U of T OGS Academic Assessment Report — Instructions for Referees

Overview

This page contains instructions and information for Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) referees on how to complete an online U of T OGS Academic Assessment once an email invitation has been received by a graduate student / prospective student.

Attention: Please Read

Step 1: Locate and Review Email Invitation

The email invitation will have the subject “OGS Academic Assessment Request – University of Toronto” and will be sent from the email address: vpp.noreply@utoronto.ca. If you are unable to locate the email invitation in your Inbox, please check your Spam / Junk mail folder and do a search for the vpp.noreply@utoronto.ca email address.

If you did not receive the invitation email, please contact the APPLICANT directly to request a re-send. The Graduate Awards Office is not able to re-send email invitations as the email release is controlled by the applicant.

Please take note of the Academic Assessment deadline. This deadline is set by the APPLICANT. Although the form can still be completed even if the deadline has passed, for extensions please contact the applicant to see if additional time is possible based on the applicant’s application deadline. Applicants cannot submit their OGS application unless their Academic Assessments are complete.

Step 2: Click on the Link in the Email Invitation to Access the Online Academic Assessment

Referees have 60 days from the sent date of email request to complete the Academic Assessment. After 60 days, the link in the email will expire. If you require a new link, please contact the student applicant to re-send the request.

Step 3: Complete Referee Profile Fields

• All fields are required.
• Dates: Should be listed in YYYY-MM-DD format (e.g., 2020-02-18).
• Institution / Organization: Please include the full name of the organization (e.g., University of Toronto).

Step 4: Complete Academic Assessment Section

• Select / click one (1) option per category.
• One option per category must be selected / clicked. If you are unable to evaluate, please select / click the radio button in the “Unable to Evaluate” column.

Step 5: Enter Assessment Details

Provide details on your assessment of the applicant’s skills, abilities, achievements, experience, and contributions related to the categories listed in the table in the Academic Assessment section above.

It is recommended that you write your details out in a word processor program (e.g., Microsoft Word) prior to completing the form, and then copying and pasting into the comment box. You may also copy and paste an existing reference letter you have for the applicant in this section. Please note:

• Formatting may not be retained / may be lost when pasting into the comment box.
• You may wish to save your comments, as the link will expire after one month of your submission, and you will not be able to view the form again.
• You can expand the text window by clicking and dragging the right-hand bottom corner.

The following best practices and considerations should be taken into account when writing your assessment details:

Best practices

Be accurate, fair, clear and balanced.

Avoid being unduly personal.

Support your points by providing specific examples of accomplishments where possible.

Support superlative descriptors (e.g., excellent, outstanding) with evidence.

Include only information that is relevant to the academic assessment (e.g., do not include information related to ethnicity, age, hobbies, marital status, religion, disability status, financial need, etc.).

Avoid sharing personal information about the applicant. Such information might be useful only to explain academic delays or interruptions and should be addressed with caution.

Considerations

Limiting unconscious bias

The assessment details should be free of words or sentences that reflect prejudiced, stereotyped or discriminatory views of particular people or groups, or their institution.

Use of inclusive language has been shown to decrease unconscious bias during the evaluation process. For more information, refer to the Canada Research Chairs Program’s guidelines for letter writers on Limiting Unconscious Bias.

Letter writers should also refer to the tri-agency Bias in Peer Review training module as a guide for preventing unconscious bias in merit review.

For further information on unconscious bias, consult the Gender-based Analysis Plus webpage of Women and Gender Equality Canada (formerly Status of Women Canada).

Content

When writing your comments, bear in mind that applications are reviewed by a departmental (domestic) or multidisciplinary (international & Inclusive Excellence awards) selection committee, some members of which might not be familiar with the field or subfield in which the applicant proposes to study.

Your assessment details should inform the selection committee about the following elements:

• the applicant’s background preparation, judgment and ability to think critically, their originality, initiative and autonomy, industriousness, oral and written skills, as well as their enthusiasm for their program of study;
• the quality of the plan of study. For research stream programs, this includes the focus and feasibility of the research question(s) and objective(s); the clarity of the proposed methodology; and the significance and expected contributions to research;
• the applicant’s relevant training, such as skills and knowledge acquired through academic study, traditional teachings and—if the applicant’s lived experience is included in the plan of study—lived experience;
• the significance and relevance of the applicant’s experiences and achievements within and beyond academia, relative to the applicant’s stage of study, lived experience (if the applicant’s lived experience is included in the plan of study) and knowledge systems;

For research stream programs:

• the quality of research contributions in relation to discipline-specific norms, related research approaches and knowledge systems, and the extent to which they advance the field of research;
• the applicant’s ability or potential to communicate theoretical, technical and/or scientific concepts clearly and logically in written and oral formats;
• the applicant’s demonstrated commitment to responsible conduct of research and ethical conduct for research involving humans; and
• if applicable, the applicant’s proficiency in the language(s) necessary to pursue the proposed research.

Step 6: Consent and Next Button

Once you have entered all the required information, you may consent to having your OGS academic assessment for this applicant be used for other graduate award competitions at the University of Toronto, for which the applicant may be eligible.  Then, you may click the Next button at the bottom of the page.

You will be taken to the Review page. At this point, your information has been saved but not submitted. To return at a later time, simply go back to the original invitation email and click the link.

Step 7: Review Academic Assessment

On the Review page, carefully review the information entered on the Academic Assessment:

• If anything requires modification, click the Edit button at the top of the page or click the Previous button at the bottom of the page to be taken back to the Academic Assessment.
  • Caution: Do not use the browser forward or back buttons, as doing so could result in your changes not being saved properly or result in an unexpected loss of data.
• If you make a change after returning, please be sure to click Save or Next again to save any changes.

Step 8: Click Submit Button

Once you have confirmed that all information is included and accurate, scroll to the bottom of the Review page and click the Submit button.

Step 8: Submission Verification / Confirmation

Once you have submitted, no changes can be made. You will be taken to a submission confirmation screen.  It is not emailed to you so you may make a screenshot of it to save a copy for your reference (sample below):

If you leave the page and want to review the form again, you may do so within 1 month, by returning to the original email and click the link. The link should now take you to the completed (un-editable) form.  After one month of your submission, the link will expire and you will not be able to view the form again.

If a change is required, contact the applicant directly as the applicant has the ability to unsubmit the submitted form so changes can be made. You will receive an email indicating the form has been unsubmitted with a unique link to the form you previously submitted.