HI290 Assessment and Essays

Resources

Departmental information on assessment (including how to apply for an extension, file naming and penalties)Link opens in a new window
Style and referencesLink opens in a new window
Information on plagiarism (and how to avoid it)Link opens in a new window

Seminar Contribution

10% of your overall mark for the module will be determined by your contribution to seminars over the course of the year. Seminar contribution is not a measure of how much you speak in seminars, but is intended to assess your overall performance. When assessing your seminar contribution your seminar tutor will therefore take into account the following factors:

Oral contribution: not a measure of how much you say, but the quality of your contributions, taking into account clarity of expression, relevance, respectfulness and inclusivity, contributions that extend the discussion. Remember, asking pertinent and probing questions also counts here!
Knowledge and understanding: encompassing evidence of preparation, engagement and understanding of the relevant material.
Analysis: evidence that you can think about and evaluate, interpret and interrogate what you read and what is discussed, rather than simply repeating material from the lectures and readings; backing up statements, arguments and opinions with relevant evidence.
Evidence of the ability to understand and engage with different historiographical, theoretical and methodological approaches.

Your seminar contribution will be assessed on the basis of observation by your seminar tutor and the completion of a self-assessment form in which you will be asked to reflect upon your own performance throughout the year. You will receive some interim feedback part-way through the module to give you a sense of how you are doing and how you might improve your overall performance in the rest of the year.

If you have a medical condition or other good reason why you think that assessment through seminar contribution might be especially difficult for you please speak to your personal tutor about the possibility of arranging an alternative method of assessment.

General Guidelines for Essays

All essays should be typewritten and double-spaced. They must include a separate bibliography page at the end, as well as footnotes citing any sources referred to in the text. Be sure to cite all references: whether you are paraphrasing, using direct quotes, or borrowing ideas, you must note the source. Plagiarism and poor academic practice are serious matters and penalties can be severe. More information about plagiarism, including definitions and advice on how to avoid it, can be found hereLink opens in a new window. If in doubt, speak to your seminar tutor before you submit your essay. There is no standard number of books/chapters/articles that should be read, but as a rule of thumb you should consult around 6 sources of at least chapter or article length for short essays and around 10 sources of at least chapter or article length for long essays. Please take the time to read your work through carefully before handing it in, paying close attention to presentation, typos, spelling mistakes and grammar.

For some good general advice on how to write a good history essay see the following:

If you are unsure what is expected of you, or would like advice on any aspect of essay writing, please just ask your seminar tutor!

Essays that are handed in after the deadline, or that exceed the word limit, will be subject to penalties. The department’s standard penalties for late submission and exceeding word length, as well as the policy on plagiarism can be found hereLink opens in a new window.

All formative and summative work is marked in accordance with the University's 20-point marking schemeLink opens in a new window. Marking a History essay is a complex and nuanced matter. There is no requirement that a piece of work would have to meet every one of the specified criteria in order to obtain a mark in the relevant class. Equally, when work displays characteristics from more than one class, a judgement must be made of the overall quality. The reason why your essay has been given a particular mark should be clear from the feedback, but if in doubt, please speak to your seminar tutor.

1,500 word Essay, due Week 7, Term 1:

The first summative assessment for the module is a short (1,500 word) primary source commentary. Primary sources are the most important piece of evidence that Historians have in the attempt to understand and interpret the past as they (can) give an insight into how events were seen at the time. But primary sources should not be viewed uncritically or in isolation, as to do so can give a misleading picture of the past by focusing on only one, subjective perspective.

In this task you will undertake a close ‘reading’ and analysis of a primary source. The key questions that you should try to answer are: what can the source tell us about the period of modern German history to which it relates? How useful is this source to us as historians trying to understand the development of modern Germany?

