feedback on students essay

5 effective constructive feedback examples: Unlocking student potential

This video provides an overview of the key features instructors need to know to make best use of Feedback Studio, accessed through the Turnitin website.

At Turnitin, we’re continuing to develop our solutions to ease the burden of assessment on instructors and empower students to meet their learning goals. Turnitin Feedback Studio and Gradescope provide best-in-class tools to support different assessment types and pedagogies, but when used in tandem can provide a comprehensive assessment solution flexible enough to be used across any institution.

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Providing constructive feedback examples to students is an important part of the learning journey and is crucial to student improvement. It can be used to feed a student’s love of learning and help build a strong student-teacher relationship. But it can be difficult to balance the “constructive” with the “feedback” in an effective way.

On one hand, we risk the student not absorbing the information, and therefore missing an opportunity for growth when we offer criticism, even when constructive. On the other hand, there is a risk of discouraging the student, dampening their desire to learn, or even harming their self-confidence. Further complicating the matter is the fact that every student learns differently, hears and absorbs feedback differently, and is at a different level of emotional and intellectual development than their peers.

We know that we can’t teach every student the exact same way and expect the same results for each of them; the same holds true for providing constructive feedback examples. For best results, it’s important to tailor how constructive feedback is provided based on content, student needs, and a variety of other factors.

In this blog, we’ll take a look at constructive feedback examples and the value of effective instructor feedback, centering on Dr. John Hattie’s research on “Where to next?” feedback. We’ll also offer key examples for students, so instructors at different grade levels can apply best practices right away.

In 1992 , Dr. John Hattie—in a meta-analysis of multiple scientific studies—found that “feedback has one of the positive influences on student achievement,” building on Sadler’s concept that good feedback can close the gap between where students are and where they aim to be (Sadler, 1989 ).

But before getting too far into specifics, it would be helpful to talk about what “constructive feedback” is. Not everyone will define it in quite the same way — indeed, there is no singular accepted definition of the phrase.

For example, a researcher in Buenos Aires, Argentina who studies medical school student and resident performance, defines it, rather dryly, as “the act of giving information to a student or resident through the description of their performance in an observed clinical situation.” In workplace scenarios , you’ll often hear it described as feedback that “reinforces desired behaviors” or, a definition that is closer to educators’ goals in the classroom, “a supportive way to improve areas of opportunity.”

Hattie and Clarke ( 2019 ) define feedback as the information about a learning task that helps students understand what is aimed to be understood versus what is being understood.

For the purposes of this discussion, a good definition of constructive feedback is any feedback that the giver provides with the intention of producing a positive result. This working definition includes important parts from other, varied definitions. In educational spaces, “positive result” usually means growth, improvement, or a lesson learned. This is typically accomplished by including clear learning goals and success criteria within the feedback, motivating students towards completing the task.

If you read this header and thought “well… always?” — yes. In an ideal world, all feedback would be constructive feedback.

Of course, the actual answer is: as soon, and as often, as possible.

Learners benefit most from reinforcement that's delivered regularly. This is true for learners of all ages but is particularly so for younger students. It's best for them to receive constructive feedback as regularly, and quickly, as possible. Study after study — such as this one by Indiana University researchers — shows that student information retention, understanding of tasks, and learning outcomes increase when they receive constructive feedback examples soon after the learning moment.

There is, of course, some debate as to precise timing, as to how soon is soon enough. Carnegie Mellon University has been using their proprietary math software, Cognitive Tutor , since the mid-90s. The program gives students immediate feedback on math problems — the university reports that students who use Cognitive Tutor perform better on a variety of assessments , including standardized exams, than their peers who haven’t.

By contrast, a study by Duke University and the University of Texas El Paso found that students who received feedback after a one-week delay retained new knowledge more effectively than students who received feedback immediately. Interestingly, despite better performance, students in the one-week delayed feedback group reported a preference for immediate feedback, revealing a metacognitive disconnect between actual and perceived effectiveness. Could the week delay have allowed for space between the emotionality of test-taking day and the calm, open-to-feedback mental state of post-assessment? Or perhaps the feedback one week later came in greater detail and with a more personalized approach than instant, general commentary? With that in mind, it's important to note that this study looked at one week following an assessment, not feedback that was given several weeks or months after the exam, which is to say: it may behoove instructors to consider a general window—from immediate to one/two weeks out—after one assessment and before the next assessment for the most effective constructive feedback.

The quality of feedback, as mentioned above, can also influence what is well absorbed and what is not. If an instructor can offer nuanced, actionable feedback tailored to specific students, then there is a likelihood that those students will receive and apply that constructive feedback more readily, no matter if that feedback is given minutes or days after an assessment.

Constructive feedback is effective because it positively influences actions students are able to take to improve their own work. And quick feedback works within student workflows because they have the information they need in time to prepare for the next assessment.

No teacher needs a study to tell them that motivated, positive, and supported students succeed, while those that are frustrated, discouraged, or defeated tend to struggle. That said, there are plenty of studies to point to as reference — this 2007 study review and this study from 2010 are good examples — that show exactly that.

How instructors provide feedback to students can have a big impact on whether they are positive and motivated or discouraged and frustrated. In short, constructive feedback sets the stage for effective learning by giving students the chance to take ownership of their own growth and progress.

It’s one thing to know what constructive feedback is and to understand its importance. Actually giving it to students, in a helpful and productive way, is entirely another. Let’s dive into a few elements of successful constructive feedback:

When it comes to providing constructive feedback that students can act on, instructors need to be specific.

Telling a student “good job!” can build them up, but it’s vague — a student may be left wondering which part of an assessment they did good on, or why “good” as opposed to “great” or “excellent” . There are a variety of ways to go beyond “Good job!” on feedback.

On the other side of the coin, a note such as “needs work” is equally as vague — which part needs work, and how much? And as a negative comment (the opposite of constructive feedback), we risk frustrating them or hurting their confidence.

Science backs up the idea that specificity is important . As much as possible, educators should be taking the time to provide student-specific feedback directly to them in a one-on-one way.

There is a substantial need to craft constructive feedback examples in a way that they actively address students’ individual learning goals. If a student understands how the feedback they are receiving will help them progress toward their goal, they’re more likely to absorb it.

Our veteran Turnitin team of educators worked directly with Dr. John Hattie to research the impact of “Where to next?” feedback , a powerful equation for goal-oriented constructive feedback that—when applied formatively and thoughtfully—has been shown to dramatically improve learning outcomes. Students are more likely to revise their writing when instructors include the following three essential components in their feedback:

• Issue: Highlighting and clearly describing the specific issue related to the writing task.
• Relevance: Aligning feedback explicitly to the stated expectations of the assignment (i.e. rubric).
• Action: Providing the learner with their “next steps,” appropriately guiding the work, but not giving away the answer.

It’s also worth noting that quality feedback does not give the answer outright to the student; rather, it offers guidelines and boundaries so the students themselves can do their own thinking, reasoning, and application of their learning.

As mentioned earlier, it's hard to balance the “constructive” with the “feedback” in an effective way. It’s hard, but it’s important that instructors learn how to do it, because how feedback is presented to a student can have a major impact on how they receive it .

Does the student struggle with self confidence? It might be helpful to precede the corrective part of the feedback acknowledging something they did well. Does their performance suffer when they think they’re being watched? It might be important not to overwhelm them with a long list of ideas on what they could improve.

Constructive feedback examples, while cued into the learning goals and assignment criteria, also benefit from being tailored to both how students learn best and their emotional needs. And it goes without saying that feedback looks different at different stages in the journey, when considering the age of the students, the subject area, the point of time in the term or curriculum, etc.

In keeping everything mentioned above in mind, let’s dive into five different ways an instructor could give constructive feedback to a student. Below, we’ll look at varying scenarios in which the “Where to next?” feedback structure could be applied. Keep in mind that feedback is all the more powerful when directly applied to rubrics or assignment expectations to which students can directly refer.

Below is the template that can be used for feedback. Again, an instructor may also choose to couple the sentences below with an encouraging remark before or after, like: "It's clear you are working hard to add descriptive words to your body paragraphs" or "I can tell that you conducted in-depth research for this particular section."

For instructors with a pile of essays needing feedback and marks, it can feel overwhelming to offer meaningful comments on each one. One tip is to focus on one thing at a time (structure, grammar, punctuation), instead of trying to address each and every issue. This makes feedback not only more manageable from an instructor’s point of view, but also more digestible from a student’ s perspective.

Example: This sentence might be difficult for your readers to understand. Reword this sentence so your meaning is clear to your audience.

Rubrics are an integral piece of the learning journey because they communicate an assignment’s expectations to students. When rubrics are meaningfully tied to a project, it is clear to both instructors and students how an assignment can be completed at the highest level. Constructive feedback can then tie directly to the rubric , connecting what a student may be missing to the overarching goals of the assignment.

Example: The rubric requires at least three citations in this paper. Consider integrating additional citations in this section so that your audience understands how your perspective on the topic fits in with current research.

Within Turnitin Feedback Studio, instructors can add an existing rubric , modify an existing rubric in your account, or create a new rubric for each new assignment.

QuickMark comments are sets of comments for educators to easily leave feedback on student work within Turnitin Feedback Studio.

Educators may either use the numerous QuickMarks sets readily available in Turnitin Feedback Studio, or they may create sets of commonly used comments on their own. Regardless, as a method for leaving feedback, QuickMarks are ideal for leaving “Where to next?” feedback on student work.

Here is an example of “Where to next?” feedback in QuickMarks:

It can be just as helpful to see a non-example of “Where to next?” feedback. In the image below, a well-meaning instructor offers feedback to a student, reminding them of what type of evidence is required in an argumentative essay. However, Issue and Action are missing, which leaves the student wondering: “Where exactly do I need to improve my support? And what next steps ought to be taken?”

Here is a non-example of “Where to next?” feedback in QuickMarks:

As an instructor in a STEM class, one might be wondering, “How do I apply this structure to my feedback?” While “Where to next?” feedback is most readily applied to English Language Arts/writing course assignments, instructors across subject areas can and should try to implement this type of feedback on their assignments by following the structure: Issue + Relevance + Action. Below is an example of how you might apply this constructive feedback structure to a Computer Science project:

Example: The rubric asks you to avoid “hard coding” values, where possible. In this line, consider if you can find a way to reference the size of the array instead.

As educators, we have an incredible power: the power to help struggling students improve, and the power to help propel excelling students on to ever greater heights.

This power lies in how we provide feedback. If our feedback is negative, punitive, or vague, our students will suffer for it. But if it's clear, concise, and, most importantly, constructive feedback, it can help students to learn and succeed.

Study after study have highlighted the importance of giving students constructive feedback, and giving it to them relatively quickly. The sooner we can give them feedback, the fresher the information is in their minds. The more constructively that we package that feedback, the more likely they are to be open to receiving it. And the more regularly that we provide constructive feedback examples, the more likely they are to absorb those lessons and prepare for the next assessment.

The significance of providing effective constructive feedback to students cannot be overstated. By offering specific, actionable insights, educators foster a sense of self-improvement and can truly help to propel students toward their full potential.

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• 10 Types of Essay Feedback and How to Respond to Them

The moment of truth has arrived: you’ve got your marked essay back and you’re eagerly scanning through it, taking in the amount of red pen, and looking at the grade and hastily scrawled feedback at the end.

After deciphering the handwriting, you’re able to see a brief assessment of how you’ve performed in this essay, and your heart either leaps or sinks. Ideally, you’d receive detailed feedback telling you exactly where you fell short and providing helpful guidance on how to improve next time. However, the person marking your essay probably doesn’t have time for that, so instead leaves you very brief remarks that you then have to decode in order to understand how you can do better. In this article, we look at some of the common sorts of remarks you might receive in essay feedback, what they mean, and how to respond to them or take them on board so that you can write a better essay next time – no matter how good this one was!

1. “Too heavily reliant on critics”

We all fall into the trap of regurgitating whatever scholarship we happen to have read in the run-up to writing the essay, and it’s a problem that reveals that many students have no idea what their own opinion is. We’re so busy paraphrasing what scholars have said that we forget to think about whether we actually agree with what they’ve said. This is an issue we discussed in a recent article on developing your own opinion , in which we talked about how to approach scholarship with an open and critical mind, make up your own mind and give your own opinion in your essays. If you’ve received this kind of feedback, the person marking your essay has probably noticed that you’ve followed exactly the same line of thinking as one or more of the books on your reading list, without offering any kind of original comment. Take a look at the article linked to just now and you’ll soon be developing your own responses.

2. “Too short”

If your essay falls significantly short of the prescribed word count, this could suggest that you haven’t put in enough work. Most essays will require extensive reading before you can do a topic justice, and if you’ve struggled to fill the word count, it’s almost certainly because you haven’t done enough reading, and you’ve therefore missed out a significant line of enquiry. This is perhaps a sign that you’ve left it too late to write your essay, resulting in a rushed and incomplete essay (even if you consider it finished, it’s not complete if it hasn’t touched on topics of major relevance). This problem can be alleviated by effective time management, allowing plenty of time for the research phase of your essay and then enough time to write a detailed essay that touches on all the important arguments. If you’re struggling to think of things to say in your essay, try reading something on the topic that you haven’t read before. This will offer you a fresh perspective to talk about, and possibly help you to understand the topic clearly enough to start making more of your own comments about it.

3. “Too long”

[pullquote] “The present letter is a very long one, simply because I had no leisure to make it shorter” – Blaise Pascal [/pullquote]It sounds counter-intuitive, but it’s actually much easier to write an essay that’s too long than one that’s too short. This is because we’re all prone to waffling when we’re not entirely sure what we want to say, and/or because we want to show the person marking our essay that we’ve read extensively, even when some of the material we’ve read isn’t strictly relevant to the essay question we’ve been set. But the word count is there for a reason: it forces you to be clear and concise, leaving out what isn’t relevant. A short (say, 500-word) essay is actually a challenging academic exercise, so if you see fit to write twice the number of words, the person marking the essay is unlikely to be impressed. Fifty to a hundred words over the limit probably won’t be too much of an issue if that’s less than 10% of the word count, and will probably go unnoticed, but if you’ve ended up with something significantly over this, it’s time to start trimming. Re-read what you’ve written and scrutinise every single line. Does it add anything to your argument? Are you saying in ten words what could be said in three? Is there a whole paragraph that doesn’t really contribute to developing your argument? If so, get rid of it. This kind of ruthless editing and rephrasing can quickly bring your word count down, and it results in a much tighter and more carefully worded essay.

4. “Contradicts itself”

Undermining your own argument is an embarrassing mistake to make, but you can do it without realising when you’ve spent so long tweaking your essay that you can no longer see the wood for the trees. Contradicting yourself in an essay is also a sign that you haven’t completely understood the issues and haven’t formed a clear opinion on what the evidence shows. To avoid this error, have a detailed read through your essay before you submit it and look in particular detail at the statements you make. Looking at them in essence and in isolation, do any of them contradict each other? If so, decide which you think is more convincing and make your argument accordingly.

