Manajemen | Fakultas Ekonomi Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji joeb.81.6.322-326
Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Using Peer Review to Improve Student Writing in
Business Courses
Lloyd J. Rieber
To cite this article: Lloyd J. Rieber (2006) Using Peer Review to Improve Student Writing
in Business Courses, Journal of Education for Business, 81:6, 322-326, DOI: 10.3200/
JOEB.81.6.322-326
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.81.6.322-326
Published online: 07 Aug 2010.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 146
View related articles
Citing articles: 9 View citing articles
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at
http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=vjeb20
Download by: [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji]
Date: 12 January 2016, At: 22:11
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Using Peer Review to Improve
Student Writing in Business Courses
LLOYD J. RIEBER
SAINT MARY’S UNIVERSITY
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
CANADA
ABSTRACT. Student peer review has
proven an effective technique for improving
student writing in both English and business communication classes, yet the technique is not widely used in business courses other than business communication. In
this article, the author discusses using student peer review in business classes to
improve students’ final written submissions.
In doing so, the author discusses the definition of peer review, the benefits of peer
P
eer review is used extensively to
improve students’ writing in business communication classes (Lynch,
1992) and in English classes on both the
secondary and post-secondary levels
(Topping, 2003). However, a review of
the literature reveals few instances when
peer review is used in business courses
other than business communication, yet
business teachers frequently complain
about the poor quality of students’ written work. It seems reasonable, therefore, that business teachers consider
using peer review to improve their students’ written submissions.
review, the reasons peer review helps
improve student writing, the common peer
What Is Peer Review?
review methods, the ways to incorporate
The terms peer review, peer editing,
peer assessment, and peer evaluation are
often used interchangeably. In most
instances, the terms peer assessment and
peer evaluation are used to mean peer
grading, a process in which students
individually, or in groups, evaluate and
assign grades to other students’ work.
These grades can be assigned as a summative or a formative evaluation. Often
when peer grading is used as summative
evaluation, the process is used to increase
the amount of writing students do, especially in large classes where teachers are
hesitant to assign writing assignments
because of the grading load. Many teachers use peer grading as part or all of the
summative evaluation for some student
writing. This may seem like a lazy solu-
peer review into business courses, and the
disadvantages of peer review. Samples of
different types of peer review are also
included.
Copyright © 2006 Heldref Publications
322
Journal of Education for Business
tion to assigning more writing in large
classes, but researchers have demonstrated little difference between the grades
peers assign and grades assigned by professors (Falchikov & Goldfinch, 2000;
Marcoulides & Simkin, 1991, 1995;
Margin, 2001; Pain & Mowl, 1996; Stefani, 1994).
The terms peer editing and peer
review are most often used to refer to a
formative evaluation done by peers. In
this process, popularized by the process
writing movement, students submit
their writing to peers who review (or
edit) it but do not assign grades. Often
the review process involves several iterations before the teacher receives a final
draft for evaluation and grading. This
definition—students commenting on
other students’ papers as part of a formative evaluation process—will be used
throughout this article. Although peer
grading also shows signs of improving
student writing, it will not be discussed.
Benefits of Peer Review
University professors are familiar with
the concept of peer review. All research
in refereed journals is peer reviewed. The
notion is that if researchers submit their
work to peers, and the peers are experts
in the field, their review will help the
authors produce better research. It seems
a stretch, though, to assume that students,
who are not experts in their fields, can
help other nonexperts by reviewing their
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 22:11 12 January 2016
written work. It probably is a stretch if
instructors ask students to correct each
other’s work, but if students are expected
only to review each other’s work and
point out areas they perceive as weak or
ways in which they think the assignment
does not conform to guidelines, they can
and do make comments that can help
peers improve their writing.
I compared the average grades each
student (n = 57) in my business communications class achieved on the writing
assignments they did not have peer
reviewed (M = 66.0%, SD = 14.3%,
where M is mean and SD is standard
deviation) to the average of the grades
they achieved on the writing assignments
they did have peer reviewed (M = 73.4%,
SD = 14.8%). The results showed that on
assignments that students had peer
reviewed, they did significantly better
than on those they did not have peer
reviewed, t(56) = 2.95, p < .005. I have
repeated this comparison several times,
each time reaffirming that peer review
works: Students achieve higher grades on
papers they have peer reviewed than on
papers they do not have peer reviewed.
