School of Media, Arts and Humanities - for students and staff

Assessment, feedback and submissions

 Assessment and submissions

You may find answers to some frequently asked questions here: FAQs

A3 Finalist Resit Assessment Instructions

Art History

American Studies

Creative and Critical Practise

Department of Language Studies

English Language and Linguistics

English Literature

Film Studies

History

Liberal Arts

Media+

Music

Philosophy

A3 Progression Resit Assessment Instructions

Progression resit instructions will be released by 13:00 on Monday, 8th July 2024

Handing in work

Your Sussex Direct webpages will give all assessment details, including whether the assessment is to be submitted via e-submission through Canvas.

For assignments that need to be submitted online, see Student Hub guidance on:

What to do if I submitted the wrong submission/ am unable to submit/ have submitted late?

Deadlines for assessed coursework are absolute.

It's important you make every effort to hand your work in on time.

Find out about the penalties for submitting work late.

Find out about the options you have if you upload the wrong document or have not been able to submit due to technical issues - e-submission error process

Exceptional Circumstances

If there are good reasons why you cannot submit your work on time

If you believe you have a good reason why you cannot hand in your work, or you will need to hand it in late, you can make an exceptional circumstances claim.

Making your claim early may also speed up an assessment of entitlement to additional support, should your circumstances indicate ongoing health or support issues.

What is included in the essay word count?

The maximum length for each assessment is made clear. The limits as stated include quotations in the text, but do not include the bibliography, footnotes/endnotes, appendices, abstracts, maps, illustrations, transcriptions of linguistic data, or tables and their captions.

If you exceed the word limit

Examiners will read up to 10% above the word count (e.g. 1,100 words for a 1,000-word essay).

Examiners can use their judgment and mark downward for excessive length if:

  • your essay is overlong because it is poorly written or conceived
  • they feel the extra length gives you an unfair advantage over students who kept to the prescribed length.

Additional words over the 10% allowance will not be read.

Avoiding academic misconduct

Plagiarism, collusion, and cheating in exams are all forms of academic misconduct, which the University takes very seriously.

Every year, some students commit academic misconduct unintentionally because they were not careful in their use of sources or did not understand the definitions of plagiarism. Whether or not it is intentional, the consequences for committing academic misconduct can be severe, so it is important you familiarise yourself with what it is and how to avoid it.

See Skills Hub for advice on writing well, including definitions of academic misconduct and tips on how to avoid it.

Do I need to pass every module to progress to the next year?

Yes. You need to achieve 120 credits to progress to the next year, and it’s only possible to do that if you pass all of your modules.

If things don’t go as planned and you end up failing one or more modules you will be given a second chance.

You’ll be set resits in the summer vacation, but this is something you really want to avoid because:

  • resits take place in August, so they may limit your travelling plans or paid work, and
  • resits are capped at a mark of 40%.

If you are in your second year or beyond, a capped mark may negatively affect your degree classification.

More information about resitting an assessment.

How is work marked?

So that our marking processes are transparent, the School of Media, Arts and Humanities uses marking criteria for marking.

Find information about marking criteria used for undergraduate and postgraduate.