5. “Too many quotations”

It’s all too easy to hide behind the words of others when one is unsure of something, or lacking a complete understanding of a topic. This insecurity leads us to quote extensively from either original sources or scholars, including long chunks of quoted text as a nifty way of upping the word count without having to reveal our own ignorance (too much). But you won’t fool the person marking your essay by doing this: they’ll see immediately that you’re relying too heavily on the words of others, without enough intelligent supporting commentary, and it’s particularly revealing when most of the quotations are from the same source (which shows that you haven’t read widely enough). It’s good to include some quotations from a range of different sources, as it adds colour to your essay, shows that you’ve read widely and demonstrates that you’re thinking about different kinds of evidence. However, if you’ve received this kind of feedback, you can improve your next essay by not quoting more than a sentence at a time, making the majority of the text of your essay your own words, and including plenty of your own interpretation and responses to what you’ve quoted. Another word of advice regarding quotations: one of my tutors once told me is that one should never end an essay on a quotation. You may think that this is a clever way of bringing your essay to a conclusion, but actually you’re giving the last word to someone else when it’s your essay, and you should make the final intelligent closing remark. Quoting someone else at the end is a cop-out that some students use to get out of the tricky task of writing a strong final sentence, so however difficult the alternative may seem, don’t do it!

6. “Not enough evidence”

In an essay, every point you make must be backed up with supporting evidence – it’s one of the fundamental tenets of academia. You can’t make a claim unless you can show what has lead you to it, whether that’s a passage in an original historical source, the result of some scientific research, or any other form of information that would lend credibility to your statement. A related problem is that some students will quote a scholar’s opinion as though it were concrete evidence of something; in fact, that is just one person’s opinion, and that opinion has been influenced by the scholar’s own biases. The evidence they based the opinion on might be tenuous, so it’s that evidence you should be looking at, not the actual opinion of the scholar themselves. As you write your essay, make a point of checking that everything you’ve said is adequately supported.

7. “All over the place” / “Confused”

An essay described as “all over the place” – or words to that effect – reveals that the student who wrote it hasn’t developed a clear line of argument, and that they are going off at tangents and using an incoherent structure in which one point doesn’t seem to bear any relation to the previous one. A tight structure is vital in essay-writing, as it holds the reader’s interest and helps build your argument to a logical conclusion. You can avoid your essay seeming confused by writing an essay plan before you start. This will help you get the structure right and be clear about what you want to say before you start writing.

8. “Misses the point”

This feedback can feel particularly damning if you’ve spent a long time writing what you thought was a carefully constructed essay. A simple reason might be that you didn’t read the question carefully enough. But it’s also a problem that arises when students spend too long looking at less relevant sources and not enough at the most important ones, because they ran out of time, or because they didn’t approach their reading lists in the right order, or because they failed to identify correctly which the most important sources actually were. This leads to students focusing on the wrong thing, or perhaps getting lost in the details. The tutor marking the essay, who has a well-rounded view of the topic, will be baffled if you’ve devoted much of your essay to discussing something you thought was important, but which they know to be a minor detail when compared with the underlying point. If you’re not sure which items on your reading list to tackle first, you could try asking your tutor next time if they could give you some pointers on which of the material they recommend you focus on first. It can also be helpful to prompt yourself from time to time with the question “What is the point?”, as this will remind you to take a step back and figure out what the core issues are.

9. “Poor presentation”

This kind of remark is likely to refer to issues with the formatting of your essay, spelling and punctuation, or general style. Impeccable spelling and grammar are a must, so proofread your essay before you submit it and check that there are no careless typos (computer spell checks don’t always pick these up). In terms of your writing style, you might get a comment like this if the essay marker found your writing either boring or in a style inappropriate to the context of a formal essay. Finally, looks matter: use a sensible, easy-to-read font, print with good-quality ink and paper if you’re printing, and write neatly and legibly if you’re handwriting. Your essay should be as easy to read as possible for the person marking it, as this lessens their workload and makes them feel more positively towards your work.

10. “Very good”

On the face of it, this is the sort of essay feedback every student wants to hear. But when you think about it, it’s not actually very helpful – particularly when it’s accompanied by a mark that wasn’t as high as you were aiming for. With these two words, you have no idea why you didn’t achieve top marks. In the face of such (frankly lazy) marking from your teacher or lecturer, the best response is to be pleased that you’ve received a positive comment, but to go to the person who marked it and ask for more comments on what you could have done to get a higher mark. They shouldn’t be annoyed at your asking, because you’re simply striving to do better every time.

General remarks on responding to essay feedback

We end with a few general pieces of advice on how to respond to essay feedback.

• Don’t take criticism personally.
• Remember that feedback is there to help you improve.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for more feedback if what they’ve said isn’t clear.
• Don’t rest on your laurels – if you’ve had glowing feedback, it’s still worth asking if there’s anything you could have done to make the essay even better.

It can be difficult to have one’s hard work (metaphorically) ripped apart or disparaged, but feedback is ultimately there to help you get higher grades, get into better universities, and put you on a successful career path; so keep that end goal in mind when you get your essay back.

Image credits: banner ; library ; snake ; magnifying glass ; dartboard ; suggestions box . 

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5 Well-crafted Essay Feedback Examples That Promote Growth

• backlinkworks
• Writing Articles & Reviews
• September 15, 2023

Introduction

Providing constructive and valuable feedback is a crucial aspect of the learning process for students. By offering insightful comments, educators can guide students towards improvement and growth in their essay writing skills. In this article, we will explore five well-crafted essay feedback examples that promote growth and development in students.

Example 1: Highlighting Strengths and Areas for Improvement

One effective feedback approach is to first recognize the strengths of a student’s essay. Start by pointing out the well-developed arguments, strong use of evidence, or exceptional creativity demonstrated in the paper. By acknowledging these strengths, students gain confidence and motivation to continue their growth. However, IT is equally important to point out areas for improvement. Identify the weaker arguments, inconsistencies, or areas that lack clarity. Provide specific suggestions, such as recommending additional research or providing examples to support their claims.

Example 2: Encouraging Critical Thinking

Essay feedback should encourage students to think critically about their arguments and evidence. Prompt them to question assumptions, analyze the underlying logic, and consider alternative viewpoints. For instance, instead of simply providing answers or corrections, ask probing questions that encourage deeper reflection. By fostering critical thinking skills, students learn to evaluate their own work more objectively and develop a more nuanced understanding of the subject matter.

Example 3: Providing Clear and Actionable Suggestions

Clear feedback needs to provide specific suggestions for improvement. Rather than simply stating that the introduction is weak, provide guidance on how to make IT stronger. For instance, suggest different ways to hook the reader or restructure the introduction to create a more compelling thesis statement. Specific and actionable suggestions give students tangible steps to take to enhance their essays, enabling them to actively work towards growth.

Example 4: Focusing on Grammar and Language

In addition to addressing content and arguments, essay feedback should also focus on grammar and language. While IT is important to acknowledge that these aspects do not determine the overall quality of an essay, providing feedback on language use helps students become more effective communicators. Offer suggestions on sentence structure, word choice, and clarity. Additionally, recommend reliable resources, such as grammar guides or language learning tools, to further assist with language improvement.

Example 5: Encouraging Revision and Reflective Practice

Feedback should emphasize the importance of revision and encourage students to engage in reflective practices. Guide students in reflecting on their initial writing process and identifying specific areas for modification. Encourage multiple drafts, emphasizing that quality essays are rarely achieved with just one attempt. By promoting revision and reflection, students understand the iterative nature of writing and are motivated to continuously enhance their skills.

Effective essay feedback is a powerful tool in promoting growth and development in students’ writing abilities. By highlighting strengths and areas for improvement, encouraging critical thinking, providing clear suggestions, focusing on grammar and language, and emphasizing revision and self-reflection, educators can help students become better writers. Constructive feedback not only enhances their current work but also equips students with invaluable skills for future endeavors.

Q: How can essay feedback benefit students?

A: Essay feedback benefits students by encouraging growth and improvement in their writing skills. IT allows them to identify their strengths and weaknesses, prompts critical thinking, and offers actionable suggestions for enhancement.

Q: Should essay feedback only focus on grammar and language?

A: No, essay feedback should not be limited to grammar and language alone. While these aspects are crucial, feedback must also address content , arguments, structure, and clarity. Providing feedback on all these aspects contributes to overall growth in a student’s writing ability.

Q: How often should students receive essay feedback?

A: The frequency of essay feedback may vary depending on educational settings and assignments. However, IT is beneficial for students to receive feedback on a regular basis, ideally after each major essay submission. Frequent feedback enables students to apply the suggestions and lessons learned to subsequent assignments, fostering continuous growth.

Q: How should feedback be delivered to students?

A: Feedback can be delivered in various formats, such as written comments, in-person discussions, or even audio/video recordings. IT is essential to choose a delivery method that ensures clarity and allows students to fully understand the feedback provided. Additionally, offering opportunities for students to ask questions or seek further clarification supports their growth.

Q: Can feedback be overwhelming for students?

A: Feedback, if not properly delivered, can feel overwhelming for students. IT is essential for educators to balance constructive criticism with acknowledgment of their strengths. Providing clear and specific suggestions, along with encouragement and support, can help students navigate feedback and view IT as an opportunity for growth.

Providing well-crafted essay feedback is an art. Educators who perfect this skill empower their students to develop stronger writing abilities, critical thinking skills, and a growth mindset. By employing these five examples of effective feedback, teachers can make a lasting impact on their students’ writing journey.

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Trending Post : 12 Powerful Discussion Strategies to Engage Students

How to Respond to Student Writing: 10 Ways to Give Feedback that Sticks

Have you ever had the experience of a student crying, arguing, or yelling after handing back a graded essay? Have you personally ever felt wronged by a teacher or college professor whose feedback on an essay left you feeling one inch tall? Responding to writing is challenging because…writing is vulnerable. People have an emotional connection to the words they put on paper. If you’re wondering how to give feedback on student writing in an effective manner, this post is for you.

The way teachers provide feedback on students’ writing directly impacts their internal dialogue and self-perceptions. None of us approach grading essays with the intention of making a student feel bad, but we always know when it has inadvertently happened.

The problem comes in when English teachers have 150 papers to grade at a time. It can be easy to fall into the trap of commenting quickly to get through the massive stack faster – understandable on many levels. What that means, though, is that we might not be putting the amount of thought into our feedback that we need to in terms of being sensitive to how students will perceive it.

So, what can we do? If you’ve landed on this post because you’re wondering how to give feedback on student writing, here are ten tips that could provide some fresh insight.

HOW TO GIVE FEEDBACK ON STUDENT WRITING

1. narrow the focus.

When responding to writing, we need to think about what we  really  want our students to know. We can’t comment on everything because students won’t learn #allthethings like we hope they will. Instead, we can provide fewer comments that are meaningful suggestions worded in a way that are sensitive to students’ perceptions.

For example, if a student’s essay is full of spelling errors, it’s not necessary to circle every word (although it may be tempting to do so). Why not just write, “Please check spelling throughout the essay” or “Please ask a parent help you spell check”?  These comments are more positive and seem like less of a Sisyphean task.

2. ASK QUESTIONS INSTEAD OF MAKING STATEMENTS

Research shows that asking questions is more beneficial to learning than making statements. Questions push people to figure out answers on their own. In terms of wanting to influence students’ self talk in a positive way, consider the following.

Maybe you notice a student’s essay is wrought with run-ons. Would it be more beneficial to…

• State: “There are run-ons in every paragraph. Proofread more carefully.”    OR….
• Ask: “ Where might you insert end marks to help the audience follow your line of thinking more easily? Please review the notes on sentence errors and then make some revisions.”

3. CONFER WITH STUDENTS

It’s a lot easier to word suggestions in a positive manner if you are speaking with the student. In writing, it’s more difficult to infer tone, and it’s easier to write something that is brash than it is to speak it. Talking with students is one way to get to know them better as writers and as people.

Students need to feel a genuine relationship with their teacher in order to really be vulnerable and accept suggestions for improvement. Plus, conferring with students means we spend less time grading a mountain of papers. During conferring, we can word suggestions kindly to build students’ optimistic self-talk.

Not sure how to get organized? These writing conference forms can help.

4. USE A ONE-TO-ONE RATIO

Students will be more receptive to constructive feedback when it’s balanced with praise. Point out students’ strengths. Tell them what they did well. If you can’t find enough strengths in their writing, it’s probably a good idea just to help them develop one goal to work on for improvement. Anything else would be overwhelming…and it might make them feel incapable.

Plus, how many things can a student work on improving at the same time and truly master? A one-to-one ratio is a good goal to begin with if you’re not used to balancing feedback. Begin with the positive.

5. KEEP FEEDBACK TIMELY

When talking about how to give feedback on student writing, the answer is often in the timing. It can be difficult to provide feedback quickly after students submit an essay. However, when we allow too much time to pass, the feedback is no longer relevant to students. That’s a problem when we want our feedback to build confidence while also encouraging students to want to grow.

Helping students develop their writing skills requires a trusting relationship between teacher and pupil. If a student can’t depend on the teacher to return an essay within a reasonable amount of time, why would they trust us when we offer suggestions for improvement? What are we really saying when we don’t hand back feedback for two months after students submit an essay? What message does that convey?

6. JUST READ

The answer to the question of how to respond to student writing may be much more simple than it seems. The first time you look at a student’s essay, just read it. Take time to reflect on what you read before making any comments. This strategy will help you to write only the things that matter most and reduce time nit-picking every error.

Sometimes when responding to writing, our impulse is to point out every imperfection, but that doesn’t help the student or us as teachers. Just put away the pen for the first reading, and then balance positive and constructive feedback as you note the most important goals for each student.

7. ASK STUDENTS TO REFLECT

One important step in helping students improve their internal dialogue is allowing them to find their own mistakes. It’s true, students won’t find everything you will. But, when we provide them with a rubric we have carefully explained and referenced in advance, they should be able to pinpoint areas where they can grow.

Understanding how students view their writing will help us in two ways:

• We will be aware of what students think their strengths and weaknesses are. In this way, if they think their ideas are excellent, we know that we need to have a conversation with them about how content can be improved rather than writing feedback in the margins and giving them an “unsatisfactory” rating for that component.
• It prepares students to accept help. If they know their writing isn’t perfect, they will be less likely to negatively internalize suggestions for improvement.

8. BE SPECIFIC

It’s easy to rush through grading papers and leave vague comments like “awkward” or “confusing.” Yet, those comments don’t help students, and they typically are not internalized positively. A more helpful approach would be to leave kind, specific suggestions. For example, “Can you clarify this argument? I’m not sure what you mean here” or “Is the hotdog driving the car? Try rewording the sentence to clarify.”

Even when we are leaving good feedback, it helps to be specific. Rather than, “good” or “love this!” try writing, “This sentence really emphasizes the importance of the research” or “This transition is so helpful for readers to follow your line of thinking.”

9. CLARIFY THE AUDIENCE’S VIEW

Instead of pointing out what the writer did wrong, focus on what might confuse readers. For instance, will the audience be confused about how the hook relates to the thesis? You could ask, “What is the connection between the hook and the thesis? Can you help readers understand how they relate in the bridge?”

Another example might be if a student only cites direct quotes in the essay and does not paraphrase research. You could write, “How many of the sentences in this paragraph are in your own wording? How might you revise so that the audience will be able to hear  your voice coming through?”

Focusing on what the readers  need instead of what the writer  did wrong is another way we can be sensitive to students’ internal dialogue.

10. HELP STUDENTS UNDERSTAND THEMSELVES

What we stress in our feedback shapes how students view their writing abilities. It’s important that our feedback leads students to a point where they can see their own strengths and weaknesses. Pointing out patterns can be useful because students are not usually able to observe these patterns about themselves.

To illustrate, maybe a student is a talented writer, but he or she is consistently verbose. We can show students these areas for growth through our feedback.

I love how you take time to select words that are meaningful and precise. I can tell you put a lot of time and effort into writing sentences that are mature. I’m proud of you! Here is one area for growth I’d like you to consider: How can you maintain your personal style and your impressive word choice while also being more concise so that readers are can follow along easier?