This result is not surprising. Positive
results from peer review, assessment, or
evaluation have been reported by Bouton
and Tutty (1975) for regular high school
students, by Karegianes, Pascarella, and
Pflaum (1980) for low-achieving high
school students, and by Weeks and White
(1982) and by MacArthur, Schwartz, and
Graham (1991) for students with learning
disabilities. On the basis of these and
many other studies cited by Topping
(2003) in his review of peer assessment
research in secondary and postsecondary
classes, it is safe to say that, when done
correctly, peer review can help students
on any educational level improve their
written work.
Reasons Peer Review Works
Although it is difficult to say exactly
why peer review works, four possible
reasons present themselves.
Students Complete Assignments
Ahead of the Due Date
As anyone who writes knows, good
writing requires revision and editing.
Students often submit poorly written
papers because they put off writing
them until the last minute and do not
have the time needed to revise and edit.
However, to engage in a peer review
students must complete their work at
least one class before the assignment
due date. Therefore, they have the
opportunity to revise, edit, and improve
their work before they turn it in.
Students Review the Assignment
Directions a Second Time
During peer review, students review
other students’ papers to see if they follow the assignment directions and meet
the assignment criteria. This process
gives students a second chance to look at
the assignment guidelines themselves.
Because they are assessing whether
another student followed these guidelines, students are especially careful to
make sure they understand the guidelines. This understanding helps students
revise their own assignments after the
peer review. In fact, it is quite possible
that students learn more from reviewing
another student’s paper than they do
from having their own paper reviewed.
Students Submit Better Writing if
They Know Peers Will Read Their Work
In my course, when I collect drafts,
comment on them myself, and return
them to students for revision, many students turn in very rough initial drafts,
which need complete revision. However,
because students do not want to appear
unintelligent to their peers, when they
know their work will be read and commented on by another student during a
peer review, they are careful to produce
a more polished draft for review.
Students React Better to
Peer Comments Than They Do to
Teacher Comments
The student–teacher relationship is different from the relationship students have
with their peers. More often than not,
teachers comment about what students
have done “wrong” or what is “incorrect”
about their papers. As a result, students
tend to see their teachers’ comments as
evaluative and take them personally. Any
discussion with the teacher revolves
around how to make “right” what has
been identified as “wrong.”
Peers, however, tend to comment
about what they do not understand or
ways in which they think a paper does
not meet the assignment guidelines. The
student being reviewed can take some
consolation from the fact that the student
reviewer’s comments may be inaccurate
and is, therefore, more willing to discuss
peer comments than teacher comments.
These discussions cause both the student
being reviewed and the reviewer to
rethink the assignment, which leads to
improvement in both their papers.
Approaches to Peer Review
The process of peer review requires
students to look at other students’
papers and critique them following
some instructions given by the teacher.
Depending on the teacher’s instructions,
the peer-review can be openended,
guided, or directed. I will use three samples of peer review instructions for a
resume and cover letter assignment to
illustrate these three approaches.
Open-Ended Peer Review
In an open-ended peer review (see
Appendix A), the students are considered
experts and offered little or no guidance
in how to review their peers’ papers. The
teacher essentially says, “You know what
this assignment requires, check your
peer’s assignment to make sure it meets
the requirements.” This approach to peer
review is typically used in advanced
classes in which students have the
knowledge, ability, and confidence to
conduct a peer review unaided.
Guided Peer Review
Often the teacher guides peer reviewers’ efforts with a list of general questions to consider as they review their
peers’ papers (see Appendix B). These
questions typically summarize the
assignment directions and also ask the
reviewer to consider specific aspects of
the peer’s writing.
Directed Peer Review
In a directed peer review, the teacher
gives reviewers a checklist that covers
all aspects of the assignment guidelines
(Appendix C). This approach is best
July/August 2006
323
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used with students who have limited
experience in the subject and lack
strong writing skills. The checklist
approach has several advantages: (a) it
ensures that all papers are reviewed
using the same criteria, (b) it helps weak
students or students not knowledgeable
in the area covered by the paper read a
peer’s paper and determine if it meets
the criteria; and (c) it ensures a thorough
review. Finally, the checklist approach
leaves both the reviewer and the author
with a checklist they can take away
from class and use to review their own
papers before they turn them in.
