Information for Current Students
- Assessment Grade Structure and Faculty Policy on the Award of Grades
- Assessment Details Posted on Notice boards
- Assessment Extensions
- Attendance at Classes and Examinations
- Disability
- Environmental Health and Safety
- Generic Skills
- Illness
- Language and Learning Skills Unit
- Notice Boards and Emails
- Plagiarism and collusion
- Presentation and submission of essays
- Return of Assessment
- Special Consideration
- Students' responsibilities
- Submission of Work
- Time Commitment to Study
- Timetable
- Transition
- Who to ask for assistance
- Your Enrolment
Information for Current Undergraduate Students
Assessment Grade Structure and Faculty Policy on the Award of Grades
The section follows the Faculty's standard grading structure for the return of results in every subject for all students.
The range of marks corresponding to grades is as follows:
Grade Percentage
- H1 = 80-100%
- H2A = 75-79%
- H2B = 70-74%
- H3 = 65-69%
- P = 50-64%
- N = 0-49%
Students should be aware that there is a Faculty policy on marks for first, second and third year subjects. It may be necessary to scale marks in some subjects at the end of semester to comply with Faculty requirements. Students should realise that any marks they receive in the interim for continuous assessment are raw scores only. University and School policy requires each component of assessment that is failed must be double marked.
Assessment Details Posted on Notice boards
Assessment details are posted on the 6th floor of the Arts Centre building at the beginning of each semester. Each notice will include details on components of assessment and the weighting of each component; due dates for each piece of assessment, attendance or threshold requirements and student responsibilities.
Assessment Extensions
Students may request extensions through their subject co-ordinator before the submission date. Penalties apply to all work submitted late without an approved extension. Late essays handed in up to two weeks after the due date will incur a reduction in mark of 2 percentage points per working day, up to a maximum of 20 percentage points. Assessment submitted more than two weeks late will not receive a mark, but a pass in the subject is nevertheless contingent upon its submission.
Attendance at Classes and Examinations
Attendance is expected for all classes. Class attendance may be taken into consideration in determining the final mark of students with borderline results. Ignorance of the subject matter of the unit or of special instructions in it resulted by unexplained absence will not be deemed a reason for extensions or a cause for special consideration.
Where a student attends less than 75% of classes, a medical certificate is required. Permission to sit the final examination may be denied.
It is the duty of students to ascertain the dates and times at which they are required to attend for examinations, including oral examinations. Students who do not sit the prescribed examination at the published time will receive a fail for that component of the assessment, unless a medical certificate is supplied. Students who are planning to be away from Melbourne should do so after the end of the University examination/assessment period. The school will not normally make special arrangements for students to sit examinations at times other than those published. The School will not accept any special requests for examinations after the final week of semester.
Disability
The University of Melbourne provides services that accommodate the needs of people whose disability adversely affects their studies. Adjustments can be negotiated which assist such students to study and be assessed in a more equal environment. If you wish to know more about these services, please contact the Disability Liaison Unit (DLU), telephone 8344 7068 or visit the DLU website
Environmental Health and Safety
Section 2.4.3: Student responsibility for Environment health and safety
- Students are responsible for adopting safe work and study practices;
- must report all hazard and injuries to their supervisor or sports centre;
- must not wilfully place at risk the health or safety of any other person at the University;
- must not wilfully or recklessly interfere with or misuse anything provided in the interests of environment, health and safety or welfare at the University;
- students are also required to comply with all University and Institute rules and procedures which relate to environment, health and safety.