Alternatively, give students your feedback, but don’t attach it to a grade. Allow them to let the feedback (using the tips above) sink in and reflect on their own areas for growth according to the rubric.

Responding to writing in a way that improves students’ internal dialogue and respects their readiness levels is hard. The best approach is for us to put ourselves in our students’ shoes. What would we want or not want a teacher to tell us?

Still pondering how to give feedback on student writing? Lauralee from Language Arts Classroom has some ideas to share.

5 Sentence Fluency Minilessons

Teaching elaboration in writing, how to model writing for students, related resource:.

Make feedback as meaningful as possible by conferring with student writers. Writing conferences help us to build confidence, establish relationships, and differentiate writing goals for all students. Use these writing forms to get started!

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How to Implement Essay Feedback: A Guide to Academic Success

(Last updated: 24 November 2023)

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Embarking on the journey of essay writing is both an art and a skill that requires continuous refinement. One crucial aspect that contributes to this refinement is constructive feedback. Feedback acts as a guiding light, illuminating areas for improvement and highlighting strengths. In this blog post, we'll explore the significance of essay feedback and discuss effective ways to implement it into your writing process.

The Importance of Feedback for Your Essays

Constructive feedback is a cornerstone of academic development. It serves as a valuable tool for honing writing skills, refining arguments, and enhancing overall clarity. Feedback encourages self-reflection, individualised development, and the fostering of a growth mindset. Beyond academia, it prepares students for the real world, nurturing a skill vital for professional success – the ability to receive, process, and act on constructive criticism.

Establishing a Feedback System

• Peer Review : Encourage a collaborative environment by engaging in peer review sessions. Peer feedback provides diverse perspectives, helping you identify blind spots and areas that may require clarification. Constructive criticism from peers fosters a supportive writing community.
• Instructor Feedback : Seek feedback from instructors or mentors who can provide expert insights. Instructors often offer valuable guidance on structure, argumentation, and the application of critical concepts. Don't hesitate to ask for clarification if certain feedback points are unclear. If you need expert guidance to enhance your essay writing , our dedicated team of experienced academics and editors can provide personalised feedback tailored to your unique writing style.
• Online Platforms : Leverage online platforms and writing communities where you can submit your work for feedback. Websites and forums dedicated to writing often have members who are willing to offer constructive criticism. Be open to feedback from diverse sources to get a comprehensive view of your writing.

Implementing Feedback Effectively

• Prioritise Revisions : Once you receive feedback, prioritise implementing revisions. Identify the key areas for improvement and revise your essay accordingly. This iterative process not only enhances the quality of your current work but also contributes to your growth as a writer.
• Reflect on Feedback : Take the time to reflect on the feedback received. Understand the rationale behind the comments and consider how you can apply the suggestions in your future writing. This reflective process builds a deeper understanding of your strengths and areas that need refinement.
• Iterative Writing Process : View essay writing as an iterative process. Each draft is an opportunity for improvement. Embrace the feedback loop by consistently refining your work. The more you engage with feedback, the more your writing will evolve.

Become a More Proficient Writer

Implementing effective essay feedback is a dynamic process that requires openness to critique and a commitment to improvement. Whether it's through peer reviews, instructor feedback, or online platforms, the insights gained from others are invaluable. By embracing feedback as a catalyst for growth, you can refine your writing skills and navigate the path to becoming a more proficient and confident writer. Remember, your writing journey is a continuous evolution, and each piece of feedback is a stepping stone towards mastery.

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Sample Feedback - Student to Student

First of all, this is clearly a well-thought out and well-written essay. The first paragraph offers a strong hook, while at the same time providing important historical information. You transition smoothly into the second paragraph, which successfully sets up your thesis. I think your thesis is really three-pronged, and incorporates both the second-to-last sentence of the second paragraph, which you described as the sentence that explains your motive, and the last sentence in the paragraph. The second-to-last sentence brings in your argument about the relationship between Schlesinger’s and Kennan’s works. The last sentence takes this argument further with the suggestion that “democracy, not totalitarianism, is the real issue to be solved in the Cold War,” and then offers a solution: “the revitalization of the individual’s spirit” (Craig 4). In response to your expressed doubt regarding the strength and validity of your thesis, I think it is definitely a valid argument.

There are, however, a few places where I saw potential for improvement. In your cover letter, you explained your thought process in structuring your paper. After reading through the paper a few times, I realized that you could maybe rearrange, and slightly rework, some of your body paragraphs in order to make the development of your argument more logical and systematic. Your third paragraph is really strong; all of your points are well-supported, and your quotes are sufficiently analyzed. But I feel like a smoother transition could be made between this paragraph and your fifth body paragraph. Your third paragraph discusses democracy’s inherent flaws, and how these flaws lead to anxiety, which “creates the greatest draw to the totalitarian state” (Craig 4). It seems to me like this paragraph leads perfectly into your argument that the failure of democracy “has had dire consequences for the human race” (Craig 5). This paragraph serves to further develop the point you make in the third paragraph, and to bring in different angles of this point. The fifth paragraph transitions directly into your sixth paragraph, in which you explain totalitarianism as the “new alternative” (Craig 6). (By the way, I really liked the last sentence of this paragraph—“The very creation of the totalitarian state is evidence enough…”). Then , I see a logical transition between your sixth paragraph and your fourth paragraph; after talking about the failure of democracy, and how this has lead people to seek security in the “new alternative,” it makes sense to discuss how totalitarianism (the “new alternative”) “fail[s] to solve these very same problems” (Craig 4). Because you wrote in a different order, the fourth paragraph obviously doesn’t flow well into the seventh paragraph, but I think with a few additional sentences, you could make a successful transition from the fourth paragraph into the seventh (which beings the end segment of your paper, addressing the third prong of your thesis).

You also mentioned in your cover letter that you were worried it may seem like you repeat yourself. I don’t think you do (except maybe slight overuse of the word anxiety in the first few paragraphs), but I think you could maybe condense the end of your essay by incorporating the points you make in your eight paragraph into your seventh paragraph, instead of separating them into different paragraphs. You introduce your eight paragraph with a reference back to Kennan’s writing, which seemed somewhat out of place and disruptive of the flow of the argument. I realize that you’re trying to engage with both Kennan’s and Schlesinger’s texts, but maybe you could cut out some of the analysis of “The Long Telegram” in this segment, and just discuss Schlesinger’s deeper analysis of the task at hand—“breathing new life into the spirit of democratic man” (Craig 8). Basically, this section (the seventh and eighth paragraphs) was the only point at which I felt like you were repeating similar points unnecessarily, and making some points, particularly regarding Kennan’s argument, that didn’t seem to contribute to your thesis.

Lastly, after what I saw as a generally strong and logically developed argument, I didn’t think your conclusion managed to successfully solidify your thesis. It becomes slightly unclear whether you’re claiming that Schlesinger believes that “the key difference between totalitarian nations and democratic ones lies in the soul of their people” (Craig 9), or you’re expressing your own opinion. For example, I really like the way you worded this: “the democratic man will die for what he believes in, while the totalitarian man will be killed for disbelief” (Craig 9)—but whose voice is this? Your thesis clearly states Schlesinger’s implications in his writing, not your own understanding of the failure of democracy and the “new alternative”; however, doesn’t drive this point home, and your final point seems too personal and slightly out of place.

Sorry if this response is filled with confusing and/or overwhelming advice. I really enjoyed reading your paper; it made me think about these complex issues in a new light. I had so much to say about your writing because I found your argument, and the way in which you approached it, really thought-provoking and interesting (not because I found significant fault with it). Hopefully I didn’t just add more confusion, and good luck revising!

• Tips & Guides

Providing Effective Feedback on Student Papers

• by Amelia Kennedy
• Posted on September 1, 2019 April 27, 2021

Providing effective feedback on student papers is one of the most challenging yet rewarding parts of teaching. In general, I’ve found that my students appreciate substantive feedback and nearly always incorporate it into subsequent papers. Watching students grow more confident in their writing voices over the course of the semester is immensely satisfying.

Yet offering helpful feedback is also a definite challenge. How can you phrase criticism clearly and constructively? What elements of paper writing should you emphasize? How can you be sure your students will even read your feedback?!

Well, you have no control over that last one, but assuming that (most of) your students read your comments, there are several strategies you can use to make those comments as helpful as possible.

Have a clear focus

It’s tempting to address every single writing issue all at once. You receive a paper with a weak argument, poor structure, fantastical leaps of logic, sloppy citations, and awkward phrasing, and naturally you want to mop up all these issues. So you fill every page with red ink until it’s almost unreadable.

The problem? This kind of super extensive feedback will almost certainly overwhelm the student . Instead, it’s better to focus on one or two major areas for improvement.

Perhaps for the first paper of the semester, you focus on argument , a fundamental component of most college papers. Is the student’s argument specific, debatable, and evidence-based? Then for the second paper, you focus on organization : Are paragraphs laid out in a sensible order? Does each paragraph have a topic sentence and one main point? The third paper might be all about working with sources and evidence : How well has the student analyzed primary sources? How well incorporated are secondary sources? Is everything cited properly? And then the final paper might bring all these different elements—argument, organization, sources—together.

Tell students upfront what you will be looking for in their papers. Then keep this focus in mind when formulating comments on each paper. If you’re concentrating on argument, provide direct feedback on each student’s argument.

For example: “Your argument is strong, clearly stated, and supported by ample evidence.”

Or: “Your argument needs further refinement. As of now, it is more of an observation or statement of fact than a debatable argument.”

Or: “You’re on the right track, but try narrowing down the scope of your argument.”

Add further details based on the specifics of the assignment and the papers you receive.

Consider providing a rubric

Again, it’s a good idea to tell students what you want from them, and a rubric is a clear way of doing this. A rubric outlines the major components of the paper and your expectations. You can make your own or adapt one your find online. You can find some sample rubrics here:

• Research paper rubric
• College writing rubric
• Collection of rubrics serving a variety of purposes
• Another collection of sample rubrics

One major advantage of rubrics is that they encourage consistency and transparency. They help you, as the instructor, grade efficiently. And they also help students learn how to evaluate their own work and self-correct issues as they arise.

Provide specific suggestions in the margins

I generally avoid writing in marginal and in-text comments during a first read-through (with the possible exception of correcting grammatical errors). I like to get a sense of the paper first, then go back and add comments where appropriate.

Point out sentences or areas that are confusing to you as a reader. Does the student need to add a transition, clarify a confusing passage, or respond better to a counterargument? Similarly, point out specific areas that are well-executed. If a student deploys an effective transition, defines terms clearly, or offers a strong rebuttal, say so!

You can also ask questions to prompt your students to think more deeply about their arguments. Is a paragraph really vague or confusing? Ask a question to encourage the student to clarify things. Does the argument fail to take a relevant primary source into account? Ask why this source was excluded or how its inclusion might alter the overall argument.

Distinguish between global and local areas of improvement

In general, you’ll want to emphasize global concerns (or “ higher-order ” issues), which encompass the paper as a whole. Does the paper fulfill assignment requirements? Does it have a solid argument? Is the argument supported by sufficient evidence that is arranged in a logical order?

When writing your feedback, reflect on the key global takeaway for the paper. What (if anything) is the biggest area to improve? Or conversely, what does the paper do especially well?

Local concerns (or “lower-order” issues), on the other hand, have more to do with sentence-level issues. Is the paper grammatically sound and stylistically pleasing? Are the citations correctly formatted? Your feedback will likely also include suggestions for improvement on these fronts. If a paper has numerous local issues, try to concentrate on just a few at a time.

Write a final, holistic comment

Your final remarks should take a broad, global view of the paper and give a balanced assessment of its strengths and weaknesses. Avoid overly judgmental comments (e.g.: “You clearly did not spend enough time on this paper”) and stick to the paper at hand. Broadly speaking, what does the paper do well? What could it do better?

Try to keep your final remarks focused by resisting the temptation to cover everything. Stick to just a few main suggestions. For example, you might evaluate the student’s overall argument and structure (global issues), then note a recurring issue with citation format (local issue).

If possible, assign multiple papers or drafts

Ideally, your class design will allow for either multiple papers or multiple drafts of one longer paper. This will give your students the chance to apply your feedback, and you’ll be better able to track their progress over the course of the semester. Students are more likely to take feedback seriously if they are given opportunities for revision.

References and further reading:

Brad Hughes, “ Questioning Assumptions : What Makes for Effective Feedback on Student Writing?” University of Wisconsin—Madison.

“ Commenting on Student Writing ,” Teaching Center, Washington University in St. Louis.

“ Giving Feedback on Student Writing ,” Sweetland Center for Writing, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, University of Michigan.

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Amelia Kennedy

Amelia Kennedy is a PhD candidate in History at Yale University. She has served as a Teaching Fellow for courses on Medieval Europe, the Hellenistic World, Eastern Europe, and the History of Science and Medicine. As a 2016 Lead Instructor for Yale Young Global Scholars, she has also designed and taught high school seminars on the Medical Humanities.

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• Writing Tips

How to Give Feedback on a College Paper

4-minute read

• 14th January 2019

Whether you’re teaching or just helping a friend, offering feedback on a college paper can be intimidating if you’ve not done it before. We do, though, have a few tips to share on this subject.

Content vs. Quality of Writing

There are two things you may want to offer feedback on when reading a college paper:

• The content of the paper itself
• How well it is written

The feedback you provide will depend on the topic and type of essay . But there are some things you could comment on for any paper, including:

• Spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors
• The overall structure and readability of the paper
• Academic vocabulary and writing style
• Factual inaccuracies or ambiguities
• Whether the author provides evidence for their arguments
• Clarity and consistency of referencing

Ideally, you’ll be able to provide feedback on all of these. However, if you’re simply reading the first draft of a paper to help a friend, you may want to check what kind of feedback they want.

Try, too, to provide a balance of positive and negative feedback. It’s just as important to note something that is well written as something that needs clarifying. After all, if the author sees nothing but negative comments, they could get discouraged and stop caring.

Comments in Margins vs. In-Depth Feedback

One way of leaving feedback is to make notes in the margins (either on paper or using the comment function in Microsoft Word, depending on how you are reading it). These should be short notes related to a specific issue (e.g., to highlight a misspelled word or a missing citation).

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Try not to leave too many comments in the margins, though. If there is a recurring problem (e.g., consistently misspelling a word), don’t comment on it every time. Instead, leave a comment noting the pattern of errors. This highlights the issue without overwhelming the reader.

You may also want to provide some overall feedback at the end of the paper. Ideally, this in-depth feedback should:

• Start positive (e.g., This is a well-researched, well-organized paper… )
• Focus on one or two major issues rather than repeating everything you have commented on in the margins (if there are too many big problems to pick one or two, you may want to speak to the author in person instead)
• Provide concrete criticism on specific problems, including page numbers where relevant, not just general criticisms (e.g., You are missing citations in section three… rather than The referencing in this paper is not very good… )
• End by highlighting areas that could be improved and potential solutions

If you are offering feedback on an essay-in-progress, focus on issues that could be improved in the paper at hand. If you are marking a final draft, however, you may want to offer advice on strengths and weaknesses that the author can keep in mind for the next paper they write.

Marking Criteria

Finally, if you’re teaching on a college course – or even just marking papers – you should have access to the marking criteria. These will be set by the school or whoever is teaching the class. More importantly, though, they will set out expectations for what a good paper should do in detail.

