Using Rubrics with Peer Review to Improve Undergraduate Science Writing

Analysis of weekly peer-reviewed writing exercises in undergraduate introductory biology courses revealed that student improvement in ability to judge essays correlated with improvement in their own writing (n = 121 students). This correlation occurred across the spectrum of academic ability. The essays were scored by peers, self, and the instructor using a rubric housed within the learning management system Moodle. Moodle contained the Workshop feature that computed a grade for the submitted essay and a separate grade for the ability to judge essays. On a weekly basis, these grades were released to the student and the contents of the essays and meanings of the various scores were discussed in class, allowing students to examine their grades and decide whether and how to change their strategy on the next round. This was repeated 11 times over a semester of 16 weeks using the same rubric.