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Policy on Assessment
Assessment for this course is based
on two essays, one in each of the two terms, and a 3 hour closed
book exam.
We set out the different skills and
abilities the course is designed to develop for you in the table.
Alongside we explain how these are assessed through essays and
exams.
How your developing
skills are assessed
|
Assessment tests for |
i.e. your ability to: |
How do essays test for this? |
How do exams test for this? |
|
lucidity |
avoid confusion in the presentation of more difficult
ideas and more complex argumentation ; to
make and sharpen conceptual distinctions |
By asking you to set out positions and arguments
of a conceptually sophisticated nature, and asking you to engage
with them |
Ditto |
|
structure of presentation |
synthesise a range of ideas and arguments into
a single coherently structured written presentation |
By requiring you read a number of things, take
different views and arguments etc from different sources and
pull them together into the single coherent presentation which
is your essay. (A successful essay is more than a set of notes
reporting the different sources. It is the material of the notes
organised into a unified tailor-made structure.) The second essay
is more challenging on structure than the first. |
Less emphasis on structure in an exam, but it
still counts significantly. I.e., in an exam you get more credit
from a mere list of points than you would in an essay. |
|
grasp of problem |
grasp at least some of the main dimensions of
a philosophical problem at issue in such a way as to support
the beginnings of critical independent thought about it; to be
able to analyse problems and propose solutions |
A major question we ask in marking an essay is
to what extent philosophical issues have been grasped and responded
to. The response usually takes the form of identifying problems
and exploring ways by which they might be resolved |
With an exam it is more difficult to conceal
lack of understanding. This is an important reason for employing
them. |
|
critical awareness |
maintain throughout a limited study the sense
that claims are open to test and evaluation |
An essay is seriously marked down if positions
are just reported with no sense of how they might be open to
challenge. |
Ditto |
|
coherence of argumentation |
work with a sharp sense of validity and invalidity
in relation to complex lines of argumentation
use analytical techniques to construct, present and assess
reasoned arguments |
At the heart of an essay in philosophy is the
quality of its argumentation, and its evaluation of argumentation. |
Ditto |
|
evidence of study |
draw intelligently in one's own reading, writing
and thinking on a range of challenging contributions made by
others |
Essays written in a great rush and with no careful
preparation beforehand in terms of reading or reflection usually
betray their origins are not assessed highly. |
In marking exam scripts more credit is given
to writing intelligently even though off the top of the head,
but most answers benefit crucially from the knowledge and understanding,
gained through study, which you bring into the exam room. |
|
knowledge and grasp of relevant literature |
read and have a good understanding of at least
some aspects of some challenging contributions to the problem
at issue |
Essays in this course always require you to undertake
some reading which you have made good sense of. Sometimes one
key text is enough (eg a key few pages from Descartes); sometimes
the topic or the essay instructions will require you to draw
on several studies. |
Ditto, though there is less emphasis on this
in the exam. Accurate referencing in an exam answer is certainly
not top priority - your capacity to present an idea or argument
clearly is much more important. |
|
sense of relevance |
work with a sense of relevance in relation to
a limited project as a whole, both in choice of reading and in
presentation of argumentation |
An essay that introduces positions and arguments
(or anything else) that are not relevant to the question being
pursued loses credit. In a good essay every statement is makes
a definite contribution to the answer to the question being developed. |
Ditto. |
Essays
The primary point of writing essays
is to help you develop skills, not to test them. But they do
play a central role in assessment on this course nonetheless.
They ask you to engage in a sustained
bit of philosophising,.
The first gives you a structure:
it asks you to give a careful exposition of a position/line of
argument and to follow this with a critique.
The second does not specify a structure
but invites you to address a problem, creating a structure which
best suits it and your approach.
For the first essay, though the general
area and format is set, you are asked to specify a particular
question within that yourself. This is to maximise your freedom
to choose a topic of real interest to you while fulfilling the
learning objectives of the course. Allowing wide freedom of choice
also spreads the load on the library so it is easier for you
to find the reading you need.
The same reasons lie behind the design
of the second essay In this case you are simply are asked to
choose a question from a long list.
In each case you are asked to construct
a 'synopsis' of the essay (to go on the title page). This helps
you refine your sense of structure, and gives you practice in
helping your reader follow your presentation.
The length guideline for each essay
is 2,500 words.
Exam
We use exams to test for much the
same capacities as are shown in essays, though with different
emphases - see table. They test also your capacity to work under
a very special kind of pressure (!). The University insists on
your taking a minimum number of exams in your total assessment
profile in part because they are thought to act as a check against
plagiarism.
Across all your undergraduate programme
as a whole, you are meant to develop a range of knowledge, some
of it on restricted topics but deep-going and some of it shallower
but relating to a wider sweep. If you are using this course to
develop breadth, you should opt for the exam. If you are getting
breadth elsewhere, as it were, you should consider writing a
dissertation in lieu of an exam. (The University rules that you
can be assessed via dissertations in up to four of your 16 units
of assessment.)
If you opt for the dissertation you
will not be assessed for 'coverage'.
A function of an exam, as we use
it in this course, is to test for 'coverage'. It tests, among
other things, the breadth of your knowledge of the subject. It
does this by setting questions (12 in all) which range across
the whole course, by requiring you to answer three questions,
and by requiring you to choose those questions so as to display
knowledge of at least three of the major philosophers covered
by the course. This strategy clearly allows a good deal of latitude.
It is designed so that you can choose within limits to specialise
by, say, ignoring a figure that does not attract you. On the
other hand you can only expect to fail if you 'specialise' too
much. |