The LSE Academic Code, developed in partnership with LSE Students’ Union, sets out what we do to deliver a consistent student experience across the School and clarifies what students can expect from their LSE education.

LSE is committed to putting students first, and the Academic Code helps us deliver on our commitments to enhancing student experiences. The Academic Code includes expectations around assessment and feedback and we encourage you to read it here: https://info.lse.ac.uk/current-students/lse-academic-code

Types of Assessments: we use a range of assessments, including in-person exams, take home exams, essays and dissertations. Each has its own merits and our programmes will employ a variety of assessment types to assess you.  

Formative Assessment: these are assessments set within your class by the course convenor or class teacher. Formative marks do not count towards your final degree classification, but are a compulsory part of your learning and all students are expected to complete them. Completing formative assessments and receiving feedback is designed to prepare you for the summative assessments.

Summative Assessment: these are assessments that count towards your degree classification, and must be completed. Individual courses may be assessed by one piece of summative assessment, or by a combination of different types of assessment.

Take Home Exam Guidance
A take-home exam is an extended-time, open-note, open-book examination executed under conditions that you control. This combination of more time and greater control over external conditions is designed to enable students to relax, be comfortable, think clearly, consult their written resources, and produce well-considered, well-crafted answers to the set questions.

Take-home exams in the Department of Anthropology are usually of 8 hours’ duration.

Take-home exams papers have seven questions and students must answer two of them. The whole exam script should be 3000-4000 words.

Dissertations
All our BSc and BA programme are required to complete a 9,000 word dissertation, and MSc programmes are required to write a 10,000 word dissertation. 

The dissertation is an integral part of the your programme. It is an opportunity to study in depth a topic of special interest to you and to apply the knowledge and skills that you have gained during your programme. You will receive dedicated workshops during the academic year focused on your dissertation.

MSc Disseration Supervision
Dissertation supervision will only take place until the end of Spring Term, so you should plan your work accordingly. Disseration supervisors will be unavailable to review drafts or provide further office hours once Spring Term has ended.

You will also find information about your assessments and their deadlines on the individual course Moodle pages. 

The requirements of an assessment essay will vary depending on what course you are taking and your year of study. The word-length requirement for assessment essays increases with the level of the course. For Undergraduate students, in the first year, students are required to write two essays of up to 2,500 words for AN100. In the second year, students must write up to 3,000 words for all their anthropology assessment essays. In the third year, students will write two essays of up to 3,500 words if they are taking AN301; all other third-year assessment essays will be up to 3,000 words. MSc students must write up to 4,000 words for their anthropology assessment essays. Full details of the assessment requirements for each course can be found in the course guides in the LSE Calendar: www.lse.ac.uk/resources/calendar/.

The bibliography is not included in the word limit, but foot/endnotes and appendices are included, even when they are used to reference.

Marks are deducted if an essay exceeds the allowable word limit. Essays over the specified upper word limit will receive a penalty of 5 marks. This will apply to all assessment essays, AN298 ethnographic projects, AN397 dissertations/special essays, position pieces, take-home exams and AN497, AN498 and AN499 dissertations.

The essays must be scholarly pieces of work, properly presented, carefully checked and proof-read and with adequate references and bibliography – preferably along the lines used by a reputable source, such as the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.

Essays must be your own unaided work. Any quotation from the published or unpublished works of other authors must be properly acknowledged.

The evolving capabilities of Generative Artificial Intelligence tools present some exciting opportunities as well as challenges for scholarly research. Used well, such tools can help facilitate certain aspects of the research process. However, they can also stifle creativity, interfere with the learning process, impede critical thinking and expose students to allegations of academic misconduct. The Anthropology Department is committed to providing students with the skills needed to operate effectively in an AI-enabled world, while exercising sound academic judgement and upholding rigorous standards for ethical scholarly practice. To this end, the Department endorses a “limited use” policy for students, unless otherwise specified by individual course leaders.

