I received the feedback sheets for my honours presentation yesterday. I just wonder how two of the examiners could observe the same presentation and come to such diverse conclusions. Here’s a little of what they had to say.
On the matter of the presentation of a critical argument or rationale:
“Candidate does not appear to have fully absorbed some of the theoretical ideas he discussed.”
On the other hand:
“Demonstrated a sophisticated grasp of the theoretical perspectives on the thesis topic. In particular, the ???? and limitations of Foucaultian concepts. Strong justification of critical theory to thesis question.”
Then there was;
“[Supporting/substantiating material] not always clearly related to the argument” which was countered by “claims and assumptions made in the presentation were well supported by reference to concrete instances and cases, and the appropriate scholarly literature.”
I’ll take the feedback on board without making too much of either the negative or positive. For me it shows two things. First, there are no right or wrong answers, just different perspectives. Second, getting good grades in uni is a bit of a lottery. One person’s advice is another’s prohibition. Get over it, move on.
Oh goody, sharing time!
I recieved some contradictory remarks too, eg:
“the critical argument is sound and was deployed exceptionally well”
vs
“the candidate sometimes reverted to generalities which led the argument astray”
“the candidate demonstrated a mastery of the difficult and dense conceptual ideas of Hegel and Kant and supported her conjectures thoroughly by way of thorough and relevant substantiating evidence”
vs
“I would expect a lot more substantiating evidence”
“the candidate is to be commended on her fine, sophisticated, engaging and conceptually-challenging presentation…she has indicated a very solid grounding and extensive research in the subject..this is a very promising and original project”
vs
“whilst the candidate demonstrates a clear understanding of the conceptual material at hand,I have a feeling that she is not as far advanced in the study as she perhaps ought to be. This is simply my hunch”
You’re right; I should build a bridge and all that 😛
I don’t remember exactly what was written on my honours thesis mark sheets, but I do know that both of my examiners used a word I’d never heard before to describe my writing (and I can’t for the life of me remember what it is, right now), which I found quite strange. Another thing was that I later found out that one of my examiners was a lecturer who’d failed me twice for essays at undergraduate level (admittedly, it was during my “I hate my Arts degree” phase). Yet another thing was that they both favoured my final chapter as the strongest of the three. It was written in the two days before the paper was due – I spent about three months on my first, a month on my second, and two days on the third. What gives?
Marks don’t mean all that much. It’s nice to get first class honours and all… but as I learnt, that’s not the be all and end all. I got first class and still missed out on a scholarship the first time round. Also, I’m not sure what Curtin is like compared to UWA at honours level, but it seems like getting a really, REALLY good mark for your thesis is quite easy – which makes up for not-so-good marks earlier on in the honours year 🙂
I must say that’s comforting to hear. I’m hoping to get a first class but it’s going to come down to how well I do in my thesis. I’ve written 1299 words so far. Flying!