Course Handbook - Faculty of History

B.2 Guidelines for Examiners of the MPhil in Medieval History Part I
In General
Please remember that, while penalising sloppy or inept thought, research and presentation
as appropriate, the MPhil and especially this stage of the work, should be marked as
much on promise as on achievement. In particular, could you please try to use the full
range of marks up to 85% or higher - which includes marking down as far as 60% or lower
where a candidate really seems well below average. The distinction mark is 75%+. As a
rule of thumb, ‘good’ should mean 67-74% ‘very good’ 75-79%, ‘excellent’ 80-84% and
‘outstanding’ 85%+. It is not anticipated that 85%+ will feature as a mark except rarely
but, if you feel that the work merits it, then do not hesitate to give the mark.
Special Note on Plagiarism, Footnotes and Word Count:
The word count must include appendices and statistical tables at 150 words per table, but
excludes all footnotes, references and bibliography.
The Course Handbook stipulates:
‘No penalty will be imposed for an excess of 50 words over the maximum word limit, but
this allowance should not be abused. The MPhil sub-committee acting as a Board of
Examiners has the discretion to penalise essays which exceed the word limit. The word
limit (within the 50 words grace allowance) must therefore be strictly observed.
Students can expect to be severely penalised for exceeding the word limit. Normally
the penalty will be a deduction of up to 5 marks from the essay, but in severe cases the
essay may be marked as failed.
Footnotes should be restricted to the documentation of claims and the registration of
relevant caveats or observations in relation to the literature. Footnotes must not be used to
circumvent the word limit of the essay. Students can expect to be severely penalised for
abusing the proper use of footnotes in this way. Normally the penalty will be a deduction
of up to 5 marks from the essay, but in severe cases the essay may be marked as failed.’
The Course Handbook, which is available on the Faculty website, also gives clear
instructions to candidates about avoiding plagiarism.
Examiners who believe that an essay infringes the course rules in respect of
plagiarism, use of footnotes or word count are required to state this in their report
but to award a mark independent of these issues. An Examiner must not penalise an
essay. The MPhil Sub-Committee sitting as Board of Examiners will then make a
determination of whether violation of the rules has occurred and, if so, impose the
appropriate penalty.
Assessment of short essays in MPhil in Medieval History
The essay is of 5000 words (or, in the case of Option 1, two essays may be offered of 3,000
words each), normally on a topic related to the Option coursework. It is intended that the
candidate should write an essay on a topic which has been independently chosen, will
involve work on the primary sources and will make a small, but independent contribution
to the subject.
However, this should not be marked as a mini-dissertation. The essay should deal with
a subject or issues arising out of the secondary literature and discuss the secondary work
to whatever degree is appropriate, but at the same time it should be a contribution to the
debate made chiefly through the candidate’s own consideration of a particular source(s)
or type of source. You should bear in mind that the amount of ground that can be
traversed, with regard to both secondary and primary sources, in 5,000 words is quite
small, especially given the other demands on the candidate’s time at this stage. However, if
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