PH103 – Reflective commentary template

Your candidate number:

During the year you will normally have received feedback from your teacher on three pieces
of work: an essay plan and two formative essays. This exercise asks you to reflect on how
this feedback enabled you to write a better summative essay. The exercise has three parts.
Complete all three parts.

Your answer to each question cannot exceed 250 words. Your three answers combined
cannot exceed 750 words.

Part A.
Thinking about the feedback you received on your essay plan: How did this feedback
enable you to write a better summative essay? You may directly quote the teacher's
feedback in order to explain how you acted on it.

Alternative: If you did not write an essay plan, instead answer the following question:
Planning is an incredibly important skill in academic essay writing. Reflect on why it is an
important skill. What are the characteristic problems likely to result when an essay is not
carefully planned?

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Part B
Thinking now about the feedback you received on your first formative essay: How did this
feedback enable you to write a better summative essay? You may directly quote the
teacher's feedback in order to explain how you acted on it.

Alternative: If you did not write a first formative essay, instead answer the following
question: Essay-writing is central to many courses in the arts and humanities because it
displays many different skills. What are the key skills a strong essay in philosophy will
demonstrate?

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Part C
Thinking now about the feedback you received on your second formative essay: How did
this feedback enable you to write a better summative essay? You may directly quote the
teacher's feedback in order to explain how you acted on it.

Alternative: If you did not write a a second formative essay, instead answer the following
question: The various topics on a course are often related to each other. Give an example of
such a relationship between two topics on PH103 (Topic X and Topic Y). In principle, how
might writing an essay on Topic X enrich your understanding of Topic Y?

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Mark scheme:

Each part will receive a mark between 0 and 3, resulting in a maximum mark of 9.

Assessment criteria for the standard questions:

3: An answer demonstrating sustained and serious reflection on teacher feedback and

substantial improvement to the essay, at the high level one would expect from a full-time
student at the LSE.
2: An answer demonstrating some reflection on teacher feedback and some improvement to
the essay, but where either or both elements are somewhat disappointing.
1: An answer demonstrating some reflection on teacher feedback and some improvement to
the essay, but where either or both elements are very disappointing.
0: An answer that fails to demonstrate any reflection on teacher feedback and/or any
improvement to the essay.

Assessment criteria for the alternative questions:

3: An answer demonstrating sustained and serious reflection on the issue raised by the
question, showing that despite missing the relevant feedback opportunity the candidate
nonetheless has a deep understanding of the elements of a good philosophy essay.
2: An answer demonstrating some reflection on the issue raised by the question, but in a way
that leaves some room for doubt about whether the candidate has a deep understanding of the
elements of a good philosophy essay.
1: An answer demonstrating some reflection on the issue raised by the question, but in a way
that creates significant doubts about whether the candidate has a deep understanding of the
elements of a good philosophy essay.
0: An answer that fails to demonstrate any reflection on the issue raised by the question.