Assignment and Evaluation Guidelines

Women's and Gender Studies courses promote the development of scholarly, critical analysis, research, and communication skills. An assessment of your mastery of these skills will be reflected in the grade you receive on each course assignment. Your written work will be evaluated in terms of your ability to grasp the issues within the field of study, your understanding and evaluation of the literature contributing to the field, and the manner in which your evaluations and arguments are presented.

Each written assignment will be evaluated according to its content; style and structure; originality and creativity; and references and citations.

Before submitting an assignment for marking, consider the questions that appear under each of the headings below. The more positive your responses are to these questions, the higher the grade you are likely to receive on your assignment.

Content

• Have you researched the issue sufficiently so as to demonstrate a full knowledge of your topic?
• Have you addressed the different perspectives on the issue and included gender in your analysis?
• Is your analysis of the literature and the issues a critical analysis?
• Is the information you present synthesized and summarized in a competent manner?
• Are your arguments well developed and thoroughly supported?
• Does your essay leave the reader with the impression that all of the major questions have been considered and addressed?
• Would someone who was knowledgeable about the topic find your essay informative?
• Does your essay provide the reader with any new ideas?

Style and Structure

• Is each topic and new idea clearly introduced?
• Has your information been organized in a logical manner?
• Have you included appropriate transitions between paragraphs and sections, and used strong, logical links to connect arguments?
• Have you addressed important issues in such a way that someone who is unfamiliar with this topic can understand them?
• Does your paper have a strong conclusion?
• Is your sentence structure, syntax, and grammar correct?
• Has your paper been carefully proofread to ensure that it is free of typographical, spelling, and grammatical errors?

Originality and Creativity

• Have you presented your analysis and arguments in a way that is more than just a restatement of what others have said about these issues?
• Have you compared, contrasted, and integrated the different viewpoints and material on the subject in a way that shows that you have a thorough understanding of the issues?
• Have you raised points that others may not have addressed, or presented a new position?
• Is your essay insightful and perceptive?
• Does your essay provide evidence of creative thinking?

References and Citations

• Have you included a sufficient number of references (see assignment directions)?
• Have you incorporated both the theoretical and the empirical literature on the subject into your paper?
• Have references been appropriately integrated into the text of the paper?
• Do all references and citations adhere to an appropriate or standard referencing style?
• Have you avoided stand-alone quotations?

Remarking Women's and Gender Studies Assignments

Generally, assignments, essays, or projects that have been submitted for grading and returned to the student with substantive feedback and grades will normally not be considered for remarking.

If you are unclear about the requirements of any assignment, please discuss your concerns with your tutor before you submit the assignment for evaluation. If you are still unsure about the nature of the assignment or about specific assignment directions, you may ask your tutor to review your outline or draft of the assignment in question. If you do, however, you are likely to receive only very general feedback about the appropriateness of the topic selection or your approach to the assignment, and only general comments on your writing style.

Note: This review of draft submissions does not apply to the At-home Final Examination assignments.