Ways to Incorporate Peer Review
Into the Business Classroom
Peer review can be done by individuals or groups who can provide oral or
written feedback to the author, and the
peer reviewer’s efforts can be evaluated
by the professor or kept entirely
between the reviewer and the author.
Before deciding which technique to use,
teachers must first decide what they
expect their students to accomplish with
the peer review and how much time they
want to devote to it. As mentioned earlier, it is probably unreasonable to expect
peers, except those in advanced classes,
to correct problems in each other’s
work. It is reasonable, in an open-ended
or guided peer review, to expect peers to
comment about how well the assignment reflects the assignment guidelines,
how easy it is to read and understand,
and whether it accomplishes its purpose. In a directed peer review using a
checklist, teachers can expect students
to provide detailed information about
areas where the assignment does and
does not meet assignment guidelines.
Individual Peer Review
The easiest peer review to organize is
one in which students individually
review each other’s papers. For individual peer reviews, the teacher either has
each student swap papers with another
student or collects all the papers and
distributes them to reviewers. Allowing
students to exchange their papers with
whomever they choose has two disadvantages: (a) students tend to swap
papers with their friends, who may not
324
Journal of Education for Business
be as critical as they could be and (b)
some students will end up swapping
with students weaker than themselves
and, therefore, may not benefit from the
review process. The main advantage of
having students select their own reviewers is that they know whose paper they
are reviewing and who is reviewing
their paper so getting together at the end
of the class to discuss their papers with
their reviewers takes little time.
Teacher distribution has the advantage
that the teacher can distribute papers so
that the reviewer and the author are not
sitting next to each other. The teacher can
give each student’s paper to another student elsewhere in the classroom. Because
the reviewer and author are not sitting
next to each other (and are probably not
close friends), reviewers tend to be more
thorough. Also, the review process is not
hampered by the socializing in which
friends tend to engage. However, teacher
distribution has the disadvantage that it
takes more time than student swapping.
The teacher not only has to collect and
distribute the students’ papers but also
make provision for returning the papers
to the authors and getting authors and
reviewers together to discuss reviewers’
comments. Unless the teacher makes sure
that authors and reviewers are paired
when distributing the papers, teacher distribution can create pandemonium in
large classes when authors and reviewers
attempt to find each other to discuss each
other’s comments.
review, students check off guidelines
the paper meets, make brief comments
about guidelines the paper does not
meet, and then discuss their comments
with the author. Open-ended and guided peer reviews generally rely on written communication between reviewer
and author. Oral communication has the
advantage of being immediate and
quick. Written feedback, however,
tends to be more thorough than oral
feedback, leaves the author with a document to refer to during revision, gives
all students additional writing experience, and can be checked by the teacher
to make sure reviewers are doing a
thorough job.
Graded or Ungraded Peer Reviews
English teachers using the process
approach often evaluate and grade both
the authors’ paper and the reviewers’
comments. They assess both the quality
and usefulness of the reviewers’ comments and how well the authors incorporated the reviewers’ comments into
their revisions. This approach is useful
in small classes, but it essentially doubles the grading for every assignment
and, therefore, does not work well in
large classes. However, students do
want some credit for their efforts as
reviewers. One option is to award students class participation credits for
completing a peer review.
Disadvantages of Peer Review
Group Peer Review
In group peer review, students work in
groups, typically of four or five. A group
of five, for example, is given five papers
from students outside the group. Each
individual in the group reviews each
paper the group receives. The group discusses each paper and gives the author
comments that summarize all their thinking. Group peer review has the advantage
that authors benefit from more than one
other student’s review. The primary disadvantage is that group peer review takes
more time than individual peer review.
Oral or Written Feedback
Feedback to the author can be oral,
written, or both. In a directed peer
Peer review is a powerful tool for
improving students’ writing, but it is not
without its disadvantages.
Peer Review Takes Class Time
Usually, instructors set aside an entire
class period for the peer review of each
assignment. However, if class time is a
premium, teachers can assign the peer
review to be completed outside of class
and use class time only for reviewers to
discuss their findings with authors.
Group peer reviews almost always follow this process because a single class
period is not normally enough time for a
group of four or five students to critically evaluate and comment on four or five
other students’ papers.
Weak Writers May Not Be Able
to Help Strong Writers
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 22:11 12 January 2016
Although it may be true that weak
writers have little advice to benefit
strong writers, the help students receive
from a peer reviewer may not be the
most valuable aspect of a peer review.
