Frequently Asked Questions

Click on each question to expand the answer:

What is student peer review, and what are the benefits?

Student peer review involves students giving and receiving feedback on each other’s work thereby providing the opportunity for students revise and improve their assignment prior to final assessment. Students often complain that they do not receive adequate feedback on their work, or receive this feedback too late to make any improvements. Peer review gives students prompt and detailed feedback allowing them to take this feedback on board before they submit assignments.

Four independent peer reviewers provide much greater depth and breadth of feedback than I do alone.
Associate Professor Robert Rubin, DePaul University (2006)

Peer review has lots of other benefits for students including encouraging students to take an active role in their learning, developing generic skills and improving self-confidence.

What assignment types can I use peer review for?

Peer review can be used for a range of disciplines and assignment types, and in principle there are no restrictions on what peer review can be used for. Examples include reports, essays, oral presentations, websites, programming language and art pieces.

Below are some case studies of the use of peer review in a range of assignment types and disciplines:

  1. Accounting
  2. Engineering
  3. Environments
  4. Music
  5. Physics
  6. Science communication
  7. Veterinary science
  8. Zoology
Orin Zebest small

Photo: Orin Zebest

I would like to use peer review, but I am daunted by what seems to be a considerable amount of administration. Are there any tools that can help with this?

There are several online tools that have been developed which dramatically reduce the administrative duties involving in implementing anonymous peer review. One example is PRAZE, which is a web-based peer review program that automates and manages the entire peer review process. PRAZE is highly flexible and customisable and can be adapted to virtually any peer review context.

For more information about PRAZE, visit the PRAZE website.

Will peer review actually result in improvements in my students’ assignments?

Several studies have shown – both quantitatively and through student feedback – that peer review results in improvements in student assignments. Improvement comes from direct feedback from peers, as well as self-reflection and correction triggered by seeing the work of other students.

Feedback on my reports was extremely helpful as each reviewer saw mistakes that neither I nor other reviewers saw, which helped me in improving my own report…
– Student

Isn’t plagiarism of students’ work an issue?

Both students and academics are often concerned that peer review may lead to plagiarism of students’ work. This can be overcome through the use of assignment topics and ensuring students do not review their own topic. The plagiarism detection program TurnItIn could also be incorporated into the final submission process.

My students cover a wide range of capabilities. Will peer review be beneficial for the high achieving students as well?

All students can benefit from the peer review process. It has been shown that while most students show an increase in work quality after participating in peer review, the difference is often less pronounced for high achieving students (Li 2011). However, high achieving students may get particular value from writing reviews and thinking critically about the assessment criteria, as well as developing key skills including diplomacy, negotiation and delivery of constructive feedback (Lundstrom & Baker 2009; Li 2011).

Seeing another high quality draft helped steer me in the right direction because it made me think critically about my own concepts and ideas…
– Student

How should I prepare my students for the peer review process?

Studies have shown that it is critically important to adequately prepare students prior to the beginning of the peer review process. This can allay fears that students may have as to the competence of their peers as reviewers and improve confidence in their own abilities to review assignments. The best way to introduce students to peer review is to set aside class time to deliver a detailed tutorial which describes:

  • The peer review process
  • Benefits of engaging in peer review
  • Issues to consider when writing  a review
  • Constructive advice about the delivery of criticism
  • Examples of high, moderate and poor quality reviews

This tutorial should also include advice on the process of reviewing and time management, and links to online resources for further information. A template for this tutorial is available via the link below.

How can I motivate and encourage my students to engage with the peer review process?

The peer review process works most effectively when all students are involved in both the submission of drafts and the writing of reviews. Techniques to encourage students to become motivated and engaged with the peer review process include:

  • Highlighting the learning benefits involved in the process (i.e. both writing and receiving reviews is beneficial; development of life skills etc.).
  • Make draft and review submission a hurdle requirement.
  • Implement an additional stage where students “grade” reviewers on the quality of their review, and this forms a small part of the final mark for the subject.

My students have expressed concern in both their own ability to conduct reviews and the competence of their peers. How can I improve their confidence?

There are several ways in which instructors can improve both student self-confidence and confidence in the competence of their peers.

I was concerned that my peers wouldn’t really have enough knowledge or experience to give me constructive feedback on my work. However, when I got my reviews back, I found that all of them had some advice that I could incorporate and use to improve my assignment…
– Student

How can I minimise the variation amongst reviewers?

There are several techniques that can be used to reduce variation amongst reviewers: and help ensure students receive quality reviews:

  • Improved training (Tutorial template)
  • Calibration of reviewers (i.e. ensure reviewers are of a minimum standard before they can start reviewing the work of their peers)
  • Structured review forms will encourage reviewers to focus on important aspects of the assignment (i.e. assessable criteria). Examples of review forms can be found in the review form library.
  • Making the reviews assessable (i.e. students receiving the reviews grade the reviewer on their quality) may encourage unmotivated students to put more effort into the process
  • Increasing the number of reviewers will naturally reduce the amount of variation between reviewers and may improve the overall quality of the feedback received (see Cho et al. 2006; Cho & MacArthur 2010)
  • Include an ‘expert’ reviewer (i.e. tutor/instructor/lecturer) in addition to student reviewers

How do I know if students are incorporating the feedback they receive?

It is important to get an understanding of how effective the peer review process is, and whether students are incorporating the feedback they are receiving from their peers. Several studies have addressed this and found that the extent to which students incorporate feedback varies among students (e.g. Paulus 1999; Mei & Yuan 2010). In order to understand whether students are incorporating the feedback they receive, instructors could:

  • Conduct questionnaires after the peer review process (example on p. 19 of “Guide to student peer review”)
  • Compare work of students before and after the peer review process
  • Ask students to complete a summary sheet or ‘Letter to the Editor’ justifying which comments they did/did not incorporate and why.