AIBU to think a word limit is the actual word limit?

[iloveruby]

I'm currently doing an MSc and (perhaps naively) thought that the word limit was exactly that - the point where the examiner would stop reading the assignment.

However, when talking to other students it would appear that in past assignments they have exceeded the limit by approximately 10% without comment or it being reflected in the mark.

I'm going to clarify the rules tomorrow but AIBU to have assumed that the word limit was to be strictly adhered to? Interested to hear what others who are academics / students or who have experience in this area think.

AIBU - i am being unreasonable to think essays and assignments should not exceed the word limit and that it isn't unusal for there to be leeway.

AINBU - word limits are there to be followed.

Be very careful. Policies at our uni and many others have moved to a limits are limits over the last couple years. Going over the limit in the courses I work in means a cap at 40%. Check your assessments policy to see what your uni uses.

Should say in the marking guidelines/matrix, for my postgrad certificate at an RG uni marking was stopped at the word count which we had to include at the end of the main document prior to appendices. Plus Turn it in highlights where the word count ends as well as highlight plagiarism.

You can check hard word counts for what you are marking by "selecting" the main body of text and using the automated word count system to check word count for the selected area. So you can totally check absolute word counts, even if these exclude references and appendices.

Exceeding a hard word count can absolutely lead to automatic failure, if this is stated in your course handbook. I wouldn't be tempted to test this.

Taught as well as studied at various universities in UK and was always +/- 10%. Check your student handbook related to your course for assessment guidelines relating to your course if in doubt. These will be available via your online learning system as well or contact a student advisor or your faculty office if you can't find them, which I would be very surprised if you can't.

10% over is normal - but do definitely check the requirements of your thesis. Generally writing under 10% less is not officially penalised but there might be the feeling that you could have explained in more depth and this might be reflected in the mark. Having said that it is important to write concisely and while a 1100 assignment would not have a formal penalty applied as such there might be a comment that you could have written more concisely, particularly if you have not mastered a concise, academic writing style. If concise, academic writing is a learning objective you might lose marks for not achieving that. It is rare, in my experience, for the extra 10% to really add to the quality of the assignment. So check your guidance, if there is a 10% leeway then it means you don't need to be exactly on the word count but don't go wild and write loads more, the marker is unlikely to be looking to mark a longer thesis.

Make sure your check, I’m currently doing a Psychology MSc and so far, (four modules in), the word limit is exactly that, a limit. No minimum but no going over.

My course was +/- 10% except one module which was a huge module which lots of courses all had to do as core, which was a very strict limit. My dissertation had a guideline and you could go over by 1000s so long as you were relevant and not waffling on. It was always very clear what was expected and what the consequences would be - either losing marks for crap writing, a 40% cap or nothing after the word count limit being read.

5-10% is pretty standard, dependant on the size of the piece of work. (5% on larger pieces as 10% would be practically an extra assignment).

Try not to think of it as a limit, like a speed limit. More as a guide to level of breadth and depth of content.shorter pieces would not cover as much. But it's also a measure of your conciseness. No one likes a waffler.

Seems to depend on the uni and the course. For my undergrad it was +/-10%. For my MEd 10% over was the limit but there was no penalty for being too far under. They were at different unis. There should be a course handbook which outlines this?

My current degree is as far under as you like, but not a word over (or fairly hefty penalties are applied). Access course was plus or minus 10%. I'd check and do whatever they say, rather than what you have heard from other students.

It was +/-10% for mine, but you’ll need to check. Individual universities may have didn’t policies.

10% is normal think. I used to get to 10% under and literally put a full stop and submit

10% is not "standard". And it does NOT depend on your lecturer. Somewhere on your university intranet there will be a set of rules for assessment and it will be in there. It may be slightly different for each university but it will not differ by department/course/lecturer.

Many years ago it used to be plus or minus 10%. This was because students handed in hand written work (or a word processed hard copy) and there was no way the marker was going to sit and count all the words, so they did it by eye. Some universities still have a plus/minus 10% policy. Some have a policy that you can't go over the word limit at all.