Generic Skills
As a result of attendance at scheduled classes, participation in tutorials, timely completion of assigned reading and essays, and success in examinations, students should progressively acquire skills in the following areas:
Research : through frequent and systematic use of the library and other information sources, the definition of areas of inquiry and familiarisation with research methods;
Critical thinking and analysis : through required and recommended reading, essay writing and tutorial discussion, and by assessing the strength of arguments;
Thinking in theoretical and analytical terms : through lectures, tutorial discussions, essay writing and engagement in the methodologies of the humanities and social sciences;
Understanding of social, political, historical and cultural contexts and international awareness/openness to the world : through the contextualisation of judgements and knowledge, developing a critical self-awareness, being open to new ideas and new aspects of Chinese culture, and by formulating arguments;
Communicating knowledge intelligibly and economically : through essay and assignment writing, tutorial discussion and class presentations;
Written communication : through essay and assignment preparation and writing;
Public speaking and confidence in self-expression : through tutorial participation and class presentations;
Attention to detail : through close reading and textual analysis, essay preparation and writing, and examination revision;
Time management and planning : through managing and organising workloads for required and recommended reading, essay and assignment completion and revision for examinations.
Illness
If you are unable to attend classes or submit work by the due date due to illness or other special circumstances, please contact the subject coordinator immediately. A medical certificate is required in the case of illness. In other cases, documentary evidence may be required.
Language and Learning Skills Unit
The Language and Learning Skills Unit (LLSU) assists students with study and organisational issues, writing issues, assessment strategies, professional skills and research involvement and issues.
Notice Boards and Emails
Notice boards with information on timetabling, results of assessment and other matters of interest to students are located on level 6 of the Arts Centre Building. Important and sometimes urgent information is often emailed to students to their University email accounts. It is student's responsibility to check these boards and their email frequently.
Plagiarism and collusion
a) Plagiarism
The department has a very strict policy on plagiarism and collusion. According to the policy, "work submitted for assessment purposes must be the independent work of the student concerned (or, where joint work is permitted, of the students concerned)". The policy identifies several forms of plagiarism: "Any of the following, without full acknowledgment of the debt to the original source, counts as plagiarism:
- direct duplication, by copying (or allowing to be copied) another's work, whether from a book, article, Web site, another student's assignment, etc.;
- producing assignments in conjunction with other people [e.g. another student, a tutor] which should be your own independent work;
- paraphrasing of another's work closely, with minor changes but with the essential meaning, form and/or progression of ideas maintained;
- piecing together sections of the work of others into a new whole;
- submitting one's own work which has already been submitted for assessment purposes in another subject."
b) Collusion with tutors, friends and family
Many language students have access to tutors (either privately or through their residential colleges) or German-speaking friends and family. Whilst students may avail themselves of ongoing advice and support from tutors or other persons with a knowledge of the language, students must not collude with others on assessment. Students thus have to be very careful about the extent to which they discuss their assessment with others.
Examples of unauthorised collusion include:
- A tutor or other person manually correcting a draft of the student's assessment;
- The tutor or other person dictating passages to be included in the assessment;
- The tutor or other person working through the assessment together and verbally correcting mistakes. Permissible forms of feedback from tutors or others include:
- Asking the tutor or other person for general advice on grammar or expression (e.g. "How can I say 'in my opinion'?"; "What's another word for 'to say'?"; "What case do I use after the preposition 'in'?");
- Having a tutor or other person look at a draft of assessment and make only general comments about what areas can be improved (e.g. "There are some problems in this draft with verb-subject agreement"; "Sometimes you have used prepositions with the wrong case").
In summary: assessment must be the result of the student's individual work. A student may not work closely with a tutor or any other person on a piece of assessment.
c) Consequences of plagiarism and collusion
Where a student is found to have colluded or plagiarised, the student may:
- be required to undertake further assessment;
- receive a mark of zero for the assessment;
- fail the subject;
- be referred to a discipline committee; or
- several of the above.
If the course coordinator reasonably suspects that a student has colluded with another person, the coordinator may require the student to sit an oral exam on the topic of the assessment in order to determine whether collusion has taken place.
