General grading guidelines
The students have to submit one review paper and one term paper, both of 4-5 pages (2300 characters per page, excluding spaces). Front page and list of references come in addition. The topics of both papers should be formulated after the initial consultation meeting between the student and the teacher. The review paper is basically a critical assessment of the literature on the reading list. The term paper is an independent work on a topic related to the themes treated in the literature on the reading list. Work on the papers will take place throughout the entire semester. Each paper counts for 50 % of the final grade. The review paper and the term paper have to be uploaded in Inspera within the given deadline.
The review paper is based on the reading list, encompassing ca. 1000 pages. It should include at least some sources in the original languages (Chinese, Japanese or Korean).
The term and review papers will be evaluated and graded, A (best) to F (fail), based on the following criteria (this is not a graded list, all issues will be considered on a holistic basis):
- Term paper: Is there a clearly defined topic, with clearly formulated research question(s)?
- Term paper: Is the scope of topic and focus realistic considering the required length of the paper?
- Term paper: Is the chosen methodology and choice of sources compatible with the topic and research question(s)?
- Term paper: Does the paper make the full use of the literature on the reading list?
- Term paper: Does the paper attempt to answer the research question(s) asked?
- Term and review papers: To which extent does the paper demonstrate theoretical and methodological awareness?
- Term and review papers: To which extent does the paper attempt independent analysis?
- Term and review papers: Is there a clear structure in the text that makes it easy to follow the argumentation?
- Term and review papers: Are there references in-text (with page number reference when needed, following one given reference style in a consistent way)?
- Term and review papers: Is the language of the text comprehensible (it does not need to be in perfect English or a Scandinavian language, but grades will be negatively influenced by incomprehensible parts of text)?
- Review paper: does the paper approach the reviewed literature in critical and sufficiently analytical way?
- Review paper: does the paper attempt to identify the historical, socio-political and cultural backgrounds for the idiosyncrasies of the authors on the literature list?