School of Media, Arts and Humanities - for students and staff
Assessment, feedback and submissions
Postgraduate assessment criteria
School of Media, Arts and Humanities
For students and staff
Handing in work
Your Sussex Direct webpages will give all assessment details, including whether the assessment is to be submitted via e-submission through Canvas or in hard copy through the School Office.
For assignments that need to be submitted online, see Student Hub guidance on:
submitting an assessment
submitting Turnitin and Canvas assignments.
If your assignment needs to be handed into the School Office, submit two copies of your assessed work. The two copies must be individually stapled and one cover sheet (obtainable from the School Office) stapled to one copy. Include your candidate number and the module code at the top of each page of all work submitted.
Submission deadline and late penalties
Deadlines for assessed coursework are absolute.
It's important you make every effort to hand your work in on time.
Find out about the penalties for submitting work late.
If there are good reasons why you cannot submit your work on time
If you believe you have a good reason why you cannot hand in your work, or you will need to hand it in late, you can make an exceptional circumstances claim.
Making your claim early may also speed up an assessment of entitlement to additional support, should your circumstances indicate ongoing health or support issues.
What is included in the essay word count?
The maximum length for each assessment is made clear. The limits as stated include quotations in the text, but do not include the bibliography, footnotes/endnotes, appendices, abstracts, maps, illustrations, transcriptions of linguistic data, or tables and their captions.
If you exceed the word limit
Examiners will read up to 10% above the word count (e.g. 1,100 words for a 1,000-word essay).
Examiners can use their judgment and mark downward for excessive length if:
your essay is overlong because it is poorly written or conceived
they feel the extra length gives you an unfair advantage over students who kept to the prescribed length.
Additional words over the 10% allowance will not be read.
Avoiding academic misconduct
Plagiarism, collusion, and cheating in exams are all forms of academic misconduct, which the University takes very seriously.
Every year, some students commit academic misconduct unintentionally because they were not careful in their use of sources or did not understand the definitions of plagiarism. Whether or not it is intentional, the consequences for committing academic misconduct can be severe, so it is important you familiarise yourself with what it is and how to avoid it.
See Skills Hub for advice on writing well, including definitions of academic misconduct and tips on how to avoid it.
Do I need to pass every module to progress to the next year?
Yes. You need to achieve 120 credits to progress to the next year, and it's only possible to do that if you pass all of your modules.
If things don't go as planned and you end up failing one or more modules you will be given a second chance.
You'll be set resits in the summer vacation, but this is something you really want to avoid because:
resits take place in August, so they may limit your travelling plans or paid work, and
resits are capped at a mark of 40%.
If you are in your second year or beyond, a capped mark may negatively affect your degree classification.
More information about resitting an assessment.
How work is marked
So that our marking processes are transparent, the School of Media, Arts and Humanities uses marking criteria for marking.
Find information about marking criteria used for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.
More about how your work is marked on the Student Hub.
When will I receive my marks and feedback?
The majority of assessments will have marks and feedback released 15 term-time working days after the submission deadline.
The marks are normally released at 4pm rather than first thing in the morning. This is to allow the Exams Convenor time to check that all marks and feedback have been correctly entered before they are released.
A small number of assessments (usually shorter assignments such as exercises) have an earlier return date.
You can email the school office to check the dates that your marks will be available (media-arts-humanities@sussex.ac.uk).
See more on getting marks and feedback on the Student Hub.
I'm not happy with my grade and I want my work remarked
The academic judgement of examiners is not subject to appeal, so it is not possible for your work to be remarked.
However, the University has a robust checking mechanism in place to ensure all marks are fair. More information about how your work is marked.
If you receive a disappointing mark, the best thing you can do is learn from the experience and work out how to avoid the same thing happening again.
You can do this in the following ways:
Read the assessment feedback carefully. If you don't understand it, visit the module tutor in their office hour to ask for clarification.
Take your essay and feedback to your Academic Advisor during their office hour or make an appointment with the School Writing Lab to ask for additional advice on how to apply the feedback in future assessments.
Consider signing up for additional study support. The School has a mentor scheme in place and also offers writing labs throughout the year. Visit the School Office in Arts A7 for additional information.
If you think there was an irregularity, read about assessment appeals.