressed capably; response is
unified; response shows a good
understanding of the scope of
the topic

- addressed in some way all parts of

the essay question; response is
mainly unified; response shows a
good understanding of the scope of
the topic

- addressed most of the parts of

the essay question; essay may lack
unity; response shows an
understanding of the scope of the
topic

- addressed the essay topic in a

broad manner or only some
aspects have been addressed
or
- response lacks unity (e.g. poor
development); response shows
poor understanding of the topic

21.25 - 25

18.75 21

16.25 18.5

12.5 16

12 - 0

Dimensions of the
essay

Excellent

Very good

Good

Satisfactory

Unsatisfactory

- paraphrases effectively
transform original text while
conveying original meaning
-a discerning selection of
paraphrases to support
purpose very well

- paraphrases effectively
transform original text while
conveying original meaning
-selected suitable paraphrases
to effectively support purpose

- most paraphrases adequately

transform original text and
original meaning retained
-selected paraphrases to
support purpose

- some paraphrases
adequately transform original
text and original meaning
mostly retained
-selected to adequately
support purpose
- some evidence of copying /
not acknowledging sources

- has few or no adequate

paraphrases or almost all
paraphrases are the same
or almost the same as the
original text (copied) or
original meaning is lost or
continuous copying from
sources can be identified
through Tii matching

Quoting

- quotations are discerning

selected for impact and
correctly formatted and cited.

- quotations are well selected,

correctly formatted and cited.

- has adequately chosen

quotations which are formatted
correctly and cited correctly.

- quotations fairly well

selected minor formatting or
punctuation errors; citation
provided

Citations

- all citations accurate

-only minor errors in complex

citations (eg. secondary or
missing page number)

- highly accurate simple

citations

Reference list

-a comprehensive, fully
accurate list in all respects
including presentation (hanging
indent, line spacing etc.)

Paragraph coherence

- paragraphs have a high level

of coherence

- reference list contains all

sources cited in the essay and
no others,
-is alphabetical, and all fields
are provided with only
presentation errors (eg.
hanging indent, line spacing)
- paragraphs are coherent.

- reference list contains all

sources cited in the essay and
no others,
-is alphabetical, on a separate
page and most fields are
provided with a few minor
formatting errors
- paragraphs mostly show
coherence

-authors family name provided

- some citation details omitted
(eg. year or page)or initials
present
- an omission is evident or
source/s not cited in text is
present;
-is alphabetical and on a
separate page
-there are numerous minor
errors in formatting
- paragraphs show general
coherence

- irrelevant quotation or
misquoted or does not
have a quotation or
quotation marks or
citations are missing.
- no citations or numerous
minor or major errors(eg.
authors first name or no
name)
- reference list is omitted
or incomplete
-major errors in content,
style and formatting

Language use (language is

representative of the
students usual level of
English communication)

- is very well written in terms of

command of English language
use.
- evidence that explicit and
implicit meaning in the
literature has been well
understood

- is well written in terms of

command of English language
use.
- evidence that explicit and
some implicit meaning in the
literature has been understood

- shows some command of

English language use (though a
few errors are evident).
- evidence that the literature
has been understood

- shows sufficient command of

English language use (though
mistakes are evident, basic
understanding is not
impeded).
-evidence that the literature
has been adequately
understood

17 20

15.0 16.5

13.5 14.5

9.5 13.0

Technical Skills

Paraphrasing
(capabilities with use of
the literature; possible
academic integrity
breaches; plagiarism
concerns)

- paragraphs lack
coherence and /or are
fragmented
- English language use and
sentence construction
impede understanding.
- evidence that the
literature has not been
adequately understood

0.0 - 9.0

Overall Mark
HD

25.5 - 30

22.5 - 25

19.5 - 22

15 - 19

0.0 14.5

Result Summary
Essay Plan

___/ 05 (scaffolded template)

Essay Structure

___/ 10

Essay Content

___/ 25

Technical Skills

___/ 20

Total

___/ 60

Mark on portal

___/ 30