The very act of critically assessing
someone else’s assignment can cause
students to assess their own assignments
more critically. In other words, students
can learn more from their review of
another student’s paper than they learn
from a peer’s review of theirs.
Students Can Assume a Peer’s Review
Caught All Weaknesses
Sometimes students excuse their own
lack of editing or revision by pointing out
that their peers did not point out all the
weaknesses in their papers. However, students should understand that peer reviews
are only part of the revision process and
that they as authors are ultimately responsible for their final submissions.
Conclusion
Experience at all educational levels
has shown that peer review is effective in
improving students’ final drafts.
Although the peer review process takes
time and involves organization and planning, it proves its worth at grading time.
Without a doubt, better written papers
take less time to read and are more enjoyable to grade than poorly written papers.
In addition, the peer review process introduces students to the notion of submitting
their work to peers for review, a common
practice in the workplace. For teachers of
any business subject that requires written
submissions, peer review is worth a try.
NOTE
Correspondence concerning this article should
be addressed to Dr. Lloyd J. Rieber, Marketing
Department, Sobey School of Business, Saint
Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H
3C3, Canada.
E-mail: lloyd.rieber@smu.ca
REFERENCES
Bouton, K., & Tutty, G. (1975). The effect of peerevaluated student compositions on writing
improvement. The English Record, 3, 64–69.
Falchikov, N., & Goldfinch, J. (2000). Student
peer assessment in higher education: A metaanalysis comparing peer and teacher marks.
Review of Educational Research, 70, 287–322.
Karegianes, M. L., Pascarella, E. T., & Pflaum, S.
W. (1980). The effects of peer editing on the
writing proficiency of low-achieving tenth
grade students. Journal of Educational
Research, 73, 203–207.
Lynch, D. H. (1992). Peer evaluation of writing in
business communication classes. Journal of
Education for Business, 68, 44–48.
MacArthur, C. A., Schwartz, S. S., & Graham, S.
(1991). Effects of a reciprocal peer revision
strategy in special education classrooms.
Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 6,
201–210.
Marcoulides, G. A., & Simkin, M. G. (1991).
Evaluating student papers: The case for peer
review. Journal of Education for Business, 67,
80–86.
Marcoulides, G. A., & Simkin, M. G. (1995). The
consistency of peer review in student writing
projects. Journal of Education for Business, 70,
220–224.
Margin, D. (2001). Reciprocity as a source of bias
in multiple peer assessment of group work.
Studies in Higher Education, 26(1), 53–64.
Pain, R., & Mowl, G. (1996). Improving geography essay writing using innovative assessment.
Journal of Geography in Higher Education,
20(1), 19–32.
Stefani, L. A. J. (1994). Peer, self and tutor assessment: Relative reliabilities. Studies in Higher
Education, 19(1), 69–75.
Topping, K. J. (2003). Self and peer assessment in
school and university: Reliability, validity and
utility. In M. S. R. Segers, F. J. R. C. Dochy, &
E. C. Cascallar (Eds.) , Optimizing new modes
of assessment: In search of qualities and standards. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer.
Weeks, J. O., & White, M. B. (1982, March 7–9).
Peer editing versus teacher editing: Does it
make a difference? Paper presented at Meeting
of the North Carolina Council of the International Reading Association, Charlotte, NC.
APPENDIX A
An Open-Ended Peer Review for a Résumé and Cover Letter Assignment
After reviewing the résumé and cover letter do you think the author
• is using an effective resume and cover letter format?
• understands what the job requires and has demonstrated how he or she meets those
requirements?
• sounds enthusiastic about performing the job?
What changes would you recommend to the author’s résumé or cover letter?
If you were an employer, would you interview this applicant? Why or why not?
APPENDIX B
A Guided Peer Review for a Résumé and Cover Letter Assignment
Cover Letter
In what ways could the author improve the document’s format?
What makes the author’s discussion of job-related assets and evidence convincing?
How does the author show knowledge about the job applied for and the company?
How does the author ask for an interview and provide a time frame for the interview?
How is the tone of the cover letter appropriate or inappropriate for the audience?
Suggest corrections that would improve any aspect of the author’s cover letter.
Résumé
Does the author follow an appropriate résumé format?
How does the résumé highlight skills and experience relevant to the job?
