The Gown Student Newspaper at Queen's University Belfast

NEWS: School of English has “failed its students utterly”

The School of English has caused panic among students by stating that bibliographies should be included in the word-counts of essays. This guidance was given via email on January 6, just three days before a deadline.  This information is not contained in the rubric of essay questions. One second year student said: “The school has failed its students utterly.”

BY BEN FINCH AND ROMANO MULLIN

Following an outcry from students, a second email was sent on January 9 which states: “Students will NOT be penalised should their essays be over length on account of the bibliography.”

Prior to the first email, students received conflicting advice about whether bibliographies were to be included in word-counts.  The general consensus was that bibliographies were not included.  Some students’ bibliographies now took up a quarter of their essay, requiring a substantial portion to be cut in order to make their argument.

The email, dated January 6, reads: “As stated in the School’s assessment policy: ‘each assessment will have a specified word length which is intended to include all the components of the assessment: main text, notes, bibliography etc.’” It has not been possible to verify this policy.

The guidelines attached to questions say: “For further details, please refer to the document entitled ‘Guidelines for Submission and Presentation of Summative Work’ also available on Queen’s Online Website (QOL).”  It is assumed this document contains the statement quoted.  It is not available on QOL, the School of English website, the Queen’s website or Google.  There are no results for ‘QUB School of English assessment and feedback policy’.

The last document found which includes bibliographies in the word-count is the 2008/09 Stage One Handbook.  This says: “It should not exceed 2000 words in length including bibliography.”  Other than repeating students, undergraduates in the School have only been studying since 2009/10.

It also appears the School expected SSCC Representatives to provide students with this information regarding the inclusion of bibliographies.

The student said: “It seems the school wants to blame students for [the school’s] incompetence, judging by the tone of the first email. Philip [McGowan, School of English Examinations Liaison Officer] commented [on FaceBook] that reps should have told students about the changes. Firstly, it’s unclear if they were actually changed and secondly, it is not the job of the rep to communicate policy changes, but rather to voice what students want to say to staff.

“The main problem is that the school didn’t state clearly whether or not a bibliography counted as part of an essay word count. It seems to contradict the general academic encouragement to read widely.

“In my most recent essays my bibliography ran to 500 words, which could be so valuable in expanding an argument. The temptation will be to limit reading so that an argument could be expanded. However, without wide reading, surely an argument will suffer. I can’t believe the school waited until the day of the deadlines to clarify their position on this. It’s a total disgrace.”

Another said: “To be honest, I think our tutors and lecturers weren’t aware of all the rules and that’s why we’ve been told different things by different people. It seems to encourage using a smaller bibliography and, obviously, the less sources you’re citing the more limited your points are going to be, or you’ll get done for plagiarism because you haven’t put in all your articles. It’s ridiculous.

“I know people who have made themselves sick over it. If you’re going to impose a new rule, or an old one no-one knew about, tell us before one of the most stressful periods of the year.”

A third year student agreed, saying: “I first found out about this new, and quite frankly, ridiculous rule amidst a general discussion about bibliographies on FaceBook. All of us had received conflicting information from our tutors but most assured us, after we enquired, was that bibliographies did not and never have been included in the word-count.

“However, as a couple of tutors had advocated that they should be, a few of my peers decided they would email Philip McGowan and their individual subject tutors, to receive clarification. Of course, Philip replied, quoting from the school’s new assessment policy, and confirmed that this new rule had come in to effect and it was mandatory that we now include our bibliographies in the word-count. This conflicted with many of the tutors’ responses. Some even quite forcefully asserted this rule did not exist. From that, I can only speculate that this new information wasn’t disseminated across the school and tutors were just as ignorant to it all.

“Basically, I think this whole debacle reflects poorly on the School of English. There is obviously a lack of communication within the staff and they are highly disorganised. Much unnecessary stress and worry was caused and, if I speak on behalf of my peers, I think all of us are still trying to catch up from those two days which were spent re-reading essay guidelines, emailing tutors and getting distressed over an issue imposed on us by the people who are supposed to help.”

Nuala McAdams, VP Education, said: “This issue has been brought to my attention and after speaking with the School of English I can confirm that for this examination period (January 2012) students will not be penalised for not including the bibliography in the word count. The School’s policy is that bibliographies will be counted in the word limit. Due to this information not reaching all students within an appropriate timeframe, the School have made an exception for the January examination period. Following this, the bibliography will be counted in the word limit. The School have also contacted all students informing them of this.”

Dr McGowan said: “The School realises this is an issue of concern for all of its students, has emailed all students to reassure them that there will be NO penalisation on account of over length due to bibliographies in this assessment period and is grateful to The Gown for helping clarify this situation.”

Dr McGowan was unable to comment on how information regarding the inclusion of bibliographies in the word-count was not provided to students as this was discovered after office hours.

None of the students quoted in this article wished to be named because of any possible effect there may be on the quality of teaching received in the future.

Tags: Ben Finch, Gown, newspaper, Nuala McAdams, Philip McGowan, qub, QUBSU, Queen's, queen's university, Romano Mullin, School of English, student, students, su, The Gown

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