Using generative AI at LSE: guidance for the Department of Anthropology and for students registered in any AN course

Generative AI tools can analyse data, create writing, computer code, and / or images using minimal human prompting. Over the last year, generative AI tools have proliferated and are now embedded in everyday software and services.

As a student in the Department of Anthropology – or taking an Anthropology course – it’s important that you understand how you can use generative AI in your assessments, so that you can do your best in your studies.

As a pedagogically diverse School with different disciplines, there is no one approach to the use of generative AI across LSE. Instead, the School has developed central guidance that allows different approaches to be taken by different academic departments and course convenors. You should familiarise yourself with the School's guidance, which is available here. Within the School's guidance, there are three positions to know about:

• Position 1: No authorised use of generative AI in assessment.
• Position 2: Limited authorised use of generative AI in assessment
• Position 3: Full authorised use of generative AI in assessment.

In Anthropology we follow

• Position 2: Limited authorised use of generative AI in assessment

Position 2

This means that generative AI tools can be used in specific ways for assessments in the Department of Anthropology.

You will need to carefully read through the permitted use of generative AI tools in the Department of Anthropology. Other courses you are taking may have different policies on generative AI usage: this applies only to courses taken in the Department of Anthropology.

The ways in which the use of generative AI tools are permitted, as well as where you cannot use them in the Department of Anthropology, are outlined below:

• When preparing for Anthropology assignments, you may use generative AI tools for assisting with gathering information from across sources and assimilating it for your understanding. Generative AI tools may be used to assist with searches for relevant literature, to assist in your understanding of terms or concepts, and to direct further research.
• When writing the text for Anthropology coursework assignments (including formative work, summative coursework essays, and take-home assessments), the only generative AI tools allowed are those tools that assist with grammar and spell-checking.
• It is not permitted to use text produced by any generative AI system in any formative or summative assessment submission. In other words, all work submitted in Anthropology (AN courses) must be written solely by the student. With the exception of spelling and grammar, generative AI tools should not be used to alter or improve the content of draft texts or argumentation.
• You cannot use any generative AI tools for in-person Anthropology exams taken in an exam hall.
• The product of a generative AI search cannot be quoted or relied on in any formative or summative work as a source of supporting statements and arguments made in the assessment.

 Although the Anthropology Department allows limited use of generative AI, as detailed above, when relying on the result of such tools, students must exercise care and apply independent scholarly judgment. AI-generated content tends to be generic and can often contain errors or be incomplete or biased in different ways. Students should also be aware that the use of generative AI at the research and planning stage can limit creative and critical thinking and impede the development of original ideas. It can also detrimentally interfere with the Department’s requirement that students extensively engage with course readings and other materials (including lectures and seminar discussions), as indicated in the department’s grade criteria.

If you have any questions about the use of generative AI tools for coursework, please speak with your course teacher.

In all submissions where you can use generative AI other than for grammar or spelling, you must cite its usage.  Failing to cite the use of generative AI and using generative AI for any academic work where its use is not permitted is a form of academic misconduct.

Generative AI at LSE: resources and tools

As a student at LSE, you have access to Microsoft’s generative AI tool, Copilot, for free. Please ensure you understand how to use Copilot effectively and responsibly in your studies, using our guidance.

To help you further develop your understanding, you can attend a workshop run by the Digital Skills Lab on maximising the benefits and mitigating the risks of Copilot and there is also a Moodle course on developing your AI literacy.

The Copilot workshop and AI literacy Moodle course can also help prepare you for the world of work, by ensuring you have the generative AI skills you’ll need to support your future career aspirations. 

You are required to submit your assessment essays through the relevant submission area on the course Moodle page. We do not ask for you to submit hard copies of your essays. The file must be saved as a Microsoft Word or PDF document and named as follows:CandidateNumber-CourseCode-Term (e.g. AT or WT). Here are two examples:

12345-AN100-AT.docx
54321-AN405-WT.pdf

You must not include your LSE ID number or your name anywhere in the file name or submission document.

