Undergraduate
Guidelines for submitting a Portfolio of Essays
Modern & Medieval Languages Tripos, Part IB: 2013
Coversheet for each portfolio of essays is available to download as a word file
Faculty Policy on the use of Plagiarism Detection Software (Turnitin)Undergraduates may substitute a portfolio of six essays for one of the following papers in Part IB of the MML Tripos:
- Dutch Du. 2,3,4
- French Fr. 3,4,6
- German Ge. 4,5,6
- Italian It. 4,5
- Neo Latin NL. 1
- Portuguese Pg. 4
- Russian Ru. 3,4,5,6,7,8,9
- Spanish Sp. 3,4,5
Practical matters
1. Deciding to offer a portfolio
Students offering a portfolio on any paper should receive the same range of supervisions on that paper as those intending to take the examination. Candidates will be entered for the examination in the normal way. Towards the middle of the Lent Term the decision will be made whether candidates wish to submit a portfolio in lieu of sitting an examination and for which paper. Where the number of supervisions offered for a paper has been reduced, for example as a result of the provision of seminars, those students who have decided to submit a portfolio may request additional supervisions in order to make up the total to the maximum of eight. By the end of the Lent Term, it is the candidates' responsibility to ensure, via their College, that they have been withdrawn from the Part IB written examination in that paper and entered for the Portfolio option. They will discuss their selection of essays (or pieces of work, as appropriate) with their supervisor(s) for that paper and Director of Studies, selecting six from the range written over the previous two terms (according to the regulations set out in point 2 below) of which they will choose three to be examined and marked. They will then submit to Examiners two unaltered copies of all six pieces of work in the format and by the date given in point 4 below.
2. Topics
Portfolio essays must be on subjects that fall within the scope of the paper for which they are substituted, as set out in Part IB Regulations. Of the three essays being presented for examination, candidates are not allowed to present more than one essay on the same author or topic within a paper. The range of topics and types and number of essays in the portfolio is to follow precisely the requirements of the rubric of the written examination paper (e.g. if the exam requires one general topic essay, one essay on a single author and one commentary, the portfolio is to follow this requirement). There should be evidence of reading across the period, texts or topics covered by the paper. Students in doubt as to whether a subject or combination of subjects is appropriate for a portfolio essay should discuss the matter with their supervisor(s) and Director of Studies.
To clarify: The student must present a total of six essays. Three essays are nominated for examination; these must follow the rubric prescribed for the paper. Three further essays are submitted, not for examination, and not necessarily following the rubric of the paper, but demonstrating that the student has studied an appropriate range of the topics prescribed for the paper.3. Supervision of Portfolio Essays
The essays submitted should be pieces written for supervision and marked by the candidate's supervisor(s). Any essay submitted after the supervision cannot be considered. Although the general approach may have been briefly discussed in advance with the supervisor(s) or in a seminar, the essays must be the student's own work. Supervisor(s)s' hand-written comments will be made on the hard copy of essays, but no mark or grade will be given. No additional teaching should be given beyond that given to other candidates sitting the equivalent examination; it is expected that the supervisor(s) and Director of Studies will deal with any specific questions which students may have in relation to the preparation of portfolios, whether the questions be concerned with format, style, or content. Students who are considering offering a portfolio should particularly note the word limit and restrictions of format set out in 4 below in order to ensure that their essays meet these requirements.
4. Submission of Portfolio Essays
The following requirements apply to the submission of portfolios: The candidate's name must be removed or obscured wherever it appears.
