Expectations check up

A very important source of official expectations about you is the set of criteria for assessing your written work. If you are a postgraduate or research student, do you know what these criteria are? If not, look them up in your student handbook or on your institution’s website. These criteria may relate to the assessment of assignments, an examination, and a dissertation or thesis. So they are worth getting familiar with and keeping firmly in mind when working towards assessment. If you are starting out as an academic, how aware you of the criteria to be used for assessing your writing for publication or proposal for research funding?

How clear are you whether the assessment criteria imply developing your critical frame of mind by following the logic of enquiry as it applies to the field of management?

Try the following check-up exercise. First, read through carefully the criteria that will be used to assess your writing. Then ask yourself these questions. In each case, write a brief note for yourself indicating what evidence (if any) you can see that the criteria provide for your answer. Remember that the criteria may not explicitly relate to each question, but they may still implicitly indicate an answer.

It is likely that in order to meet some or all of the assessment criteria fully, you must demonstrate that you have acquired a critical frame of mind and have followed the logic of enquiry in your academic writing.