English Assessment 2

Student guidelines

Purpose of the assessment at the ESA stage

The aims of the assessment are to assess your progress at the ESA stage, to give you and your department/
division some feedback on your academic writing skills, and, where appropriate, to discuss the result with you
and suggest further courses. In assessing your writing, we look at:

the way you organise and order information; this refers to writing skills such as appropriate paragraph
structure and sentence linkage.
whether you have responded clearly to the question.

whether you have an appropriate range of vocabulary.

the extent to which language/grammar errors affect meaning.

whether the style is appropriately formal and academic .

It is especially important that you read and understand the following:

This is not a pass or fail test; it is a progress check. We will report your progress since the EA1 to
you and your department/division. We will include a statement about whether we judge your written
English skills to have reached a satisfactory standard at this stage of your PhD. This report will form
part of the Early Stage Assessment carried out by your department/division.

The assessment does not focus on the accuracy of the scientific/technical content of your answers; it
focuses on your ability to communicate that content. Your supervisor will not see the assessment
unless there is evidence of plagiarism.
The scientific content of your writing in the assessment should be appropriate for a Masters student
in the field.

Assessment format
The total time for this assessment is approximately 3 hours (there will be a 10-minute break between parts 1
and 2). You must complete both parts of the assessment. You will be able to use a paper dictionary ONLY,
which we will provide. You will not be able to use electronic/ online dictionaries or access any material
online.

Part 1: 1 hour; handwritten.

The first set of tasks focuses on grammar and language issues.
The second task is a short response (minimum 250 words) to a general science question. You will be able
to choose from FIVE possible questions.

Part 2: 2 hours; two tasks, written on a PC.

The first task consists of a short explanation of a technical term in your field (minimum 150 words).

The second task responds to a title about your research field or topic (minimum 500 words).
English Assessment 2 Student guidelines

Some writing tips

Dont confuse the writing in Part 2 with your ESA report; this is a piece of writing about your research
field, it is NOT a description or report of your own research. We do not expect to see we performed or
recycled sentences from your ESA report.
Get to the main focus of your answer quickly; if you write a lengthy introduction, you will not have time
to complete the task effectively.
Read the instructions carefully; they are very specific and designed to help you understand what to write.
Allow plenty of time to plan and proofread your writing.
If your answers are significantly shorter than the minimum number of words, there will be an automatic
loss of marks.

Important note on plagiarism

The writing in the essay and definition should be new text, in your own words, written at the time of the
assessment. Do not reproduce text from any other source, including your own previous writing, as it will be
detected using plagiarism software.

Students have sometimes reproduced a general introductory piece which they have used in their previous
writing but which we judge doesnt answer the question, or included information which they have written
before but which is not necessary to answer the question. As you see above, one of the criteria which is
important in this assessment is our judgement of whether the writing directly answers the question set in
the essay title.

Assessment results
Results are normally reported 2-3 weeks after the assessment date. The result will be sent to you first, by
email, and then to your department/division.