It is widely acknowledged in research that common criteria and aligned standards do not result in consistent assessment of such a complex performance as the final undergraduate thesis. Assessment is determined by examiners' understanding of rubrics and their views on thesis quality. There is still a gap in the research literature about how…

Writing, supervision and evaluation of students' dissertations has received a fair share of attention in academic literature, with a focus on problems of marking, information processing mechanisms, worldviews and more. In most texts, problems of inconsistency, transparency and fairness are identified, leading to frustration among supervisors,…

Students are generally required to demonstrate diverse skills when writing their bachelor thesis. Accordingly, examiners are expected to consider all these skills when assessing the thesis, regularly with one overall grade. In this study, we examine which criteria of a rubric contribute most to the overall assessment. The study is performed…

This case study examines postgraduate students' practices, sources of knowledge, and difficulties and challenges in regard to providing genre-based peer feedback on their peers' academic writing at a research-oriented university in Macau. The analysis of multiple sources of data including the students' written feedback on their peers' thesis…

Dissertations are positioned as the capstone of an undergraduate degree, bringing together what students have previously learned from their programmes through a piece of independent research. However, there is limited research into the ways in which engaging in a dissertation has an impact on students' understandings of disciplinary knowledge. In…

In university plagiarism policies, and in the research into plagiarism, one form of collusion remains virtually unacknowledged: substantive editing performed by editors. While almost all Australian universities allow postgraduate students to have their thesis professionally edited, "substantive" editing is prohibited. This article…

A rubric for research theses was developed, based on the manual of the American Psychological Association, to be used as an assessment tool for teachers and students. The aim was to make students aware of what is expected, get familiar with criteria, and interpret teacher and peer feedback. In two studies, it was examined whether students use and…

In this article we explore how examiners assess a thesis that includes published work. An online survey was used to gather data on approaches to assessing publication-based theses (PBTs). The respondents were 62 supervisors who had experience examining PBTs across a range of disciplines at a research-intensive university in New Zealand. Nearly…

Within a transnational educational programme, students residing in the Czech Republic obtain baccalaureate degrees from an accredited American college. The college has a distinctive approach towards learning, co-creation of knowledge and the use of mentors. Part of the degree assessment is an undergraduate dissertation, which serves as a capstone…

Using a structured group discussion and questionnaire, the criteria used by faculty at a British university when grading undergraduate dissertations was investigated. Common ground and differences in criteria were identified. Issues included the tension between individual teacher freedom and institutional demands, and staff development…

Using documented materials, interviews, a questionnaire, and content analysis, Investigated the criteria used by faculty at a British university when grading undergraduate dissertations. Findings indicated considerable ambiguity regarding use, meaning, and application of criteria. (EV)

This article reports on findings from a research project that investigated the experiences and perceptions of final-year social science undergraduates enrolled on a dissertation module in a post-1992 UK university. The dissertation was designed to provide students with the opportunity to function autonomously and determine the content and focus of…