Coversheet
The front page of your summative essay must be a completed Summative Assessment Coversheet, which can be found on the relevant course Moodle pages.

Font Size
Please use a font-size of 11 or 12pt.

Turnitin is a service that matches text from student work against a database of previous assessments, websites and published work. Turnitin is not able to detect plagiarism, as there are many legitimate reasons why text from an assessment may match other work, and Turnitin cannot identify the reason for the match. Nonetheless, by drawing the attention of students and teaching staff to matches, Turnitin can contribute to improving students' standard of academic writing.  

In the Department of Anthropology, we make the Turnitin reports available to students for all their formative work and summative assessments.  Reviewing the Turnitin report may help the student to check they have marked quotes accurately and provided citations.  The report can also indicate areas of an essay where there has been only minimal paraphrasing of a source text, and this might indicate the student has not been careful about using their own words to express ideas or make arguments. 

If a student submits well ahead of their deadline, they may use the Turnitin report to revise and improve their submission.  It remains a student's responsibility to submit by the deadline.  Reviewing a Turnitin report is not an excuse for late submission. 

Before using Turnitin, all students taking Anthropology courses must ensure they have read the Department's Turnitin Policy below. 

The Department of Anthropology Departmental Turnitin Statement and Student Agreement  

The following statement sets out how Turnitin is to be used within the Department of Anthropology and the terms by which students agree to use Turnitin. 

Students agree to ensure they have read and understood: 

• Sections 1-6 of the School's Policy on the Use of Turnitin
• the School’s Regulations on Assessment Offences
• and the Department of Anthropology local guidance relating to academic writing, including referencing, citation and paraphrasing, available in our UG and MSc student handbooks and The How to Write Like an Anthropologist section of the Department's webpages

The Department of Anthropology agrees to use Turnitin as a student academic writing development tool by providing students access to their Turnitin similarity report and similarity score (%) for all formative work and all summative coursework assessments at UG and MSc levels. 

The Department of Anthropology believes that good academic writing is a crucial skill that students need to develop during their studies.  There are no short cuts to achieving this, and students must take a comprehensive approach to improving their writing, including participating in departmental workshops and seminars on writing skills and effective note taking, learning from the guidance and feedback provided on formative and summative work, and reflecting on the academic writing and referencing styles and techniques that students encounter in their reading. 

The Department of Anthropology continues to believe that the above methods remain the most important means by which students will improve their academic writing. Nonetheless, the Department accepts that students learn in diverse ways and, for some students, Turnitin has the potential to act as an additional development tool by drawing their attention to places in their writing where there may be weaknesses in paraphrasing, the accurate marking of quotations and/or acknowledgement of sources.  Turnitin also offers students the potential to check and revise their work prior to final submission, which offers additional developmental benefits. 

Therefore, to ensure that none of our students is disadvantaged and to maximise the learning resources available to all our students, the Department of Anthropology has decided to give access to the Turnitin reports for all formative work and summative coursework assessments at undergraduate and MSc levels.  

Despite making Turnitin available to our students, the Department of Anthropology is aware of significant limitations in the accuracy and reliability of Turnitin’s text-matching functionality.  For example, Turnitin reports may identify matches even when quotations have been properly marked and correct citations provided. Conversely, Turnitin reports may fail to identify problematic areas either because the source text is not in Turnitin’s repository or because of technical limitations in the way Turnitin matches text.   

Given these limitations, students must never use Turnitin reports or similarity scores as the sole standard by which to judge whether their work meets the requirements for good academic practice. In addition, the Department of Anthropology expects students to make full use of the support and training provided by LSE LIFE to equip themselves with the knowledge necessary to understand and interpret their Turnitin reports properly. LSE LIFE provides a three-tier approach to training (Online/self-access materials, Workshops and One-to-one support). 

All Anthropology students making use of their Turnitin reports are expected at a minimum to have completed LSE LIFE’s Academic Integrity module. This module can be found in both LSE LIFE’s Prepare to learn at LSE (undergraduates) and Prepare to learn at LSE (postgraduates) Moodle courses.  