For more information, see the University Policy on Academic Honesty and Plagiarism at: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/plagiarism
Presentation and submission of essays
Essays must be typed, double spaced and at least 12-font. Include page numbers and a word count. Handwritten essays are not acceptable. For details on the 127 student computer labs in the university see: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au Give your essay a title and indicate on the essay which question you are answering (where relevant). Essays should be within 10% of the required word length. Unless your lecturer makes alternative arrangements with you, essays should be submitted with a departmental assessment cover sheet attached (cover sheets available above the essay box at the south end of level 6). You will be required to sign a declaration that you have not plagiarized or colluded (see below).
Download Essay Coversheet
Download German Essay Writing Guide
Download Swedish Essay Writing Guide
Return of Assessment
Marked essays throughout the semester will be returned to you in a designated class unless your subject coordinator makes other arrangements. If you would like your final essay returned to you through mail attach it to an A4 sized, stamped, self-addressed envelope. Please also provide appropriate postage. Final essays will not be returned unless a stamped envelope is attached at the time of submission. Otherwise essays are available for collection outside the relevant coordinator's office in the Arts Centre building after the publication of the results.
Special Consideration
Special Consideration may be given to a student whose performance has been adversely affected to a substantial degree by illness or other cause. The Examination Board will take the circumstances into account and make a judgment as they see fit. Applications must be on-line via the Student Information System.
Applications must be lodged within three days of the final examination or final component of assessment. Students seeking extension (or delayed testing) for assessment due during the semester do not need to apply for Special Consideration instead they should apply for an extension.
Please see assessment extensions
Students' responsibilities
Students have a responsibility to contribute to their own learning. It is expected that they must:
- familiarize themselves with departmental guidelines for assessment. All details regarding assessment will be displayed before the end of the second week of each semester on notice boards;
- be aware of the requirements and due dates for each of the components of assessment, including examinations times. To obtain credit for a subject, students much complete ALL assessment requirements and perform satisfactorily in each part of the course. Students whol fail to submit the required exercises, essays and seminar papers by the due dates can expect to be penalized;
- ensure tha tthey take into account the total study time commitment for each subject of their enrolment;
- regularly attend a minimum of 75% of all classes, including conversation classes and any formal lectures.
Submission of Work
Assigned assessment must be submitted by the date and time set by the subject coordinator, and should be placed in the Essay Box located on the 6th floor of the Arts Centre building unless directed otherwise by the subject coordinator. The Essay Box will be cleared at 5:00pm on the due date. Late submission without an extension will attract penalties (see Presentation and submission of essays). Students must complete and sign the cover sheet and attach it to the essay. Cover sheets are available from outside the School office on the 6th floor. The School does not normally accept assessment sent by mail, fax or email unless through prior arrangement. It is the responsibility of the student to keep a copy of your submitted assessment.
See also presentation and submission of essays
Time Commitment to Study
Time management plays a key role in relation to successful university study. Students need to keep in mind that as well as scheduled contact hours for lectures, tutorials and seminars a considerable addition time commitment is needed to complete the academic requirements of each subject. A subject-specific time commitment to study will be provided by your lecturer or tutor at the beginning of semester to help you schedule your workload and successfully manage your time during the semester.
Timetable
Timetable details can be found on the Student Information System.
Transition
The Faculty of Arts holds seminars on study skills and transition for first year Arts students.
Who to ask for assistance
If you are experiencing problems with any aspect of your studies, please contact your subject coordinator and or tutor during his/her consultation hours which will be displayed on their office doors. Alternatively, you can arrange a time that is convenient to you both. The Arts Faculty website also provides information for students. First year students, in particular, should look at the Faculty's First Year section of the Current Students website for guidance.
Your Enrolment
Students should ensure that they are correctly enrolled, especially if they are from other faculties, or if they change their subjects. In accordance with Faculty policy, the Institute will not approve new enrolments after the first week of semester. Subject changes are made via the Student Information System (SIS) and is only open for subject changes during certain periods of the year . If you wish to change subjects during a period in which SIS is not open, please see your Home Faculty office.