Academic Offences and Bad Academic Practices:

These include plagiarism, cheating, collusion, copying work and reuse of your own work, poor referencing or the passing off of somebody else's ideas as your own.  If you are in any doubt about what constitutes an academic offence or bad academic practice you must check with your tutor.  Further information and details of how DSU can support you, if needed, is available at:

How the work will be marked:

·         To achieve a ‘Distinction’ mark of 90 - 100%, the work must demonstrate an exceptional ability and insight, indicating the highest level of technical competence.  It must have the potential to influence the forefront of the subject, it may be of publishable quality and it must demonstrate relevant generic skills at the highest possible standard.  

·         To achieve a ‘Distinction’ mark of 80 - 89%, the work must demonstrate an outstanding ability and insight based on authoritative subject knowledge and a very high level of technical competence.  It must be considered to be close to the forefront of the subject, it may be close to publishable quality and it must demonstrate relevant generic skills at a very high level.  

·         To achieve a ‘Distinction’ mark of 70 - 79%, the work must demonstrate authoritative, current subject knowledge and a high level of technical competence.  It must be accurate and extensively supported by appropriate evidence, it may show some originality with clear evidence of capacity to reflect critically and deal with ambiguity in the data, and it must demonstrate relevant generic skills at a high level.  

·         To achieve a ‘Merit’ mark of 60 - 69%, the work must demonstrate a sound, current  subject knowledge it must contain no significant errors in the application of concepts or  appropriate techniques but it may contain some minor flaws.  It must be well developed and coherent, it may show some originality and clear evidence of capacity to reflect critically and it must demonstrate relevant generic skills at a good level.  

·         To achieve a ‘Pass’ mark of 50 - 59%, the work demonstrates satisfactory subject knowledge, with some evident weaknesses; possibly shown by conceptual gaps, or limited use of appropriate techniques.  The work is generally sound but tends toward the factual or derivative, with limited evidence of capacity to reflect critically.  The work must demonstrate relevant generic skills at a satisfactory level.  

·         A ‘Fail’ a mark of 40 - 49% indicates that the work demonstrates limited core subject knowledge and contains some important weaknesses; possibly shown by factual errors, conceptual gaps, or limited use of appropriate techniques.  The work lacks sound development; it provides little evidence of capacity to reflect critically and demonstrates a quality of the relevant generic skills that do not meet the requirements of the task.  

·         A ‘Fail’ a mark of <30 indicates that the work demonstrates inadequate subject knowledge.  It lacks coherence and evidence of capacity to reflect critically and demonstrates a quality of relevant generic skills that do not meet the requirements of the task.