If students still have questions about how to interpret their Turnitin report or how they can improve their writing in response to their Turnitin report, they should contact lselife@lse.ac.uk for details on further training in the use of Turnitin.  

In addition to the core Turnitin support offered by LSE Life, the Department of Anthropology offers some supplementary advice on academic writing in Anthropology through our student handbooks, seminars, mentor meetings and Moodle pages. 

Students agree to use Turnitin on the basis prescribed by the Department in this statement. 

Students should be aware that where Turnitin is used within the Department, it is applied universally (i.e. to all submissions within a specific assessment or not at all - blanket use).  

Students need to be aware that academic judgement is the first and most important indicator of academic misconduct and that either a high or low percentage Turnitin similarity score (%) can be equally investigated. Therefore, there is no similarity score (%) threshold (whether low or high) within the Department that excludes them from an initial investigation. 

In the Department of Anthropology, students’ formative work is not added to the Turnitin repository, as students are allowed to draw freely on their own formative work in their summative assessments. The final versions of summative work submitted to the Department will be added to the Turnitin repository, in line with the terms of the Conditions of Registration: 

“Copies of all papers submitted to the software will be retained as source documents in the iParadigms reference database (held in the US) solely for the purpose of text matching against future submissions. Use of the Turnitin UK service shall be subject to such Terms and Conditions of Use as may be agreed between iParadigms and LSE from time to time and posted on the Turnitin UK website.” 

Queries about the Anthropology Department’s policies on Turnitin, academic misconduct or plagiarism should be addressed in the first instance to your departmental administrators, who can be contacted at anthro.admin@lse.ac.uk.  

Updated September 2024  

General grade criteria

The following scheme for grading of marks applies to summative assessments including: summative course work, research essays, take-home assessments and unseen exams. Attributes listed for each class are assumed to include the best attributes from the class below. Referencing for all work, with the exception of exams taken in an exam hall, must include page numbers.  

Anthropology undergraduate general grade criteria. 

Anthropology postgraduate general grade criteria.

Marked essays and feedback are normally returned via Moodle. For assessments submitted on courses taken in the Autumn Term and Winter Term, feedback will be given within five term weeks of the date of submission.

For dissertations, feedback will be given within four term weeks of the release of marks. For summer exams, feedback will be given within four weeks of the beginning of the following Autumn Term. The format of the feedback will vary from one teacher to another.

Marks are deducted if you submit your assignment late without an extension agreement. If you submit a piece of work after the deadline (or your extended deadline if applicable), you will be penalised 5 marks per day (or part thereof).

Not submitting summative course could eventually result in you being given a mark of 0 for that component of the course, but you still need to make a serious attempt at the component in order to avoid being given a 0 (Incomplete) for the entire course and prevented from graduating.

All this indicates the importance of completing and submitting summative essays on time. It may be better to hand in an essay which is not entirely satisfactory by the due date than to hand it in late.

Extensions are granted only in exceptional circumstances where need for extra time is backed by supporting evidence (for extensions on grounds of disability / dyslexia / neurodiversity see below).

If you believe you have a valid reason for requesting extra time (e.g., illness, bereavement), you may seek a formal extension by submitting the Anthropology Department's Online Extension Request Form, which can be found on every Moodle course page in the Assessment Information section. Please do not use the School's pdf extension request form for Anthropology assessments.

You must submit the online form before the set deadline/submission date.

On the form you will asked to:

• explain the reasons why you cannot submit by the due date and time
• specify the period (with dates) for which work was interrupted
• include supporting evidence (e.g., a medical certificate, death certificate). Please refer to the School's Standards of Evidence document before submitting your supporting evidence.

If you cannot provide the evidence electronically and/or immediately (e.g., if you need to request a medical certificate from a doctor), an extension can normally be agreed on condition that evidence be submitted at a later date.

Any evidence submitted at a later date should be emailed to: anthro.admin@lse.ac.uk.

