I got our Medical Microbiology stage 2 students to do a proofreading exercise at the beginning of module MIC2028.
Phillip Aldridge, Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, with Medical Microbiology Stage 2 students preparing for their written assessments.
I wrote a model (good but not perfect) answer to a mock assessment question. Then with the help of a stage 3 student, I set about destroying this model essay: adding spelling and grammar mistakes, changing the order of sentences within a paragraph, inserting sentences that didn't make sense. I gave this destroyed essay to the Stage 2 students and told them to proofread it and bring it to our next session.
My argument was to get the students to become self critical to correct their own work. This came from my observation, and some of my colleagues, that when a student comes to question a mark, you sit down and read the first sentence and end up asking if you need to go any further. My philosophy was that students loose a percentage of the mark simply by not reading/correcting their own work and we as academics simply can't mark it, as it does not make sense. Furthermore by not proofreading what they write they can also take things out of context, which in an essay or report turn into false statements. An example includes 3 facts per sentence bouncing from one aspect of the essay to another without any structure, where what you really need are three distinct clear sentences introducing the facts and an explanation. My argument was that my red pen comments would become more scientific and not simply 'bad English' ,'what are you trying to say', as I have got them to read their own work before submission. Note part of our marking criteria is always structure and organisation of the essay or report.
I felt this has helped the students and will be doing this again. I have examples of their attempts. One experience was to note how different students approach this task. Those that write all over the document to those that will circle just the spelling mistakes. I know from discussion with them that I clearly made them sit up and think about what they were submitting. I also know the students looked at the essays and reports differently when returned partly to first see where the red pen hit their essay. I have introduced a similar policy in the lab. I now refuse to read anything a PhD or Post doc gives me for comments without prior evidence of self-critical proofreading.
Getting students to proofread a ‘model’ essay
Assessment and Feedback
Undergraduate (Stage 2)
Faculty of Medical Sciences (not a School)
-
Individual students
In response to issues