What do you think about this essay feedback - I'm confused!

[Wallace]

This was what the feedback said:

"Thank you for your essay which was a pleasure to read.

Throughout your submission you show that you have developed a good knowledge and understanding about some of the main theories relating to child development.

Reference section was very good and direct quotes nearly there
 you do now need to put the authors words in italics
 there were large spaces between your paragraphs at times
 student id number to be included on each page
 information given was fine but was a bit too brief at times

This was however a satisfactory mark"

Now I think this sounds like positive feedback, so how come I only got a "D"? Most of her comments are about referencing and presentation, which only accounted for less than 20% of the mark.

I'm not a student, but I would say that the information being too brief could have brought it down... you know what you're talking about, but need to say more? The other 3 didn't seem very relevant to me with regards the grade.

Hmmm, doesn't sound like a D to me, especially as you developing good knowledge and understanding is mentioned.

Your mark was probably affected by the "information was fine but was a bit too brief at times", although if I'd have had these comments on an essay when I did my PGCE, I'd have expected a C grade.

It must have been that I guess, but it was only 1500 words. I shouldn't be too disappointed at getting a D - I did only start it the day before it was due in That'll teach me a lesson!

I often find feed back confusing. Can you call her and ask her to explain? I did notice that she says "you have developed a good knowledge and understanding about some of the main theories relating to child development" So maybe she means that you needed to broaden your knowledge.

I wouldnt have expected a D for those comments, maybe a C.

I wouldnt have expected a D for those comments, maybe a C.

I got an "A" for the first essay I did which must have raised my expectations!

I think I will email my tutor and ask her to tell me more specifically what brought my grade down.

I got 15points taken off mine for bad presentation (I forgot to double space my eaasy)

It does sound like positive feedback... what was your actual mark..or do you just get a baned A B C or D? Is there any way of contacting your tutor and getting her to explain herself to you more clearly?

I know that our essays are not always marked by our lecturers.. they bring people in, which leaves me feeling uneasy actually...

Well what I would also do is, work on her comments, next Essay you write, go back to this sheet of paper, and make sure you have your authors words in italics, less speaces between your paragraphs (what did she mean by this?) Your student ID?? Ours doesnt have to be on every page.. we have a cover sheet, they do like our name to be on the back of the pages though incase they get unatached somehow
Brief info... again, what does she mean? Did you make a point, give the evidence and back it up? I know thats what our tutors are always after...
Id wait for an explanation, but also work on what she pointed out as these are the type of mistakes she will look out for and if used repeatedly they penalise

45%

The spaces between paragraphs - completely my own fault. I thought it would be neater/easier to read if a new paragraph always started on a new page, so I formatted it accordingly!

Student ID number is supposed to be on every page, but I cannot work out how to do this!!! I have tried fiddling about with footnotes etc, but it won't work! It is all submitted electronically, so can't just write in on.

I have to do this with mine too wallace. I do it using the header and footer option from the View menu. I don't have to email it but I assume it wouldn't be a problem.

Oh... we're not allowed to submit electronically wish we were, it would be far handier!!

Perhaps someone techy minded can tell you how to put your number on each page? I'm not much good at things like that? D'ya think it would be the same as inserting a page number?

Thanks amynnixmum! I had never even seen that option in the view menu I had been trying to do it using footnotes.

It is an online degree I am doing so everything is done through the computer, easier in some ways - a lot more difficult in others!

I was a bit under the word limit (yes maybe I was a bit brief!), but within 10%

I agree - it's confusing. The whole point of feedback is to let you know what you need to do to improve - this doesn't give you any such indication - I would (nicely - remember the lecturer probably has loads of essays to mark) ask for a bit more. You don;t need to explicitly say you found the feedback unhelpful - just ask what you need to work on.

I'd say the clue here is the word ' some' - SOME of the main theories relating to blah blah blah....in other words it suggests you have only considered part of the issues.
Sorry but these comments are not unusual for a D grade IME as an A level marker for EDEXCEL.

I did wonder about that, but we only had to consider 4 theories, so I thought "some" was quite ambiguous.

I think with 1500 words you can go into some depth- we are expectd to yet our last Psychology essay was only 1000 words! They key is to write the essay and then edit out everything superfluous so that it reads info, info, info and loses every word of waffle.

I would ask for more feedback. 'Some' and 'nearly there' is too vague and won't help you next time.

Get my first essays back in the next few weeks, so not YET an expert on feedback, will probably have far worse amrks to show you in a week or so

Do you have access to any study support? We have a study skills room where we can get our essays read before submission and our feedback explained.

What's the rep of the tutor BTW? Just that our western religions tutor has only ever given one top grade so I'd expect low off him, IYSWIM.

Wallace
I find that feedback decidedly wishy-washy, I'm afraid. I think that you are entitled to be given specific comments as to (a) what you did right and (b) what you did wrong. If you get a mark like 45%/D, then you need to be told (again specifically)what you should have done in order to improve that mark. Personally, if I was marking an essay I would definitely comment on things like too much space between paragraphs, ID number not on every page, etc., but I wouldn't take marks off for them. You should be marked on the content, unless the problems with presentation are such that they make your essay hard/impossible to read or follow (or unless they are problems linked to referencing, which lead the marker to suspect that there are plagiarism issues). In your case, the marker said that your essay was a pleasure to read, so clearly the presentation issues were not making it hard to follow the gist of the essay. And the comments on references suggests that there are no problems there. The other comments on the actual content of the essay are so thin as to be useless in helping you to improve. You should definitely go and see the marker and discuss this with him/her, asking for much fuller information as to why you didn't get a better mark. The only negative comment here is that your information was too brief. OK, that's probably one of the ways in which your essay could have been improved, but you need to know more than that.

Grrrrr.... sorry for going on at length, but I do feel that markers like this give us lecturers a bad name. The only time I'd ever write as little as that on someone's work would be if I gave it a mark over about 75%. Generally, the lower the mark I give, the more comments I write (and rightly so, because the lower the mark, the more help is needed). In fact, sometimes my comments on a student's essay have actually been longer than the essay itself. (Though I am a bit OTT, and I do tend to be verbose - in case you hadn't noticed .)

To get your Student ID no. on each page, go to 'View' and click on Header and Footer. In the 'Header' box type your ID no. (you can centre it, or right justify it, or whatever). Then close the box. Your ID no. should no appear on every page.

HTH and good luck with your course.

By the way, most lecturers will be happy to see you and discuss your essay. I wish more of mine would come and do so (would save me making the same comments again and again on their work!)

Thanks for all the help I definitley (why canI never remember how to spell that anymore?) will contact my tutor and get her to explain a bit more.