The middle of the Autumn term is upon us and essays are starting to flood in for many academics in the Humanities and possibly the Social Sciences as well. For some scholars who have just started at a new university or PhD students teaching for the first time this can be a daunting moment. Here are some tips on how to develop your best practice in marking.
1. Use the criteria!
Your department will have written marking criteria that it gives to students to let them know how you’ll be marking. So if you have no idea about how to award marks then start by looking at that. It will tell you what an essay needs in order to get a first, 2.1, 2.2 and so on. This will help you identify a broad grade for the paper; it will then be up to you to give it a numerical mark within that band.
2. Ask for advice!
It is perfectly OK to ask for advice on marking! Some department’s operate obscure marking systems that are difficult to suss out on your own, so ask for help from the colleague you share on office with, or that you teach with, or preferably, if you have one, a mentor that has been assigned to help you.
3. Take your time!
You may be daunted by a huge stack of papers to mark, but make sure you give each one a reasonable amount of time. Rushing through them will short-change the student; spending hours on each one will short-change you.
4. Give good feedback!
The point of summative assessment tasks undertaken during the course is that the students learn something from them. So it’s your responsibility to give detailed and helpful feedback to the students. Make sure you tell them something positive about their work as well as a clear explanation of what the problems were and how they can improve. Refer to the marking criteria for the sorts of appropriate language to use in feedback. Never make disparaging remarks about the students’ performance, no matter how frustrated you might get!
5. Work with colleagues in moderation/second marking!
You may get the chance to second mark with your colleagues. This is very useful because you can tell whether you mark generously or harshly compared to others. If you are consistently marking lower or higher then think about why this might be. Don’t worry about small differences though, especially in the Humanities where judging an essay’s worth is often subjective. As long as you’re following the marking criteria and trying to help the students improve, you’re doing your job!
