Hi Sherry
I use peer review in my research methods course (two full APA style papers:
an observational study and a survey study) and in my senior seminar course.
In research methods students use their student ID number (or you can assign
them a number) and everyone reviews one paper anonymously. The review is not
graded but I look over the comments (I check the ones they should make, x out
incorrect comments, and leave optional comments alone). The student must
return the reviewed copy in with the final draft and I tell them that they
will be severely downgraded if they have not made all the comments suggested.
Turning in things on time is VERY important (or the whole system fall apart
because other students are waiting for a paper to review or to get their own
review back) but the quality of the review is not graded. The problem, of
course, is that the quality of the review varies a great deal. I try to make
up for that by making more comments on the papers that had a "bad" reviewer.
I my senior sem class it is a bit more involved. I only have 12 students
(instead of 20-25) and the students are more sophisticated. All students
review 2 students papers (thus every student has two reviewers). I do not
look over the reviews (that is, I'm sort of like a "bad" editor who doesn't
comments on the reviews from the reviewers but just pass them on to the
authors). Students get graded (10 points, paper is 100 points) on the quality
of the reviews they write. Students must also write a "comment page"
detailing how they incorporated they comments from the two reviews. This is
also graded. Thus this process mimics very closely the process of peer review
from journals (including that students can often guess who the author of the
paper is). The students report finding it very useful to get two detailed
reviews but of course there is always the risk that one student gets two
"bad" reviewers. I don't read over the drafts so I can't really make up for
it. I just encourage that occasional "bad luck" student to get another
outside person to read the paper (or go to the writing center).
Overall I find the peer review a little difficult to organize (because the
students are interdependent on each other it only takes one sick or
irresponsible student to mess things up). It also take a lot of time
management to make sure there is time in the semester for turning it is,
getting it back, and turning in the final copy. However, it is very much
worth it. Students make so many mistakes on their papers that can easily be
corrected by another student. Also the students report leaning a great deal
from reading another student's paper. Oh, one last thing: you have to tell
students that a draft is not a rough draft (incomplete) but a complete (with
all sections, all references, etc.). In fact, I have now made a rule that I
never read incomplete drafts and they will not be peer reviewed. I hope this
helps.
Marie
"Serdikoff, Sherry L." wrote:
> Hi folks.
>
> I am interested in adding a peer-review component to the writing
> assignments in my research methods class and figured that some of you may
> be using similar activities that you'd be willing to share. The
> writing assignments in this class primarily include lab reports so
> materials that are designed especially for use with APA-style research
> papers would be ideal. But at this point, I'd welcome any relevant
> information you are willing to share. Also, I'd appreciate any advice you
> have regarding implementation of such an activity (e.g., is it graded and
> if so how, how should students be paired/grouped, etc.).
>
> In advance, thanks - and my apologies for the cross-posting. --SLS
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> + _----_ Sherry L. Serdikoff, Ph.D. +
> + * * School of Psychology +
> + * O O * James Madison University +
> + * * MSC 7401 {)__(} +
> + *(. .)* Harrisonburg, VA 22807 (oo) +
> + \ / E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -o0o-=\/=-o0o- +
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