These criteria are most useful when grading a paper, but they can also be helpful if you’re simply giving feedback. They can be useful when planning a paper, too, so they’re worth asking about even if you’re writing an essay rather than offering feedback! If you’re not sure where to find the marking criteria for your course, check your school’s website or ask your professor.

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101 Positive Feedback Examples (Copy and Paste)

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

Learn about our Editorial Process

Positive feedback is essential for providing a supportive and encouraging environment – be it at school, in the workplace, or with personal relationships.

But it needs to be personalized, specific, and encouraging in order for it to have the most effect.

Below are 100 positive feedback examples that you can copy and paste – find the one that’s specific for your needs and then edit it so it’s more personalized for the person receiving the feedback.

Don’t forget to also embrace constructive feedback as well to give the person ideas about avenues for ongoing improvement.

Positive Feedback Examples

1. general praise.

• Excellent effort: It is clear to see that you put in your absolute best and this is a sign you’ll achieve great success in your life in the future.
• Writing Skills : Your writing skills are impressive. Specifically, your report started very clearly and remained readable through the body of the piece. The content was well-researched with use of authoritative sources.
• Presentation: Your presentation was engaging and informative. Well done! Thank you for the effort you put into preparing it.
• Creativity: Your creativity for this project has been outstanding. The design concept you came up with really sets our project apart.
• Customer Service: I appreciate your dedication to providing excellent customer service on behalf of the company. Our clients consistently praise your professionalism and helpfulness.
• Multitasking Skills : Your ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously while maintaining a high level of quality was impressive and makes me think you have a lot of potential in the workplace.
• Teamwork Skills: Your teamwork and collaboration skills such as your ability to find common ground have made a significant positive impact on our team’s dynamic and productivity.
• Leadership: Your leadership has been instrumental in driving the success of our project, and the team truly appreciates your guidance and support.
• Innovation: Your innovative ideas have led to significant improvements in our processes, saving both time and resources.
• Problem-Solving: Your problem-solving skills are exceptional; you always approach challenges with a positive attitude and find effective solutions.
• Public Speaking: Your public speaking skills have greatly improved; your recent presentation was engaging, well-delivered, and captured the audience’s attention.

2. Positive Feedback for Students

• Hard Work: Your hard work and dedication to your studies have led to a significant improvement in your grades. Always remember this as an exmaple of when hard work leads to self-improvement and mastery.
• Creativity: Your creativity and unique perspective on the assignment resulted in a thought-provoking and engaging project. Remember that creativity is your strength!
• Self-Confidence: You’ve shown great progress in your self-confidence, enabling you to tackle these challenges without hesitation. Keep on going, knowing you’re on the right track.
• Active Participation: Your active participation in class discussions has helped you to get really engaged in the coursework. It has also helped your classmates to see what it means to be a good learner.
• Collaboration Skills: Your ability to work well with your classmates on group projects demonstrates strong teamwork and collaboration skills. Specifically, you were very good at sharing ideas and brainstorming with your team.
• Attention to Detail: Your attention to detail and thoroughness is a strength. It ensures that you meet expectations and don’t go off track anymore.
• Time Management: You’ve shown great improvement in your time management skills. I’ve noticed you turning up to class more prepared and more ready to learn.
• Communication: Your ability to clearly articulate your thoughts and ideas in written communication is impressive. Your writing is always clear and concise.
• Seeking Feedback: Your willingness to seek help and learn from feedback demonstrates a strong commitment to personal success. Keep up that growth mindset !
• Enthusiasm: Your enthusiasm and passion for learning inspire both your classmates and your teachers.

3. Feedback Expressing Encouragement

• Keep it Up: Keep up the excellent work on the project; your dedication and focus are truly making a difference.
• Overcoming Challenges: I believe in your ability to overcome this challenge; your resilience and determination have always been inspiring.
• Making Progress: You’re making great progress in developing your skills; keep pushing yourself, and you’ll continue to achieve even greater success.
• Pushing through Setbacks: Don’t get discouraged by setbacks; you have the talent and drive to accomplish your goals.
• Keep Practicing: I can see how much effort you’ve put into improving your communication skills; continue practicing, and you’ll become even more effective.
• You’re on Track: You’re on the right track with your approach to problem-solving; keep refining your process, and you’ll achieve even better results.
• Positive Attitude: Your positive attitude and enthusiasm are contagious; continue to bring that energy to our team, and it will inspire everyone around you.
• Challenge Yourself: Keep exploring new ideas and challenging yourself; your creativity and innovation are valuable assets to our team.
• Leadership Skills : You’re showing great potential as a leader; continue to develop your leadership skills, and you’ll have a significant impact on our team’s success.
• Making Progress: Your progress in mastering new software is impressive; keep learning and growing, and you’ll become an invaluable resource for our team.

4. Feedback Expressing Recognition

• Outstanding Performance: I want to recognize your outstanding performance in meeting and exceeding our sales targets this quarter; your hard work has made a significant impact on our success.
• Invaluable contribution: Your contributions to the project have been invaluable, and I want to acknowledge your dedication to ensuring its successful completion.
• Exceptional customer service: I’d like to commend your exceptional customer service skills; we’ve received numerous positive reviews from our clients praising your responsiveness and professionalism.
• Efficiency improvement: Your ability to streamline our processes and increase efficiency has not gone unnoticed; thank you for your initiative and resourcefulness.
• Consistent attendance: I want to acknowledge your consistent punctuality and attendance; it demonstrates your commitment to our team and sets a great example for others.
• Conflict resolution: Your proactive approach in resolving conflicts within the team has been instrumental in maintaining a positive work environment; your leadership skills are truly appreciated.
• Excellent presentation: I’d like to recognize your excellent presentation skills; your recent presentation was both informative and engaging, and it clearly demonstrated your expertise in the subject matter.
• Mentorship contribution : Your mentorship of our new team members has played a crucial role in their successful onboarding and integration into the team; thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.
• Effective multitasking: I want to acknowledge your impressive ability to multitask effectively, juggling multiple projects without compromising the quality of your work.
• Community outreach volunteering: Your volunteer efforts in organizing and participating in our company’s community outreach initiatives deserve recognition; your commitment to giving back is truly commendable.

5. Feedback Expressing Gratitude

• Timely completion: Thank you for going above and beyond to ensure the project was completed on time. I hope you’re proud of what you’ve produced!
• Colleague support: I’m grateful for your willingness to step up and help your colleagues when they needed someone to take up the slack. That sort of dedication makes a big difference in our team’s overall success.
• Team-building organizer: I appreciate your efforts in organizing the team-building event; it was a great success and helped to strengthen our team’s relationships.
• Thorough report: Thank you for your hard work in researching and preparing the report; your thoroughness made it an invaluable resource for our team.
• Commitment to team: Thank you for staying late to resolve that urgent issue; your commitment to our team is truly valued.
• Productivity improvement: I’m grateful for your initiative in developing a more efficient system for tracking our progress; it has significantly improved our productivity.
• Client-facing patience: Thank you for your patience and understanding in working with our clients, even when situations become challenging; it reflects positively on our company.
• Attention to detail: I appreciate your consistent attention to detail; it helps to ensure the quality of our work and minimizes errors.
• Valuable contribution to brainstorming: Thank you for your valuable input during our brainstorming session; your ideas and insights contributed significantly to shaping our project’s direction.
• Motivational support: I’m grateful for your support and encouragement during the difficult phase of the project; your positive attitude helped to keep the team motivated and focused.

6. Positive Feedback on Interviews

• Effective communication: You provided clear and concise responses to the interview questions, demonstrating your strong communication skills.
• Compelling presentation: Your ability to articulate your experiences and accomplishments in a compelling manner left a lasting impression on the interview panel.
• Thoughtful questioning: You asked thoughtful and relevant questions during the interview, showing your genuine interest in the position and the company.
• Professional demeanor: Your professional demeanor and positive attitude throughout the interview process made a strong impression on the hiring team.
• Problem-solving ability: You effectively showcased your problem-solving skills by providing specific examples of how you’ve tackled challenges in your previous roles.
• Company research: Your research on the company and its values demonstrates your commitment to finding a role that aligns with your interests and passions.
• Skills alignment: Your ability to connect your skills and experiences to the requirements of the position showcased your potential for success in the role.
• Interpersonal engagement: Your active listening and engagement during the interview indicated your strong interpersonal skills and ability to collaborate with others.
• Industry knowledge: You demonstrated a strong understanding of the industry and its challenges, positioning yourself as a knowledgeable candidate.
• Thoughtful follow-up: Your follow-up thank-you note after the interview was a thoughtful gesture that reinforced your interest in the position and appreciation for the opportunity.

7. Positive Feedback on Personal Growth

• Improved public speaking: I’ve noticed your increased confidence in public speaking; your practice and dedication are clearly paying off.
• Better time management: Your time management skills have improved significantly, allowing you to be more efficient and productive in your daily tasks.
• Developed leadership: I can see that you’ve made a concerted effort to develop your leadership skills, and it’s making a positive impact on our team.
• Impressive proficiency: Your growth in mastering new software and tools has been impressive, making you a valuable resource for our team.
• Clearer written communication: I’ve observed your progress in improving your written communication, and it’s made your reports much clearer and more concise.
• Enhanced analytical skills: The strides you’ve made in enhancing your analytical skills have resulted in more insightful and data-driven decision-making.
• Improved empathy: Your ability to handle difficult situations with more empathy and understanding has greatly improved, contributing to better interpersonal relationships within the team.
• Stronger client relationships: I can see your progress in building stronger client relationships, leading to increased trust and satisfaction.
• Improved problem-solving: Your commitment to personal development has led to a significant improvement in your problem-solving abilities.
• Expanded industry knowledge: You’ve made great strides in expanding your industry knowledge, making you a go-to resource for information and expertise on our team.

8. Positive Feedback on Teamwork Skills

• Effective collaborator: Your ability to collaborate effectively with others has played a crucial role in our team’s success.
• Supportive knowledge sharing: Your willingness to share your knowledge and expertise with your colleagues is truly appreciated and has fostered a supportive learning environment.
• Positive attitude and enthusiasm: Your positive attitude and enthusiasm make you a pleasure to work with, and it contributes to a great team dynamic.
• Skilled listener: You’re an excellent listener, and your ability to understand and consider the perspectives of your teammates has led to better decision-making within the team.
• Reliable team member: Your consistent reliability and dependability make you a valued team member that others can count on.
• Effective communicator: Your effective communication skills help keep the team informed and aligned on project goals and progress.
• Conflict mediator: Your ability to mediate conflicts and promote a harmonious work environment has been instrumental in maintaining strong teamwork.
• Helpful team player: You’re always willing to lend a helping hand to your colleagues, and your supportive nature makes a significant difference in our team’s success.
• Resilient under pressure: Your ability to work well under pressure and adapt to changing circumstances demonstrates great teamwork and resilience.
• Appreciative teammate: You consistently show appreciation for the efforts and contributions of your teammates, fostering a culture of recognition and gratitude within the team.

9. Positive Feedback on Initiative

• Proactive issue resolution: Your proactive approach to identifying and addressing potential issues has greatly contributed to the success of our project.
• Initiative in growth opportunities: I appreciate your initiative in seeking out new opportunities for growth and development within the team.
• Commitment to taking on challenges: Your willingness to take on additional responsibilities and challenges demonstrates your commitment and drive to succeed.
• Exceptional client service: Your ability to anticipate the needs of our clients and provide exceptional service without being prompted is truly impressive.
• Effective implementation of new tools: I commend your initiative in researching and implementing new tools and technologies that have improved our team’s efficiency.
• Industry trend awareness: Your proactive efforts to stay informed about industry trends and share that knowledge with the team have made a significant impact on our strategy and decision-making.
• Continuous learning: I appreciate your eagerness to learn and grow, continuously seeking out new resources and opportunities to expand your skills and expertise.
• Stakeholder relationship building: Your initiative in building relationships with key stakeholders has helped to strengthen our partnerships and collaboration.
• Process improvement: By identifying and addressing gaps in our processes, you’ve demonstrated a strong sense of initiative and commitment to continuous improvement.
• Feedback implementation: Your proactive approach to seeking feedback and implementing changes based on that feedback shows your dedication to personal and professional growth.

10. Positive Feedback on Leadership Skills

• Clear communication: Your ability to effectively communicate and articulate a clear vision for our team has been instrumental in our success.
• Collaborative leadership: Your leadership style encourages open dialogue and fosters a culture of trust and collaboration within the team.
• Motivational inspiration: Your ability to inspire and motivate your team members has contributed to a highly engaged and productive work environment.
• Exceptional mentorship: Your willingness to provide guidance, support, and mentorship to others demonstrates exceptional leadership qualities .
• Effective decision-making : Your ability to make tough decisions under pressure, while considering the best interests of the team and organization, is commendable.
• Fair conflict resolution: Your approach to conflict resolution is fair and balanced, promoting a harmonious and respectful team atmosphere.
• Appreciative recognition: Your consistent recognition and appreciation of team members’ efforts and contributions foster a culture of high performance and commitment.
• Effective delegation : Your ability to delegate tasks effectively and empower your team members to take ownership of their work is a key leadership strength.
• Commitment to learning: Your commitment to continuous learning and development, both for yourself and your team, sets an excellent example for others to follow.
• Emotionally intelligent leadership : Your strong emotional intelligence and ability to empathize with your team members have helped to create a supportive and inclusive work environment.

How to Give Positive Feedback

Feedback is often very hard to provide. As experts, we tend to have tacit knowledge of what looks good and what needs work, but this is very difficult to communicate in a simple and actionable way.

When giving your feedback, keep these tips in your mind, as they might help you to formulate more effective feedback:

• Be specific: Students get very frustrated when the feedback is too general and doesn’t given an exact example. So, be specific. Specificity means that you need to clearly describe what needs to be worked on and, if possible, point to the exact moment or place where the mistakes were made.
• Be genuine: Insincere feedback will be ignored. If the recipient thinks your praise is just performative, they won’t respect your opinions. In fact, sometimes the best positive feedback comes from someone who you know will give tough negative feedback if that’s what they genuinely think.
• Be timely: Timely feedback helps to reinforce an action or deter it in the future. If too much time has passed, the recipient will likely feel the feedback’s relevance has waned.
• Personalize it: Don’t make personal attacks, but rather, make it obvious that the feedback has been tailored to the person’s performance. I remember once my professor gave every student who got an A the same feedback, every student who got a B the same feedback, and so forth. Not many people in that class took the feedback seriously because they felt it didn’t directly address their paper.
• Strike a balance: The feedback shouldn’t all be overwhelmingly positive or else there’s no room for improvement. Offering constructive feedback alongside continuous and positive reinforcement can ensure the learner can identify ways to continually improve upon themselves over time.
• Encourage growth: Remind the recipient that feedback is about improvement, not tearing a person down or giving them a big ego. All feedback should be designed to elicit further improvement from the person.
• Offer examples: Often, examples of ways to improve are required in order for the recipient to truly understand what’s expected of them. Furthermore, noting specific examples of moments within their performance can help achieve more specificity in the work.
• Open a feedback loop: Ideally, the recipient of the feedback will have a chance to ask clarifying questions or explain themselves. Without dialogue, your feedback may feel unsupportive, miss the mark, or go over the recipient’s head. Conversation usually leads to better results.
• Allow a chance for improvement: Whenever possible, open the door for the recipient to demonstrate their growth in the future. This may be as simple as offering them the opportunity to come back and show you their next piece of work and tell you how they used your feedback.

By keeping these points in mind, you can provide positive feedback that is effective, meaningful, and supportive.