TWO copies of each essay must be submitted. One essay must be the original, which was marked by the candidate's supervisor(s) and which shows the comments s/he made. The second should be a photocopy of that marked essay. The candidate may NOT re-print essays and submit them without the supervisor(s)'s comments. The candidate is NOT permitted to remove (e.g. by crossing out) any of the original material of the submitted supervision essay (e.g. words, sentences, paragraphs, sections) to make it conform to the portfolio word limit. Any material crossed out will be counted towards the word limit. Each essay should be stapled individually and each set of six essays should be held together on treasury tags, which will ensure that pages cannot easily be lost. The purpose of submitting two copies is to allow for them to be sent to separate examiners, and copies of the same essay should therefore not be bound together. Each set of six essays should have a cover sheet attached to it, clearly displaying the candidate's examination number and the title and number of the paper, giving the titles of the three essays to be examined and marked. These sheets can be downloaded from this web page see top of page. Where, in accordance with the rubric for a paper, one essay takes the form of a commentary, a copy of the passage which is its subject must be attached to each copy of the essay. It is the responsibility of the Chair of Part IB Examiners to check for rubric infringements. In serious cases the candidate may be required to sit the corresponding written examination. The submission date for portfolios of essays is the first Friday of the full Easter Term (26 April 2013) immediately preceding Part IB examinations. Candidates must submit their portfolios with coversheet on each set, accompanied by a declaration form signed by both their supervisor(s) and their Director of Studies (see below), by no later than 16.00 on this date to the Faculty Office.5. Cover Sheet and Declaration Accompanying Portfolios
It is a requirement of the University that portfolios of essays should be submitted with the approval of the student's Director of Studies (i.e. with the Director of Studies' signature on the declaration form).
A student submitting a portfolio of essays is further required to submit with it a declaration that the portfolio is his/her own work. The statement should be accompanied by a signed declaration from the supervisor for the relevant paper that:
'To the best of my knowledge, (i) the above statement is correct and (ii) the student has completed a full course of written work and supervisions for this paper, of which the submitted work is a sample.'
Plagiarism (i.e. the use of someone else's essays, writings or thoughts without due acknowledgement and/or reference to the source) in any part of the portfolio will be regarded by the University as the use of unfair means and will be treated with the utmost seriousness. For more information please see Plagiarism information.
6. Late Submission
The Staff of the Faculty Office have no authority to accept portfolios submitted after the specified time. Late submissions may be accepted only if the Director of Studies has made an application before the deadline for submission, outlining the exceptional circumstances which make it necessary. 'Exceptional circumstances' means unforeseeable events of a serious nature, such as illness, personal injury or bereavement. A candidate whose portfolio of essays has been lost or stolen will be required to sit the written examination.
7. Rubric Infringements
The portfolio option requires candidates to follow strictly the examination rubric for the relevant paper. Where a candidate fails to do so, penalties will be applied, as follows:
- Where there is no essay for assessment for a required section of the paper, the essay with the lowest mark will be discounted (i.e. awarded a mark of 15). Where the replacement of an essay for assessment by one not to be assessed could rectify this infringement, the latter will be marked in place of the essay with the lowest mark amongst those that can be replaced, and a deduction of 10 marks will be applied to the replacement essay.
- Where a candidate fails to cover the required range of material for a given essay (e.g. covering only one work, where two are required), a deduction of 15 marks will be applied to that essay. Where the replacement of an essay for assessment by an essay not to be assessed could rectify this infringement, the latter will be marked, and a deduction of 5 marks will be applied to the replacement essay.
8. Oral Examination
Students may be called for viva voce examination in connection with their portfolios of essays, and will be notified beforehand of the date on which any such vivas will be held.
Presentation
9. Length
Essays for examination must be of no more than 2000 and no fewer than 1500 words each, inclusive of footnotes, if used, but exclusive of the list of works consulted. Quotations and data used for the purpose of exemplification are normally to be included in the overall word count. Students are required to write the word count at the end of each essay. Essays which are too long will be penalised by 1 mark for each 100 words in excess of the limit. Candidates are reminded that they may NOT remove (e.g. by crossing out) any of the original material of the submitted supervision essay (e.g. words, sentences, paragraphs, sections) to make it conform to the portfolio word limit. Any material crossed out will be counted towards the word limit.
10. Format
Each essay must be accompanied by a short list of the works which have been consulted in the writing of the essay. This list may be appended after the original submission of the essay, although the practice of adding such a list to normal supervision essays is recommended as good practice.
11. Copies of Portfolios:
Portfolios of essays will not be returned to students, who are in consequence urged to make copies for their own use before handing them in.
February 2013