Please comment critically on what one of the sources below can tell us, as historians, about modern Germany in the period in which it was produced::

Your commentary should follow a standard essay format (have an introduction, argument, conclusion, cite references etc.) but be a much more focused evaluation of a particular source. The aim is not to simply describe what the source (and through it it's author) is saying, but to analyse the content of the source (what it says), the context in which it was written, and its significance (or usefulness) as a historical source (what it can tell us about the general topic - eg. the history of Imperial Germany, or modern German history in general - how useful is it to historians, what are its limitations etc.). Please remember: it is not enough to look at the source in isolation. To provide the best possible answer you will need to do a bit of reading around the subject to find out the background to the source and be able to comment critically on where it stands in relation to the historical literature.

When analysing your chosen source, please consider the 'three C's':

Context (When was the source written? By whom? What was their background? What was happening at the time?)
Content (What does the source say? Who was it aimed at? Should we take it at face value? Is there anything we can learn by analysing the language used, the way the source is presented, where it was published etc.?)
Consequence (Why is this document important as a historical source? What can historians learn from studying it? How does it contribute to our understanding of modern German history?)

Remember that essays that are handed in after the deadline, or that exceed the word limit, will be subject to penalties. The department’s standard penalties for late submission and length, as well as the policy on plagiarism can be found here. You can find guidance on plagiarism and referencing by following the links below:

Departmental Guidance on Plagiarism and Poor Academic Practice

Guidance on Referencing (MHRA Style Guide)

3,000 word Research Essay, due week 8, Term 2:

All students are required to write a 3,000 word essay, which will worth 40% of your total mark for the module.

It is intended that this will be an individual research-based essay so there are no set questions for the 3,000 essay, and you should discuss prospective topics/questions with your seminar tutor as soon as possible in the spring term and no later than week 5. It is important that you pick a topic that you find interesting and will enjoy researching. Essay topics should be focused, in-depth explorations of particular events, personalities, debates or themes in modern German history and you will need to be prepared to read widely on the subject, think critically about the topic and evaluate the historiography on it.

As a general rule, a good essay question should:

Be relevant and closely related to the module/topic.
Be clear and to the point.
Allow you to put forward your own clearly articulated view/argument on the subject.
Be neither too general or too specific – questions should be focused (or you will struggle to answer them in the space available), but not so narrowly that there is little to say on the subject.

Some examples of recent long essay topics for the module can be seen below. These are indicative examples, designed to get you thinking about your own topic and help you to formulate your own question. Please do not write your essay on one of these questions.

To what extent did the front experience of the First World War shape German notions of masculinity?
What can we learn about gender in Weimar Germany from the conflict between feminist campaigners and prostitutes?
Were ordinary Germans ‘indifferent’ towards the Holocaust as Ian Kershaw has suggested?
Examine the social effects the Soviet rapes upon German women during the occupation of Berlin, 1944-1949.
To what extent can the Nuremburg Trials of 1945-9 be seen as examples of ‘victors justice’?
To what extent did a policy of denazification contribute to the democratisation of American occupied Germany in the years 1944 to 1950?
Was the reunification of Germany the merging of two equal states or the colonization of the East?

Departmental Guidance on Plagiarism and Poor Academic Practice

Guidance on Referencing (MHRA Style Guide)

3000 word Biographical Essay, due TBC

For your final summative assignment you should write a 3000 word fictional biography of a person who lived through a period of modern German history covered by the module. Your subject can live at any point in time covered by the module and the biography should cover their whole life, not just a few years that you find interesting or contained significant historical events. You should avoid writing about a well-known real person and particularly someone who wrote a memoir or autobiography (which would defeat the object). The aim is to offer as authentic a biography as possible with the aim of understanding how people experienced (some of) the changes that took place in Germany between unification and reunification and how this shaped their lives, thoughts, feelings etc. The essay does not need to be analytical, and if it suits the person's narrative and your inclination, can be written in formal or informal tone.

Although you are writing the biography of a fictional person, you should try to be realistic as possible. You need to be specific about the details of your subject’s life, grounded in fact and reality. Avoid improbable events or situations – it is unlikely that your subject will have been present at all (or even any) the ‘big’ events of modern German history or been aware of the inner workings of government or high society (unless extraordinarily well connected). You should strive to write as realistic biography of a “regular” person as possible.

