A Guide to

Assignment
Services
for Academic Staff


















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2
Contents


Introduction 3

Services 4

Term time opening hours 5

Submission of assignments for marking 6

Records of assignment submission 7

Collecting submitted assignments for marking 8

Return of marked assignments 8

Removal of uncollected assignments 10

3
Introduction


Introduction


Welcome to this guide to assignment services for
academic staff. We hope that the information contained will
help you to make best use of our services. We rely on your
cooperation to help us in our work, and we look forward to
providing you, and your students, with a high quality service.

For further details of our services please
see the Assignment Services area of our web pages
(Library Services link at https://my.sunderland.ac.uk)


4
Services

University Library Services provide assignment services
to academic staff and students at two locations: The Murray
Library on the City Campus and St. Peters Library in the
Prospect Building; on St. Peters Campus.

Assignment services include:

Receipt of student assignments and dissertations for
marking by academic staff

Temporary storage of marked assignments for hand
back to students

Receipt of referred/deferred assignments for marking by
academic staff

I.T. facilities, including printers, scanners and cd writers

Past projects and dissertations for reference use

Study desks

Photocopying

Sales, including disks, acetates, photocopy cards

5

Term time opening hours

During term time assignment services are available to students
from The Murray Library at the following times:

Monday to Friday 08.30 19:30
Sunday 14.00 18.00
(we recommend that if you have any specific assignment
queries you contact the library before 17:00 or email:
murray.assignments@sunderland.ac.uk

Assignment services are available to students from St. Peters
Library at the following times:

Monday to Friday 08.30 19:30
Saturday 14.00 18.00
(we recommend that if you have any specific assignment
queries you contact the library before 17:00 or email:
stpeters.assignments@sunderland.ac.uk

Vacation opening hours vary: please see the Library Services
web pages at https://my.sunderland.ac.uk for up to date
information.

Access to assignment services on the City Campus is via the
main entrance to The Murray Library at the helpdesk; access to
St. Peters Library is through the entrance into the Prospect
building at the main desk.




6
Submission of assignments for marking

Module Leaders determine in advance where and when
students should handing assignments and advise the students
accordingly. They designate where and when students should
hand-in assignments and decide the final hand-in date. Please
advise students that all parts of their work must be securely
collated ie stapled or placed in a folder, before hand in.

It is very important that Module Leaders give us notice of the
submission date and details of the module, eg the module code
and number of students participating. Please use the online
form from the library website. This enables us to prepare to
receive the work and to plan workload. Please inform us if an
agreed submission date is altered, for example to allow
students an extension of the submission deadline.

Please note that your assignment service will have
recommended days and/or times for hand-in by Faculty and
level in order to ease congestion of assignment submission.

At The Murray Library
There are hand-in days specified for each level of student. If
possible we request that you adhere to these days:

Monday - Masters students
Tuesday - 1st year UGs
Wednesday - 2nd year UGs
Thursday - final year UGs

Please also advise students of the latest hand-in times:

Full time students should hand-in before 4pm;
Part time students should hand-in before 6pm.

7
At St. Peters Library
Full time students taking Business or Law modules
should hand-in before 2pm;
Full time students taking Media modules should hand-in
before 3pm;
Full time students taking Computing, Engineering or
Education modules should hand-in before 4pm;
Part time students should hand-in before 6pm.

Students may be encouraged to submit work in advance of the
hand-in deadline. Early completion and submission of work is
good practice and may help students to avoid queues at busy
times. For this reason it is not possible to supply Module
Leaders with assignments in advance of the hand in deadline.
Assignments handed in at the designated assignment service
after the set hand-in date are accepted but will be recorded as
late.

Records of assignment submission

One of the valuable functions provided by assignment services
is that of record keeping for purposes of ensuring a quality
service. Each assignment submitted by a student is
accompanied by a completed assignment cover sheet available
from the libraries. There is a separate cover sheet for each
Faculty Students are given a copy of the cover sheet as a
receipt for hand-in. We either mark off a list of student names
or keep a copy of the cover sheet in case of a later query.

Assignments are sorted by module rather than by marker. This
administrative process is usually completed within one working
day, or two working days at busy times. Please allow enough
time for us to complete this process.

8
Collecting submitted assignments for
Marking

Having been informed that there are assignments ready to
collect, Module Leaders typically call in person to collect the
work or arrange with Estates Porters to accompany them and
transfer the work to their office on Campus. We may ask for a
signature from the academic member of staff on collection.

The University standard for making marked assignments
available to students is four working weeks from the date of
hand-in (the four week period is extended by the duration of
Christmas and Easter vacation periods).

Return of marked assignments

Assignment services offer a reliable and convenient
method of returning marked assignments to students. Most
marked assignments are returned to students through the
assignments service, the remaining assignments are returned
to students directly by academic staff.

Module Leaders designate the campus assignment
service for the return of marked work and inform the students
accordingly. In most cases, this will be the same assignment
service that received the assignments for marking.
Module Leaders typically call in person to return marked work
or arrange with Estates Porters to accompany them and
transfer the work from their office on Campus. It is very helpful
if all the marked work is returned to assignment services
in one delivery with a completed instruction form and for all
parts of a students work to be securely attached.
9

We advertise that marked assignments are ready for collection
by students via our Assignment Ready to Collect blogs
available from library webpages

We will either mark off a list of student names or keep a copy of
the cover sheet for our records in case of a later query. This
administrative process is usually completed within one working
day, or two working days at busy times. Please allow us time to
complete this process before informing students that the work
is ready to collect.

Some marked assignments may be retained by Faculties for
the purpose of external moderation. It is very helpful for Module
Leaders to provide us with a list of students affected so as to be
able to advise the students correctly.

Please note that students must collect marked work in person
and have valid photographic id (eg, a campus card) it is also
advisable for students to bring their assignment cover sheet
receipt.

In accordance with the University standard, marked
assignments for return to students are retained and made
available for collection for a minimum of four weeks.

10
Removal of uncollected assignments


After approx. four weeks from the date that assignments are
made available for collection, uncollected marked assignments
must be removed from assignment services in order to
free up shelf space. This process of regular housekeeping is
essential to the continuing efficiency of assignment
services.

Uncollected marked assignments that are not required by
Module Leaders are disposed of using a reputable contractor
who provides a secure and environmentally sound disposal
service.

11



12

Contact Details

We are always happy to help you. Please do not hesitate to
ask for assistance.

The Murray Library St. Peters Library
Chester Rd
Sunderland Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St.
SR1 3SD Peters
Tel 0191 5152677 St. Peters Way
Sunderland
SR6 ODD
Tel: 0191 515 3113


Email:
The Murray Library: murray.assignments@sunderland.ac.uk
St. Peters : stpeters.assignments@sunderland.ac.uk

Line management for assignment services from the
Murray Library is provided by:

Paula West, Senior Library Assistant, The Murray Library
paula.west@sunderland.ac.uk
Tel: 0191 515 2644

Line management for assignment services from St.
Peters is provided by:

Joan Davison, Deputy Site Librarian, St. Peters Library
joan.davison@sunderland.ac.uk
Tel: 0191 515 3391

Feedback from academic staff on assignment services is
welcome at any time.