You should be aware that the staff in the Anthropology Department office and the Chair of Examiners may not be able to respond to extension enquiries immediately. In order to avoid undue anxiety, if you are aware that you will not be ble to meet you deadline, it is in your best interest to submit your extension request well in advance of the deadline.

Any extension granted will be confirmed in an email to you. Each case will be determined on its merits. The following is offered as a guide:

• Insufficient justification for missing a deadline will include minor sickness, problems with computers or printers, conflicting multiple coursework deadlines, having to attend a wedding, not being able to obtain a certain book in the library, etc.
• Sufficient justification should be accompanied by supporting documentation, most often a medical note from your doctor to verify an illness, or evidence that you have suffered an unforeseen major life event (accident, bereavement, etc.)

Disability/Dyslexia/Neurodiversity: Extensions on grounds of disability / dyslexia / neurodiversity will be granted only to students who have received "My Adjustments" (MAs) through the Student Wellbeing Service. If you need an extension on these grounds, you must still submit an extension request form and refer to your My Adjusments in the request.

All work submitted as part of the requirements for any course must be expressed in your own words and incorporate your own ideas and judgements. Plagiarism – that is, the presentation of another person’s thoughts or words as if they were your own – must be avoided.

The department takes the offence of plagiarism very seriously and has a highly rigorous approach to screening work. Plagiarism is cheating, and you will be severely penalised if instances of plagiarism are found in your work. In 2017-18, 9 students were penalised for plagiarism within the Department of Anthropology. If you are found to have committed plagiarism, this could result in a failing mark for a course or exclusion from the LSE. 

All your electronically submitted summative assessments are checked using anti-plagiarism technology called Turnitin. Please also be aware that your lecturers and teachers – the people who comment on and mark your work – are very familiar with the literature in their field and are easily able to identify work that has been plagiarised.

Developing the skills to avoid plagiarism

The first step to avoiding plagiarism is to understand what plagiarism is. To avoid plagiarism, you must ensure that any phrases, sentences and ideas that you use from any form of text – an article, a book, a speech, an internet contribution or article – must be fully acknowledged and cited. Where you use the actual words of a given author they must be placed in inverted commas and a full citation given in brackets afterwards. If you are unsure about the academic referencing conventions used by the School you should seek guidance from your Academic Mentor, LSE LIFE or the Library as soon as possible.

Individuals sometimes make the mistake of assuming that work found on the internet is not subject to the same rules of citation and acknowledgement as articles and books. This is not true. 

Plagiarism includes Self-Plagiarism

Plagiarism includes not only unattributed or inappropriately referenced use of another author’s text but also the re-use of your own work from previous summative essays and dissertations. 

The work presented for assessment in your essays, exams, and dissertation must not duplicate or overlap significantly with work you have presented elsewhere for assessment.

It is acceptable, however, to build on and develop ideas from earlier work, and to use your knowledge of anthropological texts to illustrate different arguments. Students are also permitted to draw freely on their own formative work when writing summative assessments for Anthropology courses.

Take time to understand the LSE rules and regulations. If you are found guilty of plagiarism, ignorance of these rules is not a valid defence.

Plagiarism awareness training

All first-year students will be offered a session in the Autumn Term on note taking, writing and plagiarism as part of their AN100 course. 

All MSc students will be offered a session in the Autumn Term on note taking, writing and plagiarism as part of their AN499/AN498/AN497 course.

In addition, in the Autumn Term, all first-year and MSc students will be given one Turnitin report on a piece of formative work. This will allow students to see how Turnitin identifies plagiarised or quoted text and to understand the process through which all your electronically-submitted summative assessments will be screened. If you have any questions about this process, please ask the Administrative team or your Academic Mentor. 

All students can also book a time to see their Academic Mentor to discuss any questions you may have on plagiarism and seek guidance or further clarification. 

Note that editorial help is not plagiarism. To understand what acceptable editorial help is, read the LSE Statement on editorial help for students' written work www.lse.ac.uk/resources/calendar/academicRegulations/statementOnEditorialHelp.htm.