What does the author do to make the most important qualifications for the job stand out?
Other than the author’s work and school experience, what additional information about
the author does the résumé give?
March/April 2005
325
APPENDIX C
A Directed Peer Review With Specific Questions
Cover Letter
Format
Does the cover letter follow the personal business letter format?
• Return address
• Date
• Inside address
• Dear name or subject or attention line
• Full block format in 12-point type
• Signature block and signature
• Enclosure notation
First Paragraph
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 22:11 12 January 2016
Does the author
• tell the reader he or she is applying for a job and give the job title?
• mention his or her major qualification(s) or central selling feature?
• refer to the advertisement if job is advertised?
Body of letter
Does the author
• show how his or her specific qualifications are relevant for the job?
• discuss only qualifications that are relevant to the job?
• give specific evidence of the qualifications or qualities he or she claims to have by
explaining how she or he gained the qualifications or qualities?
• demonstrate knowledge of the company?
• tell the reader why he or she is applying for this job with this company?
• refer to an enclosed résumé?
Last Paragraph
Does the author
• restate his or her interest in the job?
• ask for an interview or say he or she will call to arrange an interview?
326
Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Using Peer Review to Improve Student Writing in
Business Courses
Lloyd J. Rieber
To cite this article: Lloyd J. Rieber (2006) Using Peer Review to Improve Student Writing
in Business Courses, Journal of Education for Business, 81:6, 322-326, DOI: 10.3200/
JOEB.81.6.322-326
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.81.6.322-326
Published online: 07 Aug 2010.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 146
View related articles
Citing articles: 9 View citing articles
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at
http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=vjeb20
Download by: [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji]
Date: 12 January 2016, At: 22:11
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 22:11 12 January 2016
Using Peer Review to Improve
Student Writing in Business Courses
LLOYD J. RIEBER
SAINT MARY’S UNIVERSITY
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
CANADA
ABSTRACT. Student peer review has
proven an effective technique for improving
student writing in both English and business communication classes, yet the technique is not widely used in business courses other than business communication. In
this article, the author discusses using student peer review in business classes to
improve students’ final written submissions.
In doing so, the author discusses the definition of peer review, the benefits of peer
P
eer review is used extensively to
improve students’ writing in business communication classes (Lynch,
1992) and in English classes on both the
secondary and post-secondary levels
(Topping, 2003). However, a review of
the literature reveals few instances when
peer review is used in business courses
other than business communication, yet
business teachers frequently complain
about the poor quality of students’ written work. It seems reasonable, therefore, that business teachers consider
using peer review to improve their students’ written submissions.
review, the reasons peer review helps
improve student writing, the common peer
What Is Peer Review?
review methods, the ways to incorporate
The terms peer review, peer editing,
peer assessment, and peer evaluation are
often used interchangeably. In most
instances, the terms peer assessment and
peer evaluation are used to mean peer
grading, a process in which students
individually, or in groups, evaluate and
assign grades to other students’ work.
These grades can be assigned as a summative or a formative evaluation. Often
when peer grading is used as summative
evaluation, the process is used to increase
the amount of writing students do, especially in large classes where teachers are
hesitant to assign writing assignments
because of the grading load. Many teachers use peer grading as part or all of the
summative evaluation for some student
writing. This may seem like a lazy solu-
peer review into business courses, and the
disadvantages of peer review. Samples of
different types of peer review are also
included.
Copyright © 2006 Heldref Publications
322
Journal of Education for Business
tion to assigning more writing in large
classes, but researchers have demonstrated little difference between the grades
peers assign and grades assigned by professors (Falchikov & Goldfinch, 2000;
Marcoulides & Simkin, 1991, 1995;
Margin, 2001; Pain & Mowl, 1996; Stefani, 1994).
The terms peer editing and peer
review are most often used to refer to a
formative evaluation done by peers. In
this process, popularized by the process
writing movement, students submit
their writing to peers who review (or
edit) it but do not assign grades. Often
the review process involves several iterations before the teacher receives a final
draft for evaluation and grading. This
definition—students commenting on
other students’ papers as part of a formative evaluation process—will be used
throughout this article. Although peer
grading also shows signs of improving
student writing, it will not be discussed.
