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I am currently marking thirty undergraduate essays and I am halfway through. I have already had to fail two people (one for sustained and extensive plagarism and the other for handing in a half finished essay) and I have only allocated one first so far. I have found some of their comments shocking - such vast generalisations, some deeply problematic classist language - plus the use of gendered language. I don't say this to be snotty and berate undergraduates at all in the pretense that my work is sooo much better - I just find it shocking and depressing. I had to explain in my notes to one student that the British Empire wasn't "glorious". It is taking over an hour per an essay because I don't feel like I can allow problematic comments and theoretically unaware slip-ups go unchecked. And then I worry about being too harsh and a pedant. But some of these comments demand a response.

I also feel angry that earlier markers haven't pointed out that they can't used language like this.

Does anybody else feel this way? :-(

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I usually find it interesting to do actually, though time consuming. It's always a mish-mash of sloppy badly researched ones, interesting thoughtful ones, sometimes very original or personal in writing style. The odd one makes me laugh out loud, as they often have a great turn of phrase, intentional or not. Usually they range from borderline fail to the occasional first, with most somewhere in between. As the students are from such different backgrounds I expect a difference in writing ability, as we get lots whose first language isn't English and a number of dyslexic ones, plus their first year undergrad tutors have done different things with them so their experience of academic writing conventions is variable, to put it mildly.

Just do what you can with them within the limitations imposed by either their academic experience to date, or their own cultural backgrounds. I just try to be professional and do whatever the uni procedures require for academic moderation etc. Unless they're your responsibility from first year to graduation, there's a limit to what you can do in the time you have with them, so you just have to do your best and also try to remember what you were like at that stage of your academic career.

When I first started marking I was taking an hour per essay and I felt the same as you. I know which uni you are at and which course you are marking, as we are both in the same department, although I actually hang out more in the English Dept. But last year I marked second year essays in our dept and was amazed at the low standard of work, it was as if they had learnt nothing in their first year. I had to fail a few, some because it did not even make sense. And yes there are students whose first language isn't English but it isn't usually them who are writing badly.
Last semester I was marking first year English students and the standard of writing was much better, which I suppose you would expect from English Lit students. But their referencing, use of sources (one had taken everything from just one website) and structure was pretty bad. Although they were first years and it would have been their first essay I still pulled them up heavily on it. They are supposed to have done a course on how to write essays but it appeared that most of them hadn't gone.
Yes, earlier markers, should have flagged things up, but either they didn't or the student took no notice. I'd carry on with what you are doing, be harsh, be a pedant and fail those that don't deserve to pass, it's the only way they will learn.

I've had some similar experiences, particularly regarding the sweeping generalisations and inappropriate remarks. Two recent ones which particularly stuck in my mind are "because the children come from single parent households they won't have been taught the right values which the rest of society holds" and "Because Bolivia is a small country it will not have a rich culture" (the student had inexplicably added a reference to the Lonely Planet website after that gem). I suppose I find remarks like those really strange as I count myself among a generation of children schooled to be politically correct (for want of a better phrase) and by extent, I assumed these younger students would be even more aware of the inappropriateness of racist/sexist etc remarks.

I do enjoy marking and as Ruby says, occasionally a really good essay will pop up which finds a new angle on an argument or has used an imaginative source which no one else has found. Our essays are submitted anonymously and I love opening them up after marking and seeing whether the gobby students were as good at writing as they are at speaking, and which of the quiet ones have been hiding their talents all term. The generally very dire standard of English language usage gets a bit wearing after a while but as the module leader reminded me, being a PhD student is - rightly or wrongly - about striving for perfection and it is unfair to expect undergraduates to have either the ability or desire to meet such high standards as the ones we apply to our own work.

I like that too Heifer, it's really interesting. I also love seeing whatever they've made of my course topic and where it's taken them. The best compliment is when they actually want to carry on with it for their final year dissertation! :-)

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Thanks for you comments people! PamW - I've just resigned myself to the idea that our institution's undergraduates aren't as good as all the hype would say they are (or the university would like to think!).







Yes - you make a good point Heifer - I had always thought that because at GCSE and A Level/first year undergrad I was taught to remove politically problematic/ offensive language and terms from my writing that others would have done too. I guess it is a shock when you spend time with left wing friends and academics - and then mark some pretty conservative and ill thought out work!

That aside, there has been one essay that was fantastic and that kept me alive at 1am!

Yeah, I do feel a bit of depression after a while with marking, but I also feel some excitement when I first get their essays - I want kknow how well they've done. I get p'd off if things don't go in with them - I think, well do any of them actually listen!!! But on the whole they're ok. Mine are fashion students doing contextual studies so writing essays is quite an achievement for them not their usual thing.

I did have on joker in the last lot who I've given zero for plagiarising. What really p'd me off is that he didn't even make an effort to disgise it and seemed oblivious to the difference between his own stumbling prose and that of a professional academic writer. I defo would not spend an hour on each one though. There is only so much they can take in in one lot of feedback anyway.