Strategy: The Feedback Sandwich

The feedback sandwich is an effective way to give constructive feedback that is framed positively and supportively.

This strategy is also known as the “praise-criticism-praise” or “compliment-suggestion-compliment” method.

The idea is to “sandwich” a piece of criticism or suggestion for improvement between two positive statements or compliments.

Because the feedback starts and ends positively, hopefully it will soften the impact of the criticism while also ensiring it is delivered.

This may help the recipient to know that you’re not just tearing them up – you have both positive feedback and constructive criticism to share, but your overall goal is to encourage and help them to improve.

Here’s a breakdown of the feedback sandwich method:

• Start with a positive statement: The first statement sets a positive tone by highlighting something you felt they did really well. This makes the recipient know you’re here to help and there is some value in their work.
• Offer constructive criticism: The middle feedback presents an area for improvement. Make sure that you’re specific and clear. Provide examples, if possible, and offer actionable suggestions to address this area for imprveoment for next time.
• End with another positive statement: Finish the feedback with something encouraging. Ensure it’s genuine, but also on a positive note. This helps to leave the conversation with a sense that the person receiving the feedback (and their work) has value.

One weakness of this approach is that it can come across as insincere. To address this, make sure your positive feedback is genuine and thoughtful.

Furthermore, ensure you allow for a chance to discuss and open the door for back-and-forth discussion about the person’s performance. Feedback should, ideally, be a two-way street and chance for discussion to help the person truly develop their skills.

Positive feedback is an essential part of helping students to understand the correct paths to take and when they did well so they can replicate that behavior. Praise and encouragement can help students stay engaged and develop self-confidence. Don’t forget to also provide constructive feedback that helps the learner know how to achieve self-improvement.

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 10 Reasons you’re Perpetually Single
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5 Research-Based Tips for Providing Students with Meaningful Feedback

Feedback is an essential part of learning, but not all of it is productive. We’ve collected five best practices for giving students feedback.

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In recent years, research has confirmed what most teachers already knew: Providing students with meaningful feedback can greatly enhance their learning and achievement.

Professor James Pennebaker from the University of Texas at Austin has been researching the benefits of frequent testing and the feedback it leads to. He explains that in the history of the study of learning, the role of feedback has always been central: “When people are trying to learn new skills, they must get some information that tells them whether or not they are doing the right thing. Learning in the classroom is no exception. Both the mastery of content and, more importantly, the mastery of how to think require trial-and-error learning.”

The downside, of course, is that not all feedback is equally effective, and it can even be counterproductive, especially if it’s presented in a solely negative or corrective way.

So what exactly are the most effective ways to use feedback in educational settings?

Although there is no quick or easy answer to this question, here are five research-based tips for providing students with the kind of feedback that will increase motivation, build on existing knowledge, and help them reflect on what they’ve learned.

1. Be as Specific as Possible

In a review of the available research titled “ The Power of Feedback ,” University of Auckland professors Helen Timperley and John Hattie highlight the importance of supplying learners with specific information about what they are doing right or wrong.

For example, feedback like “Great job!” doesn’t tell the learner what he did right, and likewise, a statement such as “Not quite there yet” doesn’t give her any insight into what she did wrong and how she can do better the next time around.

Instead, researchers suggest taking the time to provide learners with information on what exactly they did well, and what may still need improvement. They also note that it can be helpful to tell the learner what he is doing differently than before.

Has a student’s performance changed or improved since the last time you assessed her? Let her know about it, even if she still has a long way to go.

2. The Sooner the Better

Numerous studies indicate that feedback is most effective when it is given immediately, rather than a few days, weeks, or months down the line.

In one study that looked at delayed versus immediate feedback , the researchers found that participants who were given immediate feedback showed a significantly larger increase in performance than those who received delayed feedback.

Another research project , from the University of Minnesota, showed that students who received lots of immediate feedback were better able to comprehend the material they had just read.

Of course, it’s not always possible to provide students with feedback right on the spot, but sooner is definitely better than later.

3. Address the Learner’s Advancement Toward a Goal

Timperley and Hattie note that effective feedback is most often oriented around a specific achievement that students are (or should be) working toward. When giving feedback, it should be clear to students how the information they are receiving will help them progress toward their final goal.

4. Present Feedback Carefully

The way feedback is presented can have an impact on how it is received, which means that sometimes even the most well-meaning feedback can come across the wrong way and reduce a learner’s motivation.

Psychologist and author Edward Deci has identified three situations in which feedback could be counterproductive:

When learners feel too strictly monitored: If learners feel that they are being too closely monitored, they might become nervous or self-conscious, and as a result, disengaged from learning.

When learners interpret feedback as an attempt to control them: Learners may sometimes interpret feedback as an attempt to control them or tell them how they should be doing something rather than guidance on how to improve.

When learners feel an uncomfortable sense of competition: Feedback shared in a group setting could cause learners to feel like they have to compete with their peers. This can be another source of disengagement in learning.

To avoid these situations, Deci suggests fully explaining the purpose of any monitoring, and ensuring that learners understand how the feedback is meant to help them compete against their own personal bests rather than each other.

5. Involve Learners in the Process

The importance of involving learners in the process of collecting and analyzing performance-based data cannot be understated. Pennebaker says, “Students must be given access to information about their performance.... At the broadest level, students need to know if they actually have mastered the material or not. Giving them information about the ways they are studying, reading, searching for information, or answering questions can be invaluable.”

When students have access to this information, they develop an awareness of their learning, and are more easily able to recognize mistakes and eventually develop strategies for tackling weak points themselves.

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• Writing Sample Feedback

Examples of Submission Feedback

The following are actual responses to some of our recent submissions to the Online Writing Lab, although the names have been changed to maintain the anonymity of student writers. You can expect similarly global-oriented comments and suggestions for developing your own work. Of course, length and type of feedback vary between individual tutors and between essay submissions.

Dear Rachel: I think you touch on some really nice ideas in this paper, which I'll talk about in a minute, but first I want to address one general concern I had about your writing. You have a tendency to spend too much time summarizing the plot--this is time when you could be advancing your argument. You don't need to tell your reader what happens in the story; you can assume that he or she already knows. For example, look at this paragraph: [...] Everything that I've noted with square brackets is plot summary. The sentence that begins "Feeling rejected, the creature wanders away..." is borderline because you're making a judgment about the creature's motivations, but in general you shouldn't spend time repeating the events of the story. The second part of this paragraph is much better in that you're talking about motivations and making arguments. I think you've got some really interesting ideas in this paper, particularly in your fifth and sixth paragraphs, but you need to expand upon them. For example, you might spend more time talking about Millhauser's rationale--WHY does he think the monster should have been presented as a brutal beast throughout? What would be lost in such a presentation? Why is it better that Shelley shows the monster in terms of growth and progression? You introduce this idea in your introduction, arguing that Shelley is deliberately playing with the reader's sympathies, for the monster and for Frankenstein. Could you say more about HOW she does this? What is the effect of the reader's divided sympathies? Where does the sympathy lie at the end of the book? Why might Shelley be interested in this? In general, what is the value of making the creature sympathetic? I hope you found some of the questions I've raised valuable. You've touched on some interesting issues in this paper, and there is definitely plenty of room for you to develop them even further. If you have any questions about anything I've said, or any further questions, please feel free to write back to me. Good luck with your paper and thank you for submitting to the OWL!

Mark, Thank you for submitting your paper to the OWL; I am a Political Science major and very much enjoyed reading it. Below you will find a few suggestions for how to strengthen your writing during the revision process. You wrote that your major concerns with your paper were "abstract prose" and "elementary points." I did not find your arguments to be too simplistic or "elementary," nor did your language seem too abstract. It did, however, lack clarity and definition at some points. Specifically, there are some concepts that you repeat throughout your paper but never define. One is the "republican role." It may be that your instructor discussed this idea at length in class, or that Machiavelli does in his Discourses on Livy, but there is no such discussion in your paper. A stronger paper would define the proper role of a leader in a republican state from the beginning. Some theoretical questions you may want to consider on this point include: what is the difference between a republican leader and a tyrannical leader? How can one distinguish between the two? Why is it important to prevent against tyranny? Is the leader subservient to the will of the people? Is the leader responsible to anyone? Where does the leader draw his power or right to govern from? What does it mean to "be subordinate to a republican role"? What qualities are valuable in a leader? Which ones are dangerous? It may be beneficial to read over your paper with a critical eye looking for vague concepts. What ideas do you reference but never fully explain? Do you take certain concepts for granted? If you find such problems, generating a list of questions to focus your idea (as above) can be a helpful exercise. There were two more areas I found especially lacking in definition: the concept of tyranny and a "short time in office." Thank you again for submitting your paper to the OWL. Your arguments are strong and I hope my comments will help to fine-tune your essay. Please feel free to e-mail me for further assistance or clarification. Good luck with your revisions!

Thanks for submitting your essay-I enjoyed reading it. I hope my comments help you in your revision process.

Your personal narrative is without a doubt at its best when you give vivid details of the day from your perspective, which is, as you describe, a very unique one. The "chalky taste" of the air, for instance, is a detail that really brings the scene to life.

You asked for help with structure, and I think the most sensible structure in this case is a chronological one. It's fine to start with a vivid scene to land the reader in the event, but then it makes sense to step back and tell the story as it happened. To help you accomplish this end, you might consider listing each of the major points you want to cover and then turning them into an outline. It might help, too, to think about the overall message you want to convey. Then make sure all of your details contribute to that message.

As for constructive comments, you never really explain why you were at Ground Zero on September 12. Do you just happen to live nearby? Did you have any special connection to the firefighters or the victims? Why did you decide to help out?

I would also be careful of the very general statements you use to sum up the essay, such as , "That day brought to my attention a side of humanity that had lay dormant in my mind. That moment in time showed me that people have the capacity to act unselfishly." It's best to convey your point through examples rather than summation-the old advice to "show not tell."

It takes a lot of courage to tackle in an essay the events of September 11 and the days following, but I think you have a great perspective, and the ability to look beyond the chaos to the details of the scene.

Feel free to write back as you revise this piece. I'd be glad to talk more about it.

Hello, Angela,

Your paper is coherent, well-organized, and very informative. You do a nice job of incorporating various theorists and applying their ideas to the phenomenon of AHANA. You also do a good job of considering "the opposing viewpoint" and introducing relevant arguments to substantiate your position.

One area I would suggest giving a little more attention to how exactly AHANA functions. You mention that the term was coined as an alternative to the more negative term "minority," and that the group exists to "promote understanding..." etc. But I still want to know more about HOW the group works to achieve their goals; do they sponsor events on campus? hold workshops? etc. You did an effective job of explaining the philosophy of the group, but I would be interested in seeing just a little bit more of how it works in action, so to speak.

The second point is that you might want to explain in greater detail how subjective experiences shape the need for a group such as AHANA. You mention that racial and cultural differences do exist and that the "differing perspectives caused by these distinctions exist regardless of whether they are acknowledged." This is a very integral part of your argument, so maybe developing it further would be helpful. I realize it's a very broad concept to try and condense within your paper, but focusing on explicating that part might be helpful. Overall, I think you have a very strong paper that seems to fulfill the parameters of the assignment quite well.

Getting Feedback

What this handout is about.

Sometimes you’d like feedback from someone else about your writing, but you may not be sure how to get it. This handout describes when, where, how and from whom you might receive effective responses as you develop as a writer.

Why get feedback on your writing?

You’ll become a better writer, and writing will become a less painful process. When might you need feedback? You might be just beginning a paper and want to talk to someone else about your ideas. You might be midway through a draft and find that you are unsure about the direction you’ve decided to take. You might wonder why you received a lower grade than you expected on a paper, or you might not understand the comments that a TA or professor has written in the margins. Essentially, asking for feedback at any stage helps you break out of the isolation of writing. When you ask for feedback, you are no longer working in a void, wondering whether or not you understand the assignment and/or are making yourself understood. By seeking feedback from others, you are taking positive, constructive steps to improve your own writing and develop as a writer.

Why people don’t ask for feedback

• You worry that the feedback will be negative. Many people avoid asking others what they think about a piece of writing because they have a sneaking suspicion that the news will not be good. If you want to improve your writing, however, constructive criticism from others will help. Remember that the criticism you receive is only criticism of the writing and not of the writer.
• You don’t know whom to ask. The person who can offer the most effective feedback on your writing may vary depending on when you need the feedback and what kind of feedback you need. Keep in mind, though, that if you are really concerned about a piece of writing, almost any thoughtful reader (e.g., your roommate, mother, R.A., brother, etc.) can provide useful feedback that will help you improve your writing. Don’t wait for the expert; share your writing often and with a variety of readers.
• You don’t know how to ask. It can be awkward to ask for feedback, even if you know whom you want to ask. Asking someone, “Could you take a look at my paper?” or “Could you tell me if this is OK?” can sometimes elicit wonderfully rich responses. Usually, though, you need to be specific about where you are in the writing process and the kind of feedback that would help. You might say, “I’m really struggling with the organization of this paper. Could you read these paragraphs and see if the ideas seem to be in the right order?”
• You don’t want to take up your teacher’s time. You may be hesitant to go to your professor or TA to talk about your writing because you don’t want to bother them. The office hours that these busy people set aside, though, are reserved for your benefit, because the teachers on this campus want to communicate with students about their ideas and their work. Faculty can be especially generous and helpful with their advice when you drop by their office with specific questions and know the kinds of help you need. If you can’t meet during the instructor’s office hours, try making a special appointment. If you find that you aren’t able to schedule a time to talk with your instructor, remember that there are plenty of other people around you who can offer feedback.
• You’ve gotten feedback in the past that was unhelpful. If earlier experiences haven’t proved satisfactory, try again. Ask a different person, or ask for feedback in a new way. Experiment with asking for feedback at different stages in the writing process: when you are just beginning an assignment, when you have a draft, or when you think you are finished. Figure out when you benefit from feedback the most, the kinds of people you get the best feedback from, the kinds of feedback you need, and the ways to ask for that feedback effectively.
• You’re working remotely and aren’t sure how to solicit help. Help can feel “out of sight, out of mind” when working remotely, so it may take extra effort and research to reach out. Explore what resources are available to you and how you can access them. What type of remote feedback will benefit you most? Video conferencing, email correspondence, phone conversation, written feedback, or something else? Would it help to email your professor or TA ? Are you looking for the back and forth of a real-time conversation, or would it be more helpful to have written feedback to refer to as you work? Can you schedule an appointment with the Writing Center or submit a draft for written feedback ? Could joining or forming an online writing group help provide a source of feedback?

Possible writing moments for feedback

There is no “best time” to get feedback on a piece of writing. In fact, it is often helpful to ask for feedback at several different stages of a writing project. Listed below are some parts of the writing process and some kinds of feedback you might need in each. Keep in mind, though, that every writer is different—you might think about these issues at other stages of the writing process, and that’s fine.

• The beginning/idea stage: Do I understand the assignment? Am I gathering the right kinds of information to answer this question? Are my strategies for approaching this assignment effective ones? How can I discover the best way to develop my early ideas into a feasible draft?
• Outline/thesis: I have an idea about what I want to argue, but I’m not sure if it is an appropriate or complete response to this assignment. Is the way I’m planning to organize my ideas working? Does it look like I’m covering all the bases? Do I have a clear main point? Do I know what I want to say to the reader?
• Rough draft: Does my paper make sense, and is it interesting? Have I proven my thesis statement? Is the evidence I’m using convincing? Is it explained clearly? Have I given the reader enough information? Does the information seem to be in the right order? What can I say in my introduction and conclusion?
• Early polished draft: Are the transitions between my ideas smooth and effective? Do my sentences make sense individually? How’s my writing style?
• Late or final polished draft: Are there any noticeable spelling or grammar errors? Are my margins, footnotes, and formatting okay? Does the paper seem effective? Is there anything I should change at the last minute?
• After the fact: How should I interpret the comments on my paper? Why did I receive the grade I did? What else might I have done to strengthen this paper? What can I learn as a writer about this writing experience? What should I do the next time I have to write a paper?