Benefits of Peer Review
University professors are familiar with
the concept of peer review. All research
in refereed journals is peer reviewed. The
notion is that if researchers submit their
work to peers, and the peers are experts
in the field, their review will help the
authors produce better research. It seems
a stretch, though, to assume that students,
who are not experts in their fields, can
help other nonexperts by reviewing their
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 22:11 12 January 2016
written work. It probably is a stretch if
instructors ask students to correct each
other’s work, but if students are expected
only to review each other’s work and
point out areas they perceive as weak or
ways in which they think the assignment
does not conform to guidelines, they can
and do make comments that can help
peers improve their writing.
I compared the average grades each
student (n = 57) in my business communications class achieved on the writing
assignments they did not have peer
reviewed (M = 66.0%, SD = 14.3%,
where M is mean and SD is standard
deviation) to the average of the grades
they achieved on the writing assignments
they did have peer reviewed (M = 73.4%,
SD = 14.8%). The results showed that on
assignments that students had peer
reviewed, they did significantly better
than on those they did not have peer
reviewed, t(56) = 2.95, p < .005. I have
repeated this comparison several times,
each time reaffirming that peer review
works: Students achieve higher grades on
papers they have peer reviewed than on
papers they do not have peer reviewed.
This result is not surprising. Positive
results from peer review, assessment, or
evaluation have been reported by Bouton
and Tutty (1975) for regular high school
students, by Karegianes, Pascarella, and
Pflaum (1980) for low-achieving high
school students, and by Weeks and White
(1982) and by MacArthur, Schwartz, and
Graham (1991) for students with learning
disabilities. On the basis of these and
many other studies cited by Topping
(2003) in his review of peer assessment
research in secondary and postsecondary
classes, it is safe to say that, when done
correctly, peer review can help students
on any educational level improve their
written work.
Reasons Peer Review Works
Although it is difficult to say exactly
why peer review works, four possible
reasons present themselves.
Students Complete Assignments
Ahead of the Due Date
As anyone who writes knows, good
writing requires revision and editing.
Students often submit poorly written
papers because they put off writing
them until the last minute and do not
have the time needed to revise and edit.
However, to engage in a peer review
students must complete their work at
least one class before the assignment
due date. Therefore, they have the
opportunity to revise, edit, and improve
their work before they turn it in.
Students Review the Assignment
Directions a Second Time
During peer review, students review
other students’ papers to see if they follow the assignment directions and meet
the assignment criteria. This process
gives students a second chance to look at
the assignment guidelines themselves.
Because they are assessing whether
another student followed these guidelines, students are especially careful to
make sure they understand the guidelines. This understanding helps students
revise their own assignments after the
peer review. In fact, it is quite possible
that students learn more from reviewing
another student’s paper than they do
from having their own paper reviewed.
Students Submit Better Writing if
They Know Peers Will Read Their Work
In my course, when I collect drafts,
comment on them myself, and return
them to students for revision, many students turn in very rough initial drafts,
which need complete revision. However,
because students do not want to appear
unintelligent to their peers, when they
know their work will be read and commented on by another student during a
peer review, they are careful to produce
a more polished draft for review.
Students React Better to
Peer Comments Than They Do to
Teacher Comments
The student–teacher relationship is different from the relationship students have
with their peers. More often than not,
teachers comment about what students
have done “wrong” or what is “incorrect”
about their papers. As a result, students
tend to see their teachers’ comments as
evaluative and take them personally. Any
discussion with the teacher revolves
around how to make “right” what has
been identified as “wrong.”
Peers, however, tend to comment
about what they do not understand or
ways in which they think a paper does
not meet the assignment guidelines. The
student being reviewed can take some
consolation from the fact that the student
reviewer’s comments may be inaccurate
and is, therefore, more willing to discuss
peer comments than teacher comments.
These discussions cause both the student
being reviewed and the reviewer to
rethink the assignment, which leads to
improvement in both their papers.
Approaches to Peer Review
The process of peer review requires
students to look at other students’
papers and critique them following
some instructions given by the teacher.
Depending on the teacher’s instructions,
the peer-review can be openended,
guided, or directed. I will use three samples of peer review instructions for a
resume and cover letter assignment to
illustrate these three approaches.
Open-Ended Peer Review
In an open-ended peer review (see
Appendix A), the students are considered
experts and offered little or no guidance
in how to review their peers’ papers. The
teacher essentially says, “You know what
this assignment requires, check your
peer’s assignment to make sure it meets
the requirements.” This approach to peer
review is typically used in advanced
classes in which students have the
knowledge, ability, and confidence to
conduct a peer review unaided.
