Assessment – Guidelines 

Module title: Forensic Psychology 

Module code: 7504 PSYSCI 

Assessment Point: Summative assessment 1 

Assessment task: Report (Literature review) 

Word count limit: 3000 words +/- 10% 

Submission deadline: Please consult the VLE. 

Submission procedure: Please submit via the submission link on the VLE. 

Extenuating circumstances 

If you are experiencing unforeseen personal circumstances that are affecting your ability to submit within the stipulated deadlines, you are required to communicate these issues to the Unicaf Extenuating Circumstances team in the first instance, via extenuating.circumstances@unicaf.org, for further information on how to make a personal circumstances application for consideration. 

Personal circumstances requests may usually only be made within 5 working days of the original deadline unless valid justification, along with appropriate evidence, exists to show that you could not have reasonably communicated the issues any earlier. It is important to keep in mind that if the claim is not upheld and you have not submitted by the deadline, the module shall be failed as a result of no submission of the summative assessment.

Submission Deadline 

Please submit your module summative assessment(s) by 11:59 pm (23:59 hours) VLE (UTC) time on the due date at the latest. Any summative assessment submitted up to 5 days late will be accepted, but the mark will be capped at 50%. Any work submitted more than 5 days late after the submission deadline will be recorded as 0%. 

Academic misconduct including plagiarism 

Written coursework will be submitted on VLE, through an on-line plagiarism-detection service called Turnitin. Turnitin matches the text of what you submit with the information held in its databases (including journal articles and previous submissions by other students), and the web. You will have the opportunity to use Turnitin to improve your work. To do this, submit your work well in advance of the deadline, and Turnitin will give you a report of any matches it has found with other sources. You can use this information to re-write those sections in your own words. Leave yourself plenty of time to do this before the final deadline. Be aware that Turnitin   is not part of LJMU but a separate company that provides this service to many universities, and if it is busy, you may have a short delay before receiving the originality report. 

Turnitin will also give you a percentage similarity score. Tutors are often asked ‘what 

Turnitin percentage is OK’? This is an impossible question to answer, because the percentage depends on too many factors. Depending on how the assignment is set up and how you have structured your file, a high percentage could be ‘OK’, because it is only picking up on legitimate similarities with other sources, such as the marksheet, the reference list, or direct quotations.

Conversely, a very low percentage might be ‘not OK’ because it is picking up on a small section that has been cut and pasted from the Abstract of a journal article. This is plagiarism, and it is unacceptable even when it only makes up a small percentage of the total. So, tutors will never just look at the raw percentage when they are marking your work, they will look at WHAT is similar in the full originality report.  

By submitting your work, you acknowledge that you have read and agree with the above statements.  

General Guidance 

Your assignment should be word processed (handwritten assignments are not accepted), using Times New Roman size 12 font, double spaced, with numbered pages and your student number printed as a footer on every page. 

The word limit stated for this assignment excludes the reference list at the end of the assignment but includes all text in the main body of the assignment (including direct quotations, in-text citations, tables). Tables and figures should not be included within your text but separately as an Appendix. 

Please be aware that exceeding the word count limit will affect the academic judgement of the piece of work and may result in the award of a lower mark. 

Appendices are not considered a supplement, and thus, will not be assessed as part of the content of the assignment. As such, they will not contribute to the grade awarded; however, it may be appropriate to use an Appendices section for any material which is a useful reference for the reader. Please note that appendices are not included in the word count. 

The majority of references should come from primary sources (e.g., journal articles, conference papers, reports, etc.) although you can also utilise area specific textbooks. You must ensure that you use the APA style of referencing. 

Please indicate the word count length at the end of your assignment. 

NO STUDENT WILL BE ALLOWED TO COLLECT ANY PRIMARY DATA 

Marking and assessment 

This summative assessment requires the creation of a report. The assignment submission will be graded out of 100%. Please note that the essay assessment will contribute to 100% of your overall module grade.

Learning outcomes assessed in this assessment 

1.     Critically analyse a range of current real-world forensic psychology issues 

2.     Develop and critically evaluate a number of potential solutions to current issues 

3.     Critically apply psychological, criminal justice, policing and criminological knowledge and theories to real-world forensic psychology problems 

4.     Critically review interventions in forensic psychology 

 

Assessment Guidelines 

Report Topic: Criminal court case analysis 

The responsibilities and duties of forensic psychologists place them in various settings ranging from the court system to law enforcement agencies and from correctional institutions to medical treatment facilities. For this assessment, imagine you are a forensic psychologist acting as an advisor to a court in a particular criminal case (for example Curtis Flowers). You can either pick Flowers’ case or choose any other criminal court case. Your chosen case can be either from your country or anywhere in the World providing you can access and describe some relevant details about it. Your task is to apply recent psychological research and theory to illustrate how the reviewed case would benefit from psychological knowledge (e.g., research into eyewitness testimony’s confidence and accuracy, theories of criminal behaviours, risk assessment). You can choose to focus on any topic relevant to the course. Based on your literature research, you would also provide at least one recommendation that could improve legal outcomes and reduce the possibility of wrongful convictions. 

Suggested structure: 

Introduction – one or two paragraphs outlining the main focus of your written work. 

Court Case – this section should present some key information about your chosen criminal case. For example, information about the offender, information about the victim(s), legal issues, court verdict (if available). 

Psychological Literature Review – This is your main section, and you should aim to discuss recent psychological research and theory relevant to your topic. This psychological knowledge must be applied to your criminal case. You can consider whether witnesses were credible, or whether the offender was fit to stand trial, or whether court ruling corresponds with what psychologists know about criminal behaviours. 

