ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews a range of rubrics that can be adapted for assessing research at various levels of the curriculum. It looks at a system that could be used to help marking be more consistent and we have looked at various ways of preparing both the student and examiners for the assessment process. The chapter looks at examples of such rubrics for assessing written work and see if one can usefully be created for assessing doctoral-level theses. It includes a rubric or marking criteria that may be helpful for assessing a research thesis. From work by J. Wellington, G. Clarke and I. Lunt and V. Trafford and S. Leshem, the following may help to clarify a definition of an original contribution to knowledge at doctoral level. Clarke and Lunt interviewed, surveyed and observed examiners and candidates and argue that ‘originality’ and ‘a contribution to knowledge’ need to be disentangled, and may mean different things in different disciplines.