Guided Peer Review
Often the teacher guides peer reviewers’ efforts with a list of general questions to consider as they review their
peers’ papers (see Appendix B). These
questions typically summarize the
assignment directions and also ask the
reviewer to consider specific aspects of
the peer’s writing.
Directed Peer Review
In a directed peer review, the teacher
gives reviewers a checklist that covers
all aspects of the assignment guidelines
(Appendix C). This approach is best
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used with students who have limited
experience in the subject and lack
strong writing skills. The checklist
approach has several advantages: (a) it
ensures that all papers are reviewed
using the same criteria, (b) it helps weak
students or students not knowledgeable
in the area covered by the paper read a
peer’s paper and determine if it meets
the criteria; and (c) it ensures a thorough
review. Finally, the checklist approach
leaves both the reviewer and the author
with a checklist they can take away
from class and use to review their own
papers before they turn them in.
Ways to Incorporate Peer Review
Into the Business Classroom
Peer review can be done by individuals or groups who can provide oral or
written feedback to the author, and the
peer reviewer’s efforts can be evaluated
by the professor or kept entirely
between the reviewer and the author.
Before deciding which technique to use,
teachers must first decide what they
expect their students to accomplish with
the peer review and how much time they
want to devote to it. As mentioned earlier, it is probably unreasonable to expect
peers, except those in advanced classes,
to correct problems in each other’s
work. It is reasonable, in an open-ended
or guided peer review, to expect peers to
comment about how well the assignment reflects the assignment guidelines,
how easy it is to read and understand,
and whether it accomplishes its purpose. In a directed peer review using a
checklist, teachers can expect students
to provide detailed information about
areas where the assignment does and
does not meet assignment guidelines.
Individual Peer Review
The easiest peer review to organize is
one in which students individually
review each other’s papers. For individual peer reviews, the teacher either has
each student swap papers with another
student or collects all the papers and
distributes them to reviewers. Allowing
students to exchange their papers with
whomever they choose has two disadvantages: (a) students tend to swap
papers with their friends, who may not
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Journal of Education for Business
be as critical as they could be and (b)
some students will end up swapping
with students weaker than themselves
and, therefore, may not benefit from the
review process. The main advantage of
having students select their own reviewers is that they know whose paper they
are reviewing and who is reviewing
their paper so getting together at the end
of the class to discuss their papers with
their reviewers takes little time.
Teacher distribution has the advantage
that the teacher can distribute papers so
that the reviewer and the author are not
sitting next to each other. The teacher can
give each student’s paper to another student elsewhere in the classroom. Because
the reviewer and author are not sitting
next to each other (and are probably not
close friends), reviewers tend to be more
thorough. Also, the review process is not
hampered by the socializing in which
friends tend to engage. However, teacher
distribution has the disadvantage that it
takes more time than student swapping.
The teacher not only has to collect and
distribute the students’ papers but also
make provision for returning the papers
to the authors and getting authors and
reviewers together to discuss reviewers’
comments. Unless the teacher makes sure
that authors and reviewers are paired
when distributing the papers, teacher distribution can create pandemonium in
large classes when authors and reviewers
attempt to find each other to discuss each
other’s comments.
review, students check off guidelines
the paper meets, make brief comments
about guidelines the paper does not
meet, and then discuss their comments
with the author. Open-ended and guided peer reviews generally rely on written communication between reviewer
and author. Oral communication has the
advantage of being immediate and
quick. Written feedback, however,
tends to be more thorough than oral
feedback, leaves the author with a document to refer to during revision, gives
all students additional writing experience, and can be checked by the teacher
to make sure reviewers are doing a
thorough job.
Graded or Ungraded Peer Reviews
English teachers using the process
approach often evaluate and grade both
the authors’ paper and the reviewers’
comments. They assess both the quality
and usefulness of the reviewers’ comments and how well the authors incorporated the reviewers’ comments into
their revisions. This approach is useful
in small classes, but it essentially doubles the grading for every assignment
and, therefore, does not work well in
large classes. However, students do
want some credit for their efforts as
reviewers. One option is to award students class participation credits for
completing a peer review.