Conclusion – Here you should provide a concluding paragraph summarizing your main points and discuss the potential avenues for future research  Suggested steps 

●       Identify and define the topics that you would like to review 

●       Conduct a literature search 

○       Research the topic thoroughly (including both classical and recent publications) 

○ Ensure that you draw on all relevant psychological literature 

○ Both theoretical and empirical 

○ Rely on primary sources 

●       Reader through the research that you have found and take notes 

●       Organize your notes and thoughts; create an outline 

●       Write the literature review 

○       Support your arguments with evidence 

○ Ensure that you take a critical approach, rather than descriptive  ● Edit and revise as needed  

 

             

 

Title of Section	Criteria	Marks Awarded
Cover Page	●       Assignment topic and personal details   ●       Not included in the word count
Introduction/Court Case Description	●       Introduction into the problem and rationale  ●       Clear definition and explanation of relevant terms
Application of Psychology to the Court Case	●       Detailed description and understanding of key psychological theories and/or constructs  ●       Critical assessment and synthesis of relevant psychological literature  ●       Evidence of wider reading around the topic to support discussion with a balance of seminal and contemporary reference sources  ●       Clear focus on answering the question  ●       A coherent structure to the report, presenting a concise argument supported by examples from relevant psychological literature
Conclusion	●       Ability to draw main points of discussion together ●       Linkage of conclusions to assignment title  ●       Practical implications and implications for future research
Presentation & Referencing	●       Correct use of grammar, punctuation and spelling Appropriate writing style (use of “third” person)  ●       The majority of references are from academic journals and primary sources  ●       References reported accurately in essay text References reported accurately in attached ‘References’ section

 

 LJMU Level 7 Grading Criteria

 

Mark range	Performance characteristic	Grading criteria
90-100	Exceptional Pass	•                  Exemplary attainment of all learning outcomes • Demonstrates an outstanding synthesis of varied theoretical positions in the analysis of key issues in the subject area • Wide-ranging emphasis on knowledge and ideas that are at the forefront of the discipline • Offers an exhaustive exploration of the literature and evidence-base •                  The material covered is accurate and relevant • The argument is
		highly sophisticated • The standard of writing is refined • No errors in the use of the specified referencing system • Well-presented and organised in an appropriate academic style.
80-89	Outstanding Pass	• Excellent attainment of all learning outcomes, with some met to an exemplary standard • Demonstrates a comprehensive synthesis of varied theoretical positions in the analysis of key issues in the subject area. Wide-ranging emphasis on knowledge and ideas that are at the forefront of the discipline • Extends far beyond expected levels of engagement with the literature and evidence- base • The material covered is accurate and relevant • The argument is generally very astute • The standard of writing is refined • No errors in the use of the specified referencing system • Well-presented and organised in an appropriate academic style.
70-79	Excellent pass	• Excellent attainment of all learning outcomes • Demonstrates a thorough synthesis of varied theoretical positions in the analysis of key issues in the subject area • Strong emphasis on knowledge and ideas that are at the forefront of the discipline • Thorough use the literature and evidence-base • The material covered is accurate and relevant • The argument is persuasive and there are very perceptive elements • The standard of writing is refined • No errors in the use of the specified referencing system • Well-presented and organised in an appropriate academic style.
60-69	Good Pass	• Good attainment of all learning outcomes • Demonstrates detailed synthesis of varied theoretical positions in the analysis of key issues in the subject area • Good emphasis on knowledge and ideas that are at the forefront of the discipline • Good consideration of the literature and evidence-base that develops from recommended readings • The material covered is accurate and relevant • The argument is persuasive • The standard of writing is refined • No errors in the use of the specified referencing system • Well-presented and organised in an appropriate academic style.
50-59	Pass	• Adequate attainment of all learning outcomes • Demonstrates a limited, but sufficient, synthesis of varied theoretical positions in the analysis of key issues in the subject area • Some emphasis on knowledge and ideas that are at the forefront of the discipline • Sufficient consideration of the literature and evidence-base, but little consideration beyond recommended readings • The material covered is mostly accurate and relevant • The argument is straightforward and relatively clear • The standard of writing is well clear and readable, with some sophisticated phrasing • No errors in the use of the specified referencing system • Well-presented and organised in an appropriate academic style.
40-49	Needs some improvement	• Meets most, but not all learning outcomes • Demonstrates limited synthesis of varied theoretical positions in the analysis of key issues in the subject area • Less than expected emphasis on knowledge and ideas that are at the forefront of the discipline • Basic consideration of the literature and evidence-base, but restricted to
		recommended readings • Some inaccuracies or irrelevant materials that suggest confusion and misunderstanding • The argument is relatively clear, although some elements are difficult to understand • The standard of writing is well clear and readable, but overly simplistic • Minor errors in the use of the specified referencing system, but meets key principles • Well-presented and organised in an appropriate academic style.
30-39	Needs major improvement	• Approximately half the learning outcomes are met • Demonstrates very little synthesis of varied theoretical positions in the analysis of key issues in the subject area • Little emphasis on knowledge and ideas that are at the forefront of the discipline • Minor consideration of the literature and evidence-base, with inadequate use of recommended reading and no exploration outside that • Some materials is accurate, but the amount of inaccurate or irrelevant materials indicates insufficient understanding of key concepts • The argument is poorly defined and defended • The standard of writing is mostly clear and readable • Some errors in the use of the specified referencing system, but meets key principles • Generally, well presented and organised, but does not always conform to conventions of academic presentation.