Case Study

This case study records a series of activities tried out by a tutor in Biological Sciences with the aim of improving his students’ essay writing.

Second year students were asked to write an essay in response to the question:

‘Is my final year project addressing an interesting biological question?’

The tutor provided written and oral feedback, and asked the students to go away and revise the essay. When the students brought these to class, the tutor handed them a sheet of questions to help them reflect on the second essay and asked them to write comments in response to them. These were handed in with the second essay. This essay was read not just by the tutor but by a fellow student who was given a detailed set of questions on which to base comments and feedback. Students received a grade not just for their revised essay but for the quality of their comments as peer reviewers. Students did not have a chance to further revise their essays in the light of peer review.

The next page invites you to ask yourself some questions about the case study, and enables you to print off the materials that were used.