A note on asking for feedback after a paper has been graded

Many people go to see their TA or professor after they receive a paper back with comments and a grade attached. If you seek feedback after your paper is returned to you, it makes sense to wait 24 hours before scheduling a meeting to talk about it. If you are angry or upset about a grade, the day off gives you time to calm down and put things in perspective. More important, taking a day off allows you to read through the instructor’s comments and think about why you received the grade that you did. You might underline or circle comments that were confusing to you so that you can ask about them later. You will also have an opportunity to reread your own writing and evaluate it more critically yourself. After all, you probably haven’t seen this piece of work since you handed it in a week or more ago, and refreshing your memory about its merits and weaknesses might help you make more sense of the grade and the instructor’s comments.

Also, be prepared to separate the discussion of your grade from the discussion of your development as a writer. It is difficult to have a productive meeting that achieves both of these goals. You may have very good reasons for meeting with an instructor to argue for a better grade, and having that kind of discussion is completely legitimate. Be very clear with your instructor about your goals. Are you meeting to contest the grade your paper received and explain why you think the paper deserved a higher one? Are you meeting because you don’t understand why your paper received the grade it did and would like clarification? Or are you meeting because you want to use this paper and the instructor’s comments to learn more about how to write in this particular discipline and do better on future written work? Being up front about these distinctions can help you and your instructor know what to expect from the conference and avoid any confusion between the issue of grading and the issue of feedback.

Kinds of feedback to ask for

Asking for a specific kind of feedback can be the best way to get advice that you can use. Think about what kinds of topics you want to discuss and what kinds of questions you want to ask:

• Understanding the assignment: Do I understand the task? How long should it be? What kinds of sources should I be using? Do I have to answer all of the questions on the assignment sheet or are they just prompts to get me thinking? Are some parts of the assignment more important than other parts?
• Factual content: Is my understanding of the course material accurate? Where else could I look for more information?
• Interpretation/analysis: Do I have a point? Does my argument make sense? Is it logical and consistent? Is it supported by sufficient evidence?
• Organization: Are my ideas in a useful order? Does the reader need to know anything else up front? Is there another way to consider ordering this information?
• Flow: Do I have good transitions? Does the introduction prepare the reader for what comes later? Do my topic sentences accurately reflect the content of my paragraphs? Can the reader follow me?
• Style: Comments on earlier papers can help you identify writing style issues that you might want to look out for. Is my writing style appealing? Do I use the passive voice too often? Are there too many “to be” verbs?
• Grammar: Just as with style, comments on earlier papers will help you identify grammatical “trouble spots.” Am I using commas correctly? Do I have problems with subject-verb agreement?
• Small errors: Is everything spelled right? Are there any typos?

Possible sources of feedback and what they’re good for

Believe it or not, you can learn to be your own best reader, particularly if you practice reading your work critically. First, think about writing problems that you know you have had in the past. Look over old papers for clues. Then, give yourself some critical distance from your writing by setting it aside for a few hours, overnight, or even for a couple of days. Come back to it with a fresh eye, and you will be better able to offer yourself feedback. Finally, be conscious of what you are reading for. You may find that you have to read your draft several times—perhaps once for content, once for organization and transitions, and once for style and grammar. If you need feedback on a specific issue, such as passive voice, you may need to read through the draft one time alone focusing on that issue. Whatever you do, don’t count yourself out as a source of feedback. Remember that ultimately you care the most and will be held responsible for what appears on the page. It’s your paper.

A classmate (a familiar and knowledgeable reader)

When you need feedback from another person, a classmate can be an excellent source. A classmate knows the course material and can help you make sure you understand the course content. A classmate is probably also familiar with the sources that are available for the class and the specific assignment. Moreover, you and your classmates can get together and talk about the kinds of feedback you both received on earlier work for the class, building your knowledge base about what the instructor is looking for in writing assignments.

Your TA (an expert reader)

Your TA is an expert reader—they are working on an advanced degree, either a Master’s or a Ph.D., in the subject area of your paper. Your TA is also either the primary teacher of the course or a member of the teaching team, so they probably had a hand in selecting the source materials, writing the assignment, and setting up the grading scheme. No one knows what the TA is looking for on the paper better than the TA , and most of the TAs on campus would be happy to talk with you about your paper.

Your professor (a very expert reader)

Your professor is the most expert reader you can find. They have a Ph.D. in the subject area that you are studying, and probably also wrote the assignment, either alone or with help from TAs. Like your TA, your professor can be the best source for information about what the instructor is looking for on the paper and may be your best guide in developing into a strong academic writer.

Your roommate/friend/family member (an interested but not familiar reader)

It can be very helpful to get feedback from someone who doesn’t know anything about your paper topic. These readers, because they are unfamiliar with the subject matter, often ask questions that help you realize what you need to explain further or that push you to think about the topic in new ways. They can also offer helpful general writing advice, letting you know if your paper is clear or your argument seems well organized, for example. Ask them to read your paper and then summarize for you what they think its main points are.

The Writing Center (an interested but not familiar reader with special training)

While the Writing Center staff may not have specialized knowledge about your paper topic, our writing coaches are trained to assist you with your writing needs. We cannot edit or proofread for you, but we can help you identify problems and address them at any stage of the writing process. The Writing Center’s coaches see thousands of students each year and are familiar with all kinds of writing assignments and writing dilemmas.

Other kinds of resources

If you want feedback on a writing assignment and can’t find a real live person to read it for you, there are other places to turn. Check out the Writing Center’s handouts . These resources can give you tips for proofreading your own work, making an argument, using commas and transitions, and more. You can also try the spell/grammar checker on your computer. This shouldn’t be your primary source of feedback, but it may be helpful.

A word about feedback and plagiarism

Asking for help on your writing does not equal plagiarism, but talking with classmates about your work may feel like cheating. Check with your professor or TA about what kinds of help you can get legally. Most will encourage you to discuss your ideas about the reading and lectures with your classmates. In general, if someone offers a particularly helpful insight, it makes sense to cite them in a footnote. The best way to avoid plagiarism is to write by yourself with your books closed. (For more on this topic, see our handout on plagiarism .)

What to do with the feedback you get

• Don’t be intimidated if your professor or TA has written a lot on your paper. Sometimes instructors will provide more feedback on papers that they believe have a lot of potential. They may have written a lot because your ideas are interesting to them and they want to see you develop them to their fullest by improving your writing.
• By the same token, don’t feel that your paper is garbage if the instructor DIDN’T write much on it. Some graders just write more than others do, and sometimes your instructors are too busy to spend a great deal of time writing comments on each individual paper.
• If you receive feedback before the paper is due, think about what you can and can’t do before the deadline. You sometimes have to triage your revisions. By all means, if you think you have major changes to make and you have time to make them, go for it. But if you have two other papers to write and all three are due tomorrow, you may have to decide that your thesis or your organization is the biggest issue and just focus on that. The paper might not be perfect, but you can learn from the experience for the next assignment.
• Read ALL of the feedback that you get. Many people, when receiving a paper back from their TA or professor, will just look at the grade and not read the comments written in the margins or at the end of the paper. Even if you received a satisfactory grade, it makes sense to carefully read all of the feedback you get. Doing so may help you see patterns of error in your writing that you need to address and may help you improve your writing for future papers and for other classes.
• If you don’t understand the feedback you receive, by all means ask the person who offered it. Feedback that you don’t understand is feedback that you cannot benefit from, so ask for clarification when you need it. Remember that the person who gave you the feedback did so because they genuinely wanted to convey information to you that would help you become a better writer. They wouldn’t want you to be confused and will be happy to explain their comments further if you ask.
• Ultimately, the paper you will turn in will be your own. You have the final responsibility for its form and content. Take the responsibility for being the final judge of what should and should not be done with your essay.
• Just because someone says to change something about your paper doesn’t mean you should. Sometimes the person offering feedback can misunderstand your assignment or make a suggestion that doesn’t seem to make sense. Don’t follow those suggestions blindly. Talk about them, think about other options, and decide for yourself whether the advice you received was useful.

Final thoughts

Finally, we would encourage you to think about feedback on your writing as a way to help you develop better writing strategies. This is the philosophy of the Writing Center. Don’t look at individual bits of feedback such as “This paper was badly organized” as evidence that you always organize ideas poorly. Think instead about the long haul. What writing process led you to a disorganized paper? What kinds of papers do you have organization problems with? What kinds of organization problems are they? What kinds of feedback have you received about organization in the past? What can you do to resolve these issues, not just for one paper, but for all of your papers? The Writing Center can help you with this process. Strategy-oriented thinking will help you go from being a writer who writes disorganized papers and then struggles to fix each one to being a writer who no longer writes disorganized papers. In the end, that’s a much more positive and permanent solution.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Feedback that leads to improvement in student essays: testing the hypothesis that “where to next” feedback is most powerful.

• 1 Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VI, Australia
• 2 Hattie Family Foundation, Melbourne, VI, Australia
• 3 Turnitin, LLC, Oakland, CA, United States

Feedback is powerful but variable. This study investigates which forms of feedback are more predictive of improvement to students’ essays, using Turnitin Feedback Studio –a computer augmented system to capture teacher and computer-generated feedback comments. The study used a sample of 3,204 high school and university students who submitted their essays, received feedback comments, and then resubmitted for final grading. The major finding was the importance of “where to next” feedback which led to the greatest gains from the first to the final submission. There is support for the worthwhileness of computer moderated feedback systems that include both teacher- and computer-generated feedback.

Introduction

One of the more powerful influences on achievement, prosocial development, and personal interactions is feedback–but it is also remarkably variable. Kluger and DeNis (1996) completed an influential meta-analysis of 131 studies and found an overall effect on 0.41 of feedback on performance and close to 40% of effects were negative. Since their paper there have been at least 23 meta-analyses on the effects of feedback, and recently Wisniewski et al. (2020) located 553 studies from these meta-analyses ( N = 59,287) and found an overall effect of 0.53. They found that feedback is more effective for cognitive and physical outcome measures than for motivational and behavioral outcomes. Feedback is more effective the more information it contains, and praise (for example), not only includes little information about the task, but it can also be diluting as receivers tend to recall the praise more than the content of the feedback. This study investigates which forms of feedback are more predictive of improvement to students’ essays, using Turnitin Feedback Studio–a computer augmented system to capture teacher- and computer-generated feedback comments.

Hattie and Timperley (2007) defined feedback as relating to actions or information provided by an agent (e.g., teacher, peer, book, parent, internet, experience) that provides information regarding aspects of one’s performance or understanding. This concept of feedback relates to its power to “fill the gap between what is understood and what is aimed to be understood” ( Sadler, 1989 ). Feedback can lead to increased effort, motivation, or engagement to reduce the discrepancy between the current status and the goal; it can lead to alternative strategies to understand the material; it can confirm for the student that they are correct or incorrect, or how far they have reached the goal; it can indicate that more information is available or needed; it can point to directions that the students could pursue; and, finally, it can lead to restructuring understandings.

To begin to unravel the moderator effects that lead to the marked variability of feedback, Hattie and Timperley (2007) argued that feedback can have different perspectives: "feed-up" (comparison of the actual status with a target status), "feed-back" (comparison of the actual status with a previous status), and "feed-forward" (explanation of the target status based on the actual status). They claimed that these related to the three feedback questions: Where am I going? How am I going? and Where to next? Additionally, feedback can be differentiated according to its level of cognitive complexity: It can refer to a task, a process, one’s self-regulation, or one’s self. Task level feedback means that someone receives feedback about the content, facts, or surface information (How well have the tasks been completed and understood?). Feedback at the level of process means that a person receives feedback on the processes or strategies of his or her performance (What needs to be done to understand and master the tasks?). Feedback at the level of self-regulation means that someone receives feedback about the individual’s regulation of the strategies they are using to their performance (What can be done to manage, guide, and monitor your own way of action?). The self-level focuses on the personal characteristics of the feedback recipient (often praise about the person). One of the arguments about the variability is that feedback needs to focus on the appropriate question and the optimal level of cognitive complexity. If not, the message can easily be ignored, misunderstood, and of low value to the recipient.

Another important distinction is between the giving and receiving of feedback. Students are more often the receiver, and this is becoming more a focus of research. Students indicate a preference for feedback that is specific, useful, and timely ( Pajares and Graham, 1998 ; Gamlem and Smith, 2013 ), relative to the criteria or standards they are assessed against ( Brown, 2009 ; Beaumont et al., 2011 ), and do not mind what form it comes provided they see it as informative to improve their learning. Dawson et al. (2019) asked teachers and students about what leads to the most effective feedback. The majority of teachers argued it was the design of the task that lead to better feedback and students argued it was the quality of the feedback provided to them in teacher comments that led to improvements in performance.

Brooks et al. (2019) investigated the prevalence of feedback relative to these three questions in upper elementary classrooms. They recorded and transcribed 12 h of classroom audio based on 1,125 grade five students from 13 primary schools in Queensland. The researchers designed a questionnaire to measure the usefulness of feedback aligned with the three feedback questions (“Where am I going?” “How am I going?” “Where to next?“) along with three of the four feedback levels (task, process, and self-regulation). Results indicated that of the three feedback questions, “How am I going?” (Feed-back) was by far the most prominent, accounting for 50% of total feedback words. This was followed by “Where am I going?” (Feed-up) (31%) and “Where to next?” (Feed-forward) (19%). When considering the focus of verbal feedback, 79% of the feedback was at the task level, 16% at process level, and <1% at the self level. The findings of such studies are significant in relation to the gap between literature and practice, which indicates that we need to know more about how effective feedback interventions are enacted in the classroom.

Mandouit (2020) developed a series of feedback questions from an intensive study of student conceptions of feedback. He found that students sought feedback as to how to “elaborate on ideas” and “how to improve.” They wanted feedback that would not only help them “next time” they complete a similar task in the future, but that would help them develop the ability to think critically and self-regulate moving forward. It is these transferable skills and understandings that students consider as important, but, as identified in this study, challenged teachers in practice as it was rarely offered. His student feedback model included four questions: Where have I done well? Where can I improve? How do I improve? What do I do next time?

One often suggested method of improving the nature of feedback is to administer it via computer-based systems. Earlier synthesis of this literature tended to focus on task or item-specific level and investigating the differences between knowledge of results (KR), knowledge of correct response (KCR), and elaborated feedback (EF). Van der Kleij, Feskens, and Eggen (2015) , for example, used 70 effects from 40 studies of item-based feedback in a computer-based environment on students’ learning outcomes. They showed that elaborated feedback (e.g., providing an explanation) produced larger effect-sizes (EF = 0.49) than feedback regarding the correctness of the answer (KR = 0.05) or providing the correct answer (KCR = 0.32). Azevedo and Bernard (1995) used 22 studies on the effects of feedback on learning from computer-based instruction with an overall effect of 0.80. Immediate feedback had an effect of 0.80 and delayed 0.35, but they did not relate their findings to specific feedback characteristics. Jaehnig and Miller (2007) used 33 studies and found elaborated feedback was more effective than KCR, and KCR was more effective than KR. The major message is the computer-delivered elaborated feedback has the largest effects.