The essay does not need to have footnotes but does need to have a bibliography outlining the sources that you used in writing your biography (bibliographies do not count towards the word count). As well as providing the background for your essay, this will help you position your subject in historical context and make their experience authentic and probable. The bibliography should draw on both scholarly literature, real biographies and memoirs and (where appropriate and possible) primary sources.

You might find the following useful in preparing for this task are:

Konrad Jarausch, Broken Lives: How Ordinary Germans Experienced the Twentieth Century (2018)Link opens in a new window

The mark scheme for this task is as follows:

Class	Scale	Mark	Generic descriptor	Review descriptor
First	Excellent first	100	Work of original and exceptional quality which in the examiners’ judgement merits special recognition by the award of the highest possible mark.	Exceptionally well researched essay that shows an in-depth understanding of the period and place. You offer a realistic biography that tells us about your protagonist and their experience in terms of politics, economic status, social relations, gender, family, friends, etc. The biography is very realistic and gives a strong sense of a person’s life in the context of German history. The bibliography attached brings all the relevant literature. Piece that is of publishable standard.
	Excellent first	94	Exceptional work of the highest quality, demonstrating excellent knowledge and understanding, analysis, organisation, accuracy, relevance, presentation and appropriate skills. At final-year level: work may achieve or be close to publishable standard.
	High 1st	88	Very high quality work demonstrating excellent knowledge and understanding, analysis, organisation, accuracy, relevance, presentation and appropriate skills. Work which may extend existing debates or interpretations.	A very well-researched essay showing a deep knowledge and understanding of the relevant period. The biography is convincingly realistic and and gives a strong sense of a person’s life in the context of German history. There may be small inaccuracies or improbabilities that are not accounted for. The bibliography attached brings most of the relevant literature.
	Upper mid 1st	82
	Lower mid 1st	78
	Low 1st	74
Upper second	High 2.1	68	High quality work demonstrating good knowledge and understanding, analysis, organisation, accuracy, relevance, presentation and appropriate skills.	The essay gives a largely accurate picture of a person’s life with sufficient but sometimes sketchy detail. There may be larger inaccuracies. The bibliography attached has some of the relevant literature.
	Mid 2.1	65
	Low 2.1	62
Lower second	High 2.2	58	Competent work, demonstrating reasonable knowledge and understanding, some analysis, organisation, accuracy, relevance, presentation and appropriate skills.	The essay gives a competent sense of a person’s life in the German history. The details are largely missing, there may be large inaccuracies or improbable turns. The bibliography attached has serious gaps.
	Mid 2.2	55
	Low 2.2	52
Third	High 3rd	48	Work of limited quality, demonstrating some relevant knowledge and understanding.	The biography gives a limited sense of a person’s life as part of German history. The details are largely missing, there may be large inaccuracies or improbable turns. The bibliography may be missing.
	Mid 3rd	45
	Low 3rd	42
Fail	High Fail	38	Work does not meet standards required for the appropriate stage of an Honours degree. Evidence of study and demonstrates some knowledge and some basic understanding of relevant concepts and techniques, but subject to significant omissions and errors.	The essay does not meet the standards outlined in the above and hence also not those for the appropriate stage of an Honours degree. Demonstrates some knowledge and some basic understanding of relevant concepts and techniques, but subject to significant omissions and errors. Little sense of knowledge of the relevant literature. The bibliography may be missing.
	Fail	32	Work is significantly below the standard required for the appropriate stage of an Honours degree. Some evidence of study and some knowledge and evidence of understanding but subject to very serious omissions and errors.	Work is significantly below the standard required for the appropriate stage of an Honours degree. Some evidence of study and some knowledge and evidence of understanding but subject to very serious omissions and errors.
	Fail	25	Poor quality work well below the standards required for the appropriate stage of an Honours degree.	Poor quality work well below the standards required for the appropriate stage of an Honours degree.
	Low Fail	12
Zero	Zero	0	Work of no merit OR Absent, work not submitted, penalty in some misconduct cases	Work of no merit OR Absent, work not submitted, penalty in some misconduct cases

Departmental Guidance on Plagiarism and Poor Academic Practice

Guidance on Referencing (MHRA Style Guide)