Getting an essay appealed

[Guest]

Has anyone ever done this? Know how to go about it?

I already had a meeting with teacher and nothing came of it. I'm talking hugely unfair mark here.

Should I be contacting the teacher again or head of dept?

Sorry this is written really badly, in a rush!

[Thalia]

I would go to someone higher up such as the course controller for your year (i'm assuming other departments follow the same system as psychology).

[James Shield]

Your first port of call should be your module co-ordinator - just explain that you're unhappy with the mark you received, and that you've discussed it with your tutor but still don't believe that the mark reflects the standard of the work. There is often a mechanism within the School for the essay to be second-marked, but you need to be aware that the mark could go down as well as up.

You can find more information on appealing against a decision here:
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/media/Think ... cision.doc

If you're still unhappy after speaking with the module co-ordinator and would like to take the appeal to the next stage, you can contact the Education Advocate at the Students' Association, Iain Cupples, on inc@st-andrews.ac.uk or by visiting his office on the middle floor of the Union.

James Shield
Director of Representation

[archaeopteryx]

I once appealed an essay mark in sub-honours. My mark wasn't horrible, but the comments were, and also that tutor had given me mediocre marks before on work that seemed pretty good to me. Anyways, my essay went up by one mark, which wasn't great but I didn't regret it. It did make the rest of the semester extremely awkward as I had to go to a few more tutorials and hand in more work.

If the mark is extremely low, I guess you don't have much to lose.

[careba2010]

I have just had an essay returned with a lower mark than I expected in Honours Level. One of the main reasons which I can gather is because the Lecturer did not like my sources. He said I used too many web based sources and I guess maybe I did, but this was due to the fact that I took all the reading in book format for the essay home to do in Reading week. Then some delightful little S*it recalled the books so I had to post them back almost straight away to make sure they got back in time (I dont trust Royal Mail!).

The other reason why I used a lot of websources is a new piece fo research was released which related directly to my essay so thus it would be stupid not to use it as it would be a glaring ommission. But what has really made my blood boil is that I used some websources I have used for other lecturers in the same department and they have allowed them but this lecturer hasnt.

[munchingfoo]

Then some delightful little S*it recalled the books so I had to post them back almost straight away to make sure they got back in time.

Why is the person a shit? They have as much right to view those books as you do and went through the standard channels to allow them their fair turn. What would be shitty is if they, instead of recalling the books, had come onto the sinner and posted about how much of a cow somebody was because the book they needed was checked out...

[Jono]

University policy on academic appeals:

http://foi.st-andrews.ac.uk/Publication ... rv?id=1512

Depends on your School though. The School of History used to allow a second mark without any reason being given. That was recently removed, and all re-marking has to go through the correct complaints procedure on the basis of: procedural irregularity; bias or prejudice; exceptional personal circumstances not previously notified for good reason; harassment or bullying affecting academic performance by a member of staff involved in granting the marks, grades or classification concerned.

[Guest]

Brilliant advice, guys, thanks so much!!!

One more thing - when do you think is the deadline for me to get this sorted? The module has no exam, but presumably I have until the exam results (although I will be hoping to write a letter this weekend)? I have another essay for the same person to hand in soon so it might be helpful to wait til that's marked first! Also, with 4 essays due this week it's going to be a lot easier to sort later... Hopefully it's not the kind of think I have to do by end of week 12?

[UnregBob]

[quote="careba2010"]......home to do in Reading week. Then some delightful little S*it recalled the books so I had to post them back almost straight away to make sure they got back in time (I dont trust Royal Mail!).[quote]

Given that the university are endlessly reminding us Reading Week is not a holiday, dont you think complaining about taking books home is a little unfair?

[Jono]

Brilliant advice, guys, thanks so much!!!

One more thing - when do you think is the deadline for me to get this sorted? The module has no exam, but presumably I have until the exam results (although I will be hoping to write a letter this weekend)? I have another essay for the same person to hand in soon so it might be helpful to wait til that's marked first! Also, with 4 essays due this week it's going to be a lot easier to sort later... Hopefully it's not the kind of think I have to do by end of week 12?

Ah, sounds like a fourth year history special subject to me (unless there are some other courses without exams)! If so, the school deadline is techincally 5 pm tomorrow. Don't know if that counts for appeals as week.

[kate_m]

......home to do in Reading week. Then some delightful little S*it recalled the books so I had to post them back almost straight away to make sure they got back in time (I dont trust Royal Mail!).

Given that the university are endlessly reminding us Reading Week is not a holiday, dont you think complaining about taking books home is a little unfair?

Um - I'm PRETTY sure they weren't complaining about doing wok in reading week. They had planned to write the essay in reading week (which is what its for) but then couldnt as the books were recalled. Nowhere did they say anything about not wanting to write it in reading week.

[archaeopteryx]

If you still have another essay to hand in to this particular tutor, just change your essay format and anonymise it. That way the tutor won't realise it was written by the same person as the one you want to appeal. I'm sure the tutor won't be bothered to figure out whose essay is whose, considering I'm sure he/she will be more concerned with marking them all in as little time as possible. This is what I did after I appealed a mark from a tutor last year, and I didn't receive a horrible, spiteful grade. However the asshole margin comments made an appearance again!

As for recalling books, I don't see why people complain so much about having their books recalled. You get an entire week to return them after they've been recalled, which is usually plenty of time to read through them, jot down some notes, and take them back. If you went home for reading week (and only reading week) I don't see why you wouldn't be able to return them at the end of the week, i.e. after classes had resumed once again. Personally I think that the recall system is one of the few great things about the library. We're all here at uni on the pretense of being adults, so I don't think it's that ridiculous that we should be expected to share books with one another instead of hoarding them away so everyone's essay but your own is terrible.

[Guest]

Um - I'm PRETTY sure they weren't complaining about doing wok in reading week. They had planned to write the essay in reading week (which is what its for) but then couldnt as the books were recalled. Nowhere did they say anything about not wanting to write it in reading week.

Ah yes, but had they still been in St Andrews over Reading Week they wouldnt have had a problem would they?[url][/url]