Now students submit online and depending on the platform they submit through the word count might ge produced automatically for the marker or it might not. Even if it is produced automatically for the marker, it still might not be completely clear. The word count given is a usually a total word count (ie words in the document) which would include footnotes, reference list, appendices, your name and the title, page numbers, etc all of which might (depending on your university rules) be excluded from the word count of what you need to submit. So even if the total word count is provided for the marker there still might be an element of guesswork involved for the marker eg if the word limit was 5000 words and the word count says 5300, the marker may have to guess by eye whether the footnotes/reference list/appendices (depending on the university rules) are more than 300 words. They are never going to count this by hand (they get allocated a ridiculously short amount of time for marking and most end up marking in their own time) and they are always going to err on the side of being kind to the student both because it's the nice thing to do and because they look like a dick/open themselves up to complaint if they are wrong.

Having said that, if it is visibly over the word limit (but that would be by more than 10% to be visible and clear) most markers will do something. What they do will again depend on the assessment rules as it will be specified there. It could be that they have to stop marking on the last word of the word limit (which incredibly time consuming to enforce). It could be that they leave a stern comment in feedback. It could be that it is reflected in the mark. There may be some sort of warning system. It may be that the student gets an automatic fail (though this would usually be the final stage of a warning system). It could be that the student is asked to remove words and resubmit. It all depends on the rules of your university. It could also be that it depends on what year of study you are in - some universities give more leeway to first years.

Some students with reasonable adjustment plans (for a dusability) also get more leeway around the word limit. In many cases the work is marked anonymously and if for example a penalty is applied by the marker for being over the word limit it will then be removed by the admin team (or the submission platform) before the mark is released to the student if the student has a reasonable adjustment plan that allows this. This may also affect the amount of effort the marker puts generally into enforcing the word limit - they're hardly likely to spend a long time enforcing a rule that may well turn out not to apply.

Sorry that was so long. I'm a lecturer.

Another univ lecturer here. We allow 10% either way and this is clearly stated on our course documentation.

Mine was a hard limit for each piece of work and my dissertation.

It should be in the handbook

I'm currently doing an MSc and the limit is a hard limit. You can be under but not over or they won't read the extra.

One uni I was at 10 per cent over was OK... The other was automatic fail if over.

Check your handbook /get it in writing if not

I’d make sure you check - I’m a lecturer and my institution doesn’t allow any leeway at all: in fact we have to impose mark penalties as soon as a piece goes over length. Here, it’s definitely absolute! I’m kind of surprised to read that so many places have this 10% policy tbh.

Where I work the rules vary by department but in our faculty there is NO 10% either way limit, the word limit is fixed, but this is specified in the handbook for the program, so start there.

you're doing a masters and you haven't checked what the actual policy is? A lot of them have an absolute cut off after that time, but a lot have a 10% leeway.

+/- 10 % is standard and has been for decades. Marking is typically based in a points system and you'll lose points if you don't adhere to the word limit.

It depends on the academic and the assignment. I prefer a hard limit because I think having so much leeway, particularly on something like a 4,000 word assignment, can make students sloppy about editing (there’s a real misconception that the more you write the more marks you get, which is nonsense) or at the other end, means they just don’t cover a topic in enough depth. I alway tell my students to get to the word count then finish off the paragraph- so just over but not an extra two pages.

The best assignments are the ones where the students appreciate that they’re writing for the lecturer, not themselves, and they try to make it interesting, demonstrate that they’ve read widely and understood and evaluated it, and that they ‘tell the story’.

Each department will have a policy on this that you can refer to. Having a small leeway is normal, as is guidance on the impact of too few words.

(P.S. I’m also a lecturer and there isn’t a blanket policy at mine. We checked because we were having disagreements over it!). Depends on the institution/course/module. The requirements will be on the assessment brief.