The Turnitin Feedback Studio Model: Background and Existing Research

Turnitin Feedback Studio, one such computer-based system, is most known for its similarity checking, powered by a comprehensive database of academic, internet, and student content. Beyond that capability, however, Feedback Studio also offers functionality to support both effective and efficient options for grading and, most relevant to this study, providing feedback. Inside the system, the Feedback Studio model allows for multiple streams of feedback, depending on how instructors opt to utilize the system, with both automated options and teacher-generated options. The primary automated option is for grammar feedback, which automatically detects issues and provides guidance through an integration with the e-rater ® engine from ETS ( https://www.ets.org/erater ). Even this option allows for customization and additional guidance, as instructors are able to add elaborative comments to the automated feedback. Outside of the grammar feedback, the remaining capabilities are manual, in that instructors identify the instances requiring feedback and supply the specific feedback content. Within this structure, there are still multiple avenues for providing feedback, including inline comments, summary text or voice comments, and Turnitin’s trademarked QuickMarks ® . In each case, instructors determine what student content requires commenting and then develop the substance of the feedback.

As a vehicle for providing feedback on student writing, Turnitin Feedback Studio offers an environment in which the impact of feedback can be leveraged. Student perceptions about the kinds of feedback that most impact their learning align to findings from scholarly research ( Kluger and DeNis, 1996 ; Wisniewski et al., 2020 ). Periodically, Turnitin surveys students to gauge different aspects of the product. In studies conducted by Turnitin, student perceptions of feedback over time fall into similar patterns as in outside research. For example, a 2013 survey about students’ perceptions of the value, type, and timing of instructor feedback reported that 67% of students claimed receiving general, overall comments, but only 46% of those students rated the general comments as “very helpful.” Respondents from the same study rated feedback on thesis/development as the most valuable, but reported receiving more feedback on grammar/mechanics and composition/structure ( Turnitin, 2013 ). Turnitin (2013) suggests the disconnect between the receipt of general, overall comments compared to the perceived value provides further support that students value more specific feedback, such as comments on thesis/development.

Later, an exploratory survey examining over 2,000 students’ perceptions on instructor feedback asked students to rank the effectiveness of types of feedback. The survey found that the greatest percentage (76%) of students reported suggestions for improvement as “very” or “extremely effective.” Students also highly perceived feedback such as specific notes written in the margins (73%), use of examples (69%), and pointing out mistakes as effective (68%) ( Turnitin, 2014 ). Turnitin (2014) proposes, “The fact that the largest number of students consider suggestions for improvement to be “very” or “extremely effective” lends additional support to this assertion and also strongly suggests that students are looking at the feedback they receive as an extension of course or classroom instruction.”

Turnitin found similar results in a subsequent survey that asked students about the helpfulness of types of feedback. Students most strongly reported suggestions for improvement (83%) as helpful. Students also preferred specific notes (81%), identifying mistakes (74%), and use of examples (73%) as types of feedback. Meanwhile, the least helpful types of feedback reported by students were general comments (38%) and praise or discouragement (39%) ( Turnitin, 2015 ). As a result of this survey data, Turnitin (2015) proposed that “Students find specific feedback most helpful, incorporating suggestions for improvement and examples of what was done correctly or incorrectly.” The same 2015 survey found that students consider instructor feedback to be just as critical for their learning as doing homework, studying, and listening to lectures. From the 1,155 responses, a majority of students (78%) reported that receiving and using teacher feedback is “very” or “extremely important” for learning. Turnitin (2015) suggests that the results from the survey demonstrates that students consider feedback to be just as important to other core educational activities.

Turnitin’s own studies are not the only evidence of these trends in students’ perceptions of feedback. In a case study examining the effects of Turnitin’s products on writing in a multilingual language class, Sujee et al. (2015) found that the majority of the learners expressed that Turnitin’s personalized feedback and identification of errors met their learning needs. Students appreciated the individualized feedback and claimed a deeper engagement with the content. Students were also able to integrate language rules from the QuickMark drag-and-drop comments, further strengthening the applicability in a second language classroom ( Sujee et al., 2015 ). A 2015 study on perceptions of Turnitin’s online grading features reported that business students favored the level of personalization, timeliness, accessibility, and quantity and quality of receiving feedback in an electronic format ( Carruthers et al., 2015 ). Similarly, a 2014 study exploring the perceptions of healthcare students found that Turnitin’s online grading features enhanced timeliness and accessibility of feedback. In particular regard to the instructor feedback tools in Turnitin Feedback Studio (collectively referred to as GradeMark), students valued feedback that was more specific since instructors could add annotated comments next to students’ text. Students claimed it increased meaningfulness of feedback which further supports the GradeMark tools as a vehicle for instructors to provide quality feedback ( Watkins et al., 2014 ). In both studies, students expressed interest in using the online grading features more widely across other courses in their studies ( Watkins et al., 2014 ; Carruthers et al., 2015 ).

In addition to providing insight about students’ perception of what is most effective, Turnitin studies also surfaced issues that students sometimes encounter with feedback provided inside the system. Part of the 2015 study focused on how much students read, use, and understand feedback they receive. Turnitin (2015) reports that students most often read a higher percentage of feedback than they understand or apply. When asked about barriers to understanding feedback, students who claimed to understand a minimal amount of instructor feedback (13%) reported that most often/always the largest challenges were: comments had unclear connections to the student work or assignment goals (44.8%), feedback was too general (42.6%), and they received too many comments (31.8%) ( Turnitin, 2015 ). Receiving feedback that was too general was also considered a strong barrier for students who claimed to understand a moderate or large amount of feedback.

Research Questions

From studies investigating students’ conceptions of feedback, Mandouit (2020) found that while they appreciated feedback about “where they are going”, and “how they are going”, they saw feedback mainly in terms of helping them know where to go next in light of submitted work. Such “where to next” feedback was more likely to be enacted.

This study investigates a range of feedback forms, and in particular investigates the hypothesized claim that feedback that leads to “where to next” decisions and actions by students is most likely to enhance their performance. It uses Turnitin Feedback Studio to ask about the relation of various agents of feedback (teacher, machine program), and codes the feedback responses to identify which kinds of feedback are related to the growth and achievement from first to final submission of essays.

In order to examine the feedback that instructors have provided on student work, original student submissions and revision submissions, along with corresponding teacher- and machine intelligence-assigned feedback from Feedback Studio were compiled by the Turnitin team. All papers in the dataset were randomly selected using a postgreSQL random () function. A query was built around the initial criteria to fetch assignments and their associated rubrics. The initial criteria included the following: pairs of student original drafts and revision assignments where each instructor and each student was a member of one and only one pairing of assignments; assignments were chosen without date restrictions through random selection until the sample size (<3,000) had been satisfied; assignments were from both higher education and secondary education students; assignment pairs where the same rubric had been applied to both the original submission and the revision submission and students had received scores based on that rubric; any submissions with voice-recorded comments were excluded; and submissions and all feedback were written only in the English language. Throughout the data collection process, active measures were taken to exclude all personally identifiable information, including student name, school name, instructor name, and paper content, in accordance with Turnitin’s policies. The Chief Security Officer of Turnitin conducted a review of this approach prior to completion. After the dataset was returned, an additional column was added that assigned a random number to each data item. That random number column was then sorted and returned the final dataset of student submissions and resubmissions in random order, from which the final sample of student papers were identified for analysis.

The categories for investigation included country of student, higher education or high school setting, number of times the assignment was submitted, date and time of submission, details regarding the scoring of the assignment (like score, possible points, and scoring method), and details regarding feedback that was provided on the assignment (like mark type, page location of each mark, title of each mark, and comment text associated with each mark), and two outcome measures–achievement and growth from time 1 to time 2.

There were 3,204 students who submitted essays for feedback on at least two occasions. About half (56%) were from higher education and the other half (44%) from secondary schools. The majority (90%) were from the United States, and the others were from Australia (5.2%), Japan (1.5%), Korea (0.8%), India (0.5%), Egypt (0.5%), the Netherlands (0.4%), China (0.4%), Germany (0.3%), Chile (0.2%), Ecuador (0.2%), Philippines (0.2), and South Africa (0.03%). Within the United States, students spanned 13 states, with the majority coming from California (464), Texas (412), Illinois (401), New York (256), New Jersey (193), Washington (93), Wisconsin (91), Missouri (81), Colorado (67), and Kentucky (61).

In this study, pairs of student-submitted work—original drafts and revisions of those same assignments—along with the feedback that was added to each assignment, were examined. Student assignments were submitted to the Turnitin Feedback Studio system as part of real courses to which students submit their work via online, course-specific assignment inboxes. Upon submission, student work is reviewed by Turnitin’s machine intelligence for similarity to other published works on the Internet, submissions by other students, or additional content available within Turnitin’s extensive database. At this point in the process, instructors also have the opportunity to provide feedback and score student work with a rubric.

Feedback streams for student submissions in Turnitin Feedback Studio are multifaceted. At the highest level, holistic feedback can be provided in the Feedback Summary panel as a text comment. However, if instructors wish to embed feedback directly within student submissions, there are several options. First, the most prolific feature of Turnitin Feedback Studio is QuickMarks™, a set of reusable drag-and-drop comments derived from corresponding rubrics aligned to genre and skill-level criteria. Instructors may also choose to create their own QuickMarks and rubrics to save and reuse on future submissions. When instructors wish to craft personalized feedback not intended for reuse, they may leave a bubble comment, which appears in a similar manner to the reusable QuickMarks, or an inline comment that appears as a free-form text box they can place anywhere on the submission. Instructors also have access to a strikethrough tool to suggest that a student should delete the selected text. Automated grammar feedback can be enabled as an additional layer, offering the identification of grammar, usage, mechanics, style, and spelling errors. Instructors have the option to add an elaborative comment, including hyperlinks to instructional resources, to the automated grammar and mechanics feedback (delivered via e-rater®) and Turnitin QuickMarks. Finally, rubrics and grading tools are available to the teacher to complete the feedback and scoring process.

Within the prepared dataset, paired student assignments were presented for analysis. Work from each individual student was used only once, but appeared as a pair of assignments, comprising an original, “first draft” submission, and then a later “revision” submission of the same assignment by the same student. The first set of feedback thus can be considered formative, and the latter summative feedback. For each pair of assignments, the following information was reported: institution type, country, and state or province for each individual student’s work. Then, for both the original assignment submission and the revision assignment submission, the following information was reported: assignment ID, submission ID, number of times the assignment was submitted, date and time of submission, details regarding the scoring of the assignment (like score, possible points, and scoring method), and details regarding feedback that was provided on the assignment (like mark type, page location of each mark, title of each mark, and comment text associated with each mark). Prior to the analysis, definitions of all terms included within the dataset were created collaboratively and recorded in a glossary to ensure a common understanding of the vocabulary.

Some of the essays had various criteria scores (such as ideas, organization, evidence, style), but in this study only the total score was used. The assignments were marked out of differing totals so all were converted to percentages. On average, there were 19 days between submissions (SD = 18.4). Markers were invited by the Turnitin Feedback Studio processes to add comments to the essays and these were independently coded into various categories (see Table 1 ). One researcher was trained in applying the coding manual, and close checking was undertaken for the first 300 responses, leading to an inter-rater reliability in excess of 0.90, with all disagreements negotiated.

TABLE 1 . Codes and description of attributes coded for each essay.

There were two outcome measures. The first is the final score after the second submission, and the growth effect-size between the score after the first submission (where the feedback was provided) and the final score. The effect-size for each student was calculated using the formula for correlated or dependent samples.

A structural model was used to relate the feedback types with the final and growth effect-size. A multivariate analysis of variance investigates the nature of changes in means from the first to final scores, moderated by level of schooling (secondary, university). A regression was used to identify the source of feedback relative to the growth and final scores.

The average score at Time 1 was 71.34 (SD = 19.91) and at Time 2 was 82.97 (SD = 15.03). The overall effect-size was 0.70 (SD = 0.97) with a range from −2.26 to 4.97. The correlation between Time 1 and 2 scores was 0.60.

Figure 1 shows the number of students in each score range, and the average effect-size for that score range. Not surprising, the opportunity to improve (via the effect-size) is greater for those who scored lower in their essays at Time 1. There were between 1 and 139 total comments for the first submission essays with an average of 14 comments per essay ( Table 2 ). The most common comments related to Where to next–Specific (5.9), Needs support (4.5), Where to next–General (3.8), and Probes (2.3). The next set of common comments were about style such as references (2.0), Unclear comments (1.9), Grammar, punctuation, and spelling (1.7). There was about 1 praise comment per essay, and the other forms of feedback were more rare (Seek additional help (0.22), Uncodeable symbols (0.15), and Word count (0.10). The general message is that instructors were mostly focused on improvement, then on the style aspects of the essays.

FIGURE 1 . The number of students within each first submitted and final score range, and the average effect-size for that score range based on the first submission.

TABLE 2 . Range, mean, and standard deviation of feedback comments for first submission essay.

There are two related dependent variables–the relation between the comments and the Time 2 grade, and to the improvement between Time 1 and Time 2 (the growth effect-size). Clearly, there is a correlation between Time 2 and the effect-size (as can be seen in Figure 1 ) but it is sufficiently low ( r = 0.19) to warrant asking about the differential relations of the comments to these two outcomes.

A covariance analysis using SEM (Amos, Arbuckle, 2011 ) identified the statistically significant correlates of the Time 2 and growth effect-sizes. Using only these forms of feedback statistically significant, then a reduced model was run to optimally identify the weights of the best sub-set. The reduced model (chi-square = 18,466, df = 52) was statistically significantly better fit (chi-square = 19,686, df = 79; Δchi-square = 1,419, df = 27, p <. 001).

Thus, the best predictors of the growth improvement from Time 1 to Time 2 were the number of comments (the more comments given, the more likely the essay improved), and Specific and General Where to next comments ( Table 3 ). The best predictors of the overall Time 2 performance were Praise; and the comments that led to the lowest improvement included Praise, Probes, Grammar, Referencing, and Unclear comments. It is worth noting that Praise for a summative outcome is positive, but for formative is negative.

TABLE 3 . Standardized structural weights for the full and reduced covariance analyses for the feedback forms.

A closer investigation was undertaken to see if Praise indeed has a dilution effect. Each student’s first submission was coded as having no Praise and no Where-to-next ( N = 334), only Praise ( N = 416), only Where-to-next (N = 1,113), and Praise and Where-to-next feedback ( N = 1,434). When the first two sets were considered, the improvement was appreciably lower where there was Praise compared to no Praise and no Where-to-next (Mn = −0.21 vs. 0.40), and similar compared to Where-to-next and “Praise and Where-to-next” (Mn = 0.89 vs. 0.89).

There was an overall mean difference in the Time 1, Time 2, and growth effect-size relating to whether the student was at University or within a High School (Wilks Lambda = 0.965, Mult. F = 57.68, df = 2, 3,189, p < 0.001; Table 4 ). There were no differences between the mean scores at Time 1, but the University students made the greatest growth between Time 1 and Time 2, and thence in the final Time 2 grade. There were more comments for University students inviting students to seek additional help, and more Where to next comments. The instructors of University students gave more specific and general Where to next feedback comments (4.11, 6.55 vs. 3.30, 4.87) than did the instructors/markers of the secondary students. There were no differences in the number of words in the comments, Praise, the provision of general comments or not, uncodeable comments, and referencing.

TABLE 4 . Means, standard deviations, effect-sizes, and analysis of variance statistics of comparisons between University and Secondary students.

