Information

Formative comments made by your tutor

Your tutor will have given you some formative comments to help you improve upon this grade in your next essay. These can be hard to decode, as your tutor will generally try to be encouraging! In the activity on the following page, you are asked to try to identify what grade the comments refer to and to suggest what the student can do about raising their grade.

Look through the feedback comments on the essays you have written so far. Can you see a gradual development in your progress?
Can you understand exactly what your tutor meant in their advice to you on how to improve?
- If so, why not make a note of this advice and sticking it up on your wall behind your computer! Make sure you evaluate your work according to this advice before you hand I your next essay
- If not, then do make an appointment with your tutor to discuss your feedback, or make an appointment with one of the AWAS team

So how does the bullet point system work?

On the cover page of your essay there are boxes for you to complete to help you communicate with your marker and reflect on your progress.

As AWAS tutor, I often see that these boxes are either left blank, or there is very little thought put into the information given there. This is a wasted opportunity!

Many students say that they never really thought about what the boxes are for - so here we go!

There are three boxes

The bullet point system
Open	Hidden
Looking back	Use this box to pick up to three areas from your previous feedback that you would like to focus on as you write this current essay
Writing your essay	In this box you are asked to explain what you have done to address the feedback points you identifed in the first box. So what does this mean? It means - think about the advice you have been given on how to improve, or seek advice from the marker who gave you that feedback, from an AWAS tutor, or from the AWAS Online materials. Then act on it! And tell your marker what you have tried to do. For example: 'I have drawn up a plan to structure my essay [along these lines], and attempted to draw these points together in my conclusion' 'I have tried to provide a clear conlusion to each paragraph to show my reader where my argument is going' I have looked up the spelling of all the authors names, and checked the OSCOLA style guide
Notes to the marker for this current essay	This is the box where you communicate with your marker. Tell them what you want them to comment on. It's very likely to be connected to the answers from the previous boxes, because that's the point of the exercise, but the more explicit you can be, the more you will have thought about what you were doing, and why, when you wrote your essay. e.g. 'I would like to know whather the structure of my essay is clear, and makes sense to my reader' 'I would like to know whether my paragraphs are well developed, and each makes a point that clearly contributes to my argument' 'I would like to know if my referencing is completely accurate'

Do take the time to complete these boxes - they are there to encourage you to think about your development, and to help you get the feedback you want from your marker
If the feedback you receive doesn't address the points you identified in the last box, do make an appointment to discuss them with the person who marked your work. They will be glad to see you!

KEY POINT:

Don't forget to complete the cover-sheet on your assignments!
There is a chance here to direct your marker to comment on the features of your essay writing that you wish to develop