Disadvantages of Peer Review
Group Peer Review
In group peer review, students work in
groups, typically of four or five. A group
of five, for example, is given five papers
from students outside the group. Each
individual in the group reviews each
paper the group receives. The group discusses each paper and gives the author
comments that summarize all their thinking. Group peer review has the advantage
that authors benefit from more than one
other student’s review. The primary disadvantage is that group peer review takes
more time than individual peer review.
Oral or Written Feedback
Feedback to the author can be oral,
written, or both. In a directed peer
Peer review is a powerful tool for
improving students’ writing, but it is not
without its disadvantages.
Peer Review Takes Class Time
Usually, instructors set aside an entire
class period for the peer review of each
assignment. However, if class time is a
premium, teachers can assign the peer
review to be completed outside of class
and use class time only for reviewers to
discuss their findings with authors.
Group peer reviews almost always follow this process because a single class
period is not normally enough time for a
group of four or five students to critically evaluate and comment on four or five
other students’ papers.
Weak Writers May Not Be Able
to Help Strong Writers
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Although it may be true that weak
writers have little advice to benefit
strong writers, the help students receive
from a peer reviewer may not be the
most valuable aspect of a peer review.
The very act of critically assessing
someone else’s assignment can cause
students to assess their own assignments
more critically. In other words, students
can learn more from their review of
another student’s paper than they learn
from a peer’s review of theirs.
Students Can Assume a Peer’s Review
Caught All Weaknesses
Sometimes students excuse their own
lack of editing or revision by pointing out
that their peers did not point out all the
weaknesses in their papers. However, students should understand that peer reviews
are only part of the revision process and
that they as authors are ultimately responsible for their final submissions.
Conclusion
Experience at all educational levels
has shown that peer review is effective in
improving students’ final drafts.
Although the peer review process takes
time and involves organization and planning, it proves its worth at grading time.
Without a doubt, better written papers
take less time to read and are more enjoyable to grade than poorly written papers.
In addition, the peer review process introduces students to the notion of submitting
their work to peers for review, a common
practice in the workplace. For teachers of
any business subject that requires written
submissions, peer review is worth a try.
NOTE
Correspondence concerning this article should
be addressed to Dr. Lloyd J. Rieber, Marketing
Department, Sobey School of Business, Saint
Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H
3C3, Canada.
E-mail: lloyd.rieber@smu.ca
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APPENDIX A
An Open-Ended Peer Review for a Résumé and Cover Letter Assignment
After reviewing the résumé and cover letter do you think the author
• is using an effective resume and cover letter format?
• understands what the job requires and has demonstrated how he or she meets those
requirements?
• sounds enthusiastic about performing the job?
What changes would you recommend to the author’s résumé or cover letter?
If you were an employer, would you interview this applicant? Why or why not?
APPENDIX B
A Guided Peer Review for a Résumé and Cover Letter Assignment
Cover Letter
In what ways could the author improve the document’s format?
What makes the author’s discussion of job-related assets and evidence convincing?
How does the author show knowledge about the job applied for and the company?
How does the author ask for an interview and provide a time frame for the interview?
How is the tone of the cover letter appropriate or inappropriate for the audience?
Suggest corrections that would improve any aspect of the author’s cover letter.
Résumé
Does the author follow an appropriate résumé format?
How does the résumé highlight skills and experience relevant to the job?
What does the author do to make the most important qualifications for the job stand out?
Other than the author’s work and school experience, what additional information about
the author does the résumé give?
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APPENDIX C
A Directed Peer Review With Specific Questions
Cover Letter
Format
Does the cover letter follow the personal business letter format?
• Return address
• Date
• Inside address
• Dear name or subject or attention line
• Full block format in 12-point type
• Signature block and signature
• Enclosure notation
First Paragraph
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Does the author
• tell the reader he or she is applying for a job and give the job title?
• mention his or her major qualification(s) or central selling feature?
• refer to the advertisement if job is advertised?
Body of letter
Does the author
• show how his or her specific qualifications are relevant for the job?
• discuss only qualifications that are relevant to the job?
• give specific evidence of the qualifications or qualities he or she claims to have by
explaining how she or he gained the qualifications or qualities?
• demonstrate knowledge of the company?
• tell the reader why he or she is applying for this job with this company?
• refer to an enclosed résumé?
Last Paragraph
Does the author
• restate his or her interest in the job?
• ask for an interview or say he or she will call to arrange an interview?
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