Enhancing Objectivity in Grading Economics Term Papers: An Application of Fuzzy Inference Systems

The article considers a method for evaluating students’ term papers using a fuzzy inference system. Fuzzy inference systems are designed to implement the fuzzy inference process and serve as the conceptual basis for all modern fuzzy logic. The developed fuzzy assessment system allows for a more objective assessment of the student’s work, taking the three basic assessment criteria. They are the content of the work, the presentation of the work, and the ability to explain of the content of the work. Experiments on working with the system have been carried out. Students’ term papers in the fields of economics and management were evaluated. Such works have the same structure, content requirements, and object-subject orientation. The results were obtained, indicating the effectiveness of the proposed system. In particular, teachers’ time for evaluating work has been reduced and the objectivity of their assessment has increased. This is the practical significance of this study. It is valuable that this system, with a certain adaptation, can also be used to evaluate any other works, for example, control works, and practice reports. The fuzzy inference system is implemented in the MatLab FuzzyLogic Toolbox environment.