Grading: students give correct answers, but in the wrong places In the last assignment I've given my students, one of the questions has two subquestions that go as follows.


Explain how Theory X, as developed in Smith (2010) accounts for dataset A.
Briefly summarize the additional data that, according to Smith (2010), fall under the scope of Theory X.


A number of students have submitted something along these lines.


Something that is technically correct, but doesn't actually answer Question 1.
Something that is technically correct and answers both Question 2 and Question 1.


What is the proper grade for this students? The three possibilities that I have in mind are:


Full credit: they have provided correct answers to both questions, even though the answer to Question 1 is embedded within the answer to Question 2.
Full credit only for Answer 2, no credit for Answer 1: they not only have to provide the correct answers, they also have to provide them in the right place.
Half credit for Answer 2, no credit for Answer 1: half credit because the Answer 2 contains more information than I asked for.


I'm inclined towards the second option (full credit only for Answer 2). Would this be appropriate?

Update: in response to some of the answers below, the problem is not that my questions are unclear, as a majority of the students have managed to answer them properly.
What is your purpose of a grade? If it is a numerical certification of their knowledge, full credit is the right choice, as they indeed have shown to know the answer to both questions. If the assignment didn't have time pressure, you may consider applying a small penalty for the not so good organisation, but be prepared to have it challenged.

Don't penalise adding extra, factually correct, information. Other professors welcome it, and even, the expect you to understand that the question has unwritten sub questions that should be answered too for the full credit (I had one of these in high school, and "give three examples of mammals" meant also "explain what they are and why are they mammals, or I will only give you half").

Lastly, if several students have made the same mistake, consider that maybe the questions are not clear. I must say I don't quite understand the difference from your excerpt.