For University students, the highest correlates of the specific coded essay comments included Where to next, the number of comments, General and Specific Where to next, Need support, Seek additional help, the total number of comments, and negatively related to Praise ( Table 5 ). For secondary students, the highest correlates were Where to next, Need support, and negative to Praise.

TABLE 5 . Correlations between the forms of feedback for the university and secondary students.

There are five major forms of feedback provisions, and the most commonly used were e-rater ® (grammar), QuickMarks (drag-and-drop comments), and teacher-provided comments. There were relatively few inline (instructor brief comments), and strikethroughs ( Table 6 ). Across all essays, there were significant relations between teacher inline, QuickMarks, and strikethroughs with the growth impact over time. Perhaps not surprising, these same three correlated negatively with the performance at first submission as these had the greatest opportunity for teacher comments.

TABLE 6 . Means, standard deviations, and correlations between forms of feedback provision and first submission, final submission, and growth effect-sizes.

Feedback can be powerful but it is also most variable. Understanding this variability is critical for instructors who aim to improve their students’ proficiencies. There is so much advice about feedback sandwiches (including a positive comment, then specific feedback comment, then another positive comment), increasing the amount of feedback, the use of praise about effort, and debates about grades or comments, but these all ignore the more important issue about how any feedback is heard, understood, and actioned by students. There is also a proliferation of computer-aided tools to improve the giving of feedback, and with the inclusion of artificial intelligence engines, these are proffered as solutions to also reduce the time and investment by instructors in providing feedback. The question addressed in this study is whether the various forms of feedback is “heard and used by students” leading to improved performance.

As Mandouit (2020) argued, students prefer feedback that assists them to know where to learn next, and then how to attain this “where to next” status; although this appears to be a least frequent form of feedback ( Brooks et al., 2019 ). Others have found that more elaborate feedback produces greater gains in learning than feedback about the correctness of the answer, and this is even more likely to be the case when asked for essays rather than closed forms of answering (e.g., multiple choice).

The major finding was the importance of “where to next” feedback, which lead to the greatest gains from the first to the final submission. No matter whether more general or quite specific, this form of feedback seemed to be heard and actioned by the students. Other forms of feedback helped, but not to the same magnitude; although it is noted that the quantity of feedback (regardless of form) was of value to improve the essay over time.

Care is needed, however, as this “where to next” feedback may need to be scaffolded on feedback about “where they are going” and “how they are going,” and it is notable that these students were not provided with exemplars, worked examples, or scoring rubrics that may change the power of various forms of feedback, and indeed may reduce the power of more general forms of “where to next” feedback.

In most essays, teachers provided some praise feedback, and this had a negative effect on improvement, but a positive effect on the final submission. Praise involves a positive evaluation of a student’s person or effort, a positive commendation of worth, or an expression of approval or admiration. Students claim they like praise (Lipnevich, 2007), and it is often claimed praise is reinforcing such that it can increase the incidence of the praise behaviors and actions. In an early meta-analysis, however, Deci et al. (1999) showed that in all cases, the effects of praise were negative on increasing the desired behavior; task noncontingent–praise given from something other than engaging in the target activity (e.g., simply participating in the lesson) ( d = −0.14); task contingent–praise given for doing or completing the target activity ( d = −0.39); completion contingent–praise given specifically for performing the activity well, matching some standard of excellence, or surpassing some specific criterion ( d = −0.44); engagement contingent–praise dependent on engaging in the activity but not necessarily completing it ( d = −0.28). The message from this study is to reduce the use of praise-only feedback during the formative phase if you want the student to focus on the substantive feedback to then improve their writing. In a summative situation, however, there can be praise-only feedback, although more investigation is needed of such praise on subsequent activities in the class ( Skipper and Douglas, 2012 ).

The improvement was greater for university than high school students and this is probably because university instructors were more likely to provide where to next feedback and inviting students to seek additional help. It is not clear why high school teachers are less likely to offer “where to next” feedback, although it is noted they were more likely to request the student seek additional help. Both high school and college students do not seem to mind the source of the feedback, especially the timeliness, accessibility, and quantity of feedback provided by computer-based systems.

The strengths of the study include the large sample size and there was information from a first submission of an essay with formative feedback, then resubmission for summative feedback. The findings invite further study about the role of praise, the possible effects of combinations of forms of feedback (not explored in this study); a major message is the possibilities offered from computer-moderated feedback systems. These systems include both teacher- and automatic-generated feedback, but as important are the facilities and ease for instructors to add inline comments and drag-and-drop comments. The Turnitin Feedback Studio model does not yet provide artificial intelligence provision of “where to next” feedback, but this is well worth investigation and building. The use of a computer-aided system of feedback augmented with teacher-provided feedback does lead to enhanced performance over time.

This study demonstrates that students do appreciate and act upon “where to next” feedback that guides them to enhance their learning and performance, they do not seem to mind whether the feedback is from the teacher via a computer-based feedback tool, and were able, in light of the feedback, to decode and act on the feedback statements.

Data Availability Statement

The data analyzed in this study is subject to the following licenses/restrictions: The data for the study was drawn from Turnitin’s proprietary systems in the manner described in the from Data Availability Statement to anonymize user information and protect user privacy. Turnitin can provide the underlying data (without personal information) used for this study to parties with a qualified interest in inspecting it (for example, Frontiers editors and reviewers) subject to a non-disclosure agreement. Requests to access these datasets should be directed to Ian McCullough, [email protected] .

Author Contributions

JH is the first author and conducted the data analysis independent of the co-authors employed by Turnitin, which furnished the dataset. JC, KVG, PW-S, and KW provided information on instructor usage of the Turnitin Feedback Studio product and addressed specific questions of data interpretation that arose during the analysis.

Turnitin, LLC employs several of the coauthors, furnished the data for analysis of feedback content, and will cover the costs of the open access publication fees.

Conflict of Interest

JC, KVG, PW-S, and KW are employed by Turnitin, which provided the data for analysis.

The remaining author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

We thank Ian McCullough, James I. Miller, and Doreen Kumar for their support and contributions to the set up and coding of this article.

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Keywords: feedback, essay scoring, formative evaluation, summative evaluation, computer-generated scoring, instructional practice, instructional technologies, writing

Citation: Hattie J, Crivelli J, Van Gompel K, West-Smith P and Wike K (2021) Feedback That Leads to Improvement in Student Essays: Testing the Hypothesis that “Where to Next” Feedback is Most Powerful. Front. Educ. 6:645758. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2021.645758

Received: 23 December 2020; Accepted: 06 May 2021; Published: 28 May 2021.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2021 Hattie, Crivelli, Van Gompel, West-Smith and Wike. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Patti West-Smith, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Effective Feedback

Instructor feedback consistently improves student learning and achievement (Black & Wiliam, 1998). To be most effective, feedback should be clear, targeted, supportive, and action-oriented.

Parameters for Feedback

An instructor’s feedback strategy should consider many parameters (Brookhart, 2008):

Feedback should always be given as quickly as possible, although more detailed assignments and comprehensive reviews might require more time. To manage the time-consuming responsibilities of feedback, instructors should prioritize feedback for assignments that allow students concrete opportunities for improvement, such as drafts of essays or repeated assignment types. Since feedback is a type of  formative assessment , students are much more likely to read it and seek to understand it if they can imagine directly applying feedback to an upcoming assignment. In fact, students are more interested in ongoing learning if feedback is not accompanied by a grade (Butler, 1988).

Instructors should prioritize what they comment on. With too much feedback, students can feel overwhelmed and instructors overburdened. Do not correct every mistake or re-write students’ sentences. Focus on points that relate to your course  learning objectives  and limit lower-order feedback to that which interferes with meaning. If an international student has persistent language issues, refer him or her to additional campus services for  international students . Lunsford (1997) found that three clear and substantial comments was most likely to lead to student action on feedback. Consider giving students a checklist of “next steps” and making explicit priorities for revision or evaluation; e.g., “The most important thing you need to work on in your revision is...”

Instructors can give feedback orally, in writing, or with visual demonstrations. Oral feedback may be preferred if students need to ask questions. Written feedback allows students to refer back to specific points. Visual demonstrations may be best if students need guidance on process-oriented tasks.

Giving feedback to the class as a whole can be helpful if many students have the same difficulties or questions. Individual feedback communicates the instructor’s investment in each student’s work and allows for tailored guidance.

Content of Feedback

Instructors also need to decide what to say to students (Brookhart, 2008):

What's the Focus?

Feedback can concentrate on the  product  or the  process . Avoid personal comments (e.g., “You don’t seem to understand…”), but “process” comments can often help students think critically about their own thinking (Nicol & MacFarlane-Dick, 2006). When focusing on the product, instructors must decide how much attention to give higher-order issues (structure, reasoning, use of evidence, etc.) as opposed to lower-level issues (grammar, mechanics, word choice, etc.).

What's the Referent?

Instructors should determine the standard by which student work is evaluated. Criterion-referenced comparison feedback refers directly to explicit expectations for a given assignment (such as a  rubric ). This is especially helpful as students aim for high grades. Self-referenced feedback compares a student’s work to his or her own previous work. This helps students appreciate their own development and progress, which can be very motivating. Norm-referenced feedback refers to other students’ work, which can be helpful in providing examples to aspire to or new ways of thinking about complex problems. For example, providing exemplars of student work has been shown to more effectively communicate criteria for assignments than written or verbal descriptions (Orsmond et al., 2002).

What's the Genre?

Feedback can take many rhetorical types. Feedback might simply  describe  student writing. This can be helpful in creating a sense that the student is accomplishing what they intend. For instance, feedback can simply identify “this is the thesis statement.” If that is what the student intended, he or she is affirmed. If not, the student may need to rearrange a paragraph or reassess the argument of an essay. More commonly, feedback  evaluates , commenting on the effectiveness of the student’s work. Feedback can also be thought of as a conversation, in which the instructor  questions  the student in order to promote thinking and help students arrive at their own solutions (Nicol & MacFarlane-Dick, 2006). Whatever “genre” of feedback one uses, remember that students have difficulty interpreting instructors’ feedback, even when those comments seem quite straightforward to the instructors themselves. For instance, students are unlikely to know what to do with a comment such as, “your thesis is unclear.”

Although instructors may want to focus on what needs improvement, feedback should also point out what students do well and why. Students often have deep psychological investments in their work, and they are motivated by positive affirmation. But students may also not be aware of what they have done well; explicit positive feedback makes it more likely that students will continue and build on their achievements. Negative feedback is also crucial, since students will likely not improve if they do not know where they have fallen short. For negative feedback to be effective, instructors should pair it with positive feedback and make improvement seem achievable through action steps.

Tools and Techniques

Overview notes with marginal comments.

One common approach to feedback is combining overview notes that provide a “big picture” perspective with marginal comments that illustrate specific instances of the strengths and weaknesses described in the overview. While some instructors put the overview at the end of the paper, putting the overview first (head notes) provides the student with a roadmap for interpreting what follows. With hard copy submissions, you can write head notes on a separate page and staple it to the front of the paper. With electronic copies, you can type head notes directly above the beginning of the student’s paper or with a “comment” in Word. If students submit through Canvas, the  SpeedGrader  function allows in-text comments similar to Word.

Commenting Forms

Using a  feedback form  that sorts your comments into explicit categories such as “what you are doing well” and “what needs work,” with subcategories such as “higher-order concerns” and “sentence-level concerns” can help ensure that both you and your students take the time to think not only about the weaknesses in their writing, but also strengths. It can also simplify your commenting process by giving you a consistent list of concerns to pay attention to and write about. While less personalized, a pre-written feedback matrix (circling, checking, or using reference symbols for statements such as “the conclusion does not summarize the main points”) can make feedback more efficient and might be appropriate if many submissions have the same issues. Similarly, with electronic feedback, instructors can save common comments and copy them onto student submission.

Face-to-Face Conversation

Talking to students about their papers in person can efficiently convey your thoughts about their work, because you can speak more quickly than you can write. Spending 15-30 minutes with each of your students to give them feedback on their papers can actually take less time than writing out formal comments on those papers. Research demonstrates that students need opportunities to actively construct meaning from feedback (Ivanic et al., 2000). Talking with students can also ensure they understand what you’ve said, because it provides them with an immediate opportunity to ask questions. Students can also be given time to discuss together (in pairs or groups) the comments you have written on their work.

Technology: Audio, Video, or Screencasting

If you like the idea of speaking to your students rather than writing to them but are unable to meet with each of them in person, you might try conveying your comments with audio or visual recording. In Canvas, instructors can create audio or video assignment feedback that attaches directly to a student’s submission by clicking the “media comment” icon in  SpeedGrader . Screencasts allow an instructor to “talk through” a paper with a student by creating a video that scrolls through the student’s paper online while recording the instructor’s audio comments about the paper.  To see how this works, you can view this sample screencast . In Canvas, instructors can use  Kaltura  to create screencasts, although these must be created outside the student’s submission/grading page and shared with the student separately (e.g., emailing an embed code).

Getting Students into the Conversation

Students may take a more active role and become more interested in carrying on a conversation when you reply to questions they themselves ask. Whether you reply to your students’ work on paper, electronically, in person, or via video, you can invite them to insert questions and comments in their drafts using the “track changes” function in Word or the “comment” or “note” tools in pdf readers. The same goal can be achieved by inviting students to handwrite comments in the margins of hard copies of their work, or by requiring them to submit cover letters along with their papers. You can then respond directly to their thoughts in addition to commenting on issues they don’t raise. (See a  sample paper  here.) Instructors can also require students to self-review, which in combination with instructor feedback, can develop students’ interest in their own work and refine their revisions (Boud, 1995).

Black, P. & Wiliam, D. (1998). Assessment and classroom learning.  Assessment in Education ,  5 (1), 7-74.

Boud, D. (1995) Enhancing learning through self-assessment. (London, Kogan Page).

Brookhart, S. M. (2008).  How to give effective feedback to your students . Alexandria, VA: Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Butler, R. (1988) Enhancing and undermining intrinsic motivation: the effects of task-involving and ego-involving evaluation on interest and involvement.  British Journal of Educational Psychology,   58 , 1-14.

David J. Nicol & Debra Macfarlane‐Dick (2006). Formative assessment and self‐regulated learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice.  Studies in Higher Education ,  31 (2), 199-218.

Ivanic, R., Clark, R. & Rimmershaw, R. (2000). What am I supposed to make of this? The messages conveyed to students by tutors’ written comments. In: M. R. Lea & B. Stierer (Eds).  Student writing in higher education: new contexts  (Buckingham, Open University Press).

Lunsford, R. (1997). When less is more: principles for responding in the disciplines. In: M. Sorcinelli & P. Elbow (Eds).  Writing to learn: strategies for assigning and responding to writing across the disciplines  (San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass).

Orsmond, P., Merry, S. & Reiling, K. (2002) The use of formative feedback when using student derived marking criteria in peer and self-assessment.  Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 27 (4), 309-323.

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Here’s How to Give Feedback That Students Will Actually Use

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Feedback is one of the most important ways teachers can improve student learning. But regardless of the quality of the feedback teachers give, it’s only useful if students use the guidance.

New research highlighted at the American Educational Research Association’s annual meeting here highlighted ways teachers can boost the effectiveness of their feedback to students.

“We think of feedback as useful and important ... maybe one of the most important things that, if done well, could be the mover in what actually makes students learn and work,” said Martin Van Boekel, an assistant teaching professor at the University of Minnesota. “But the reality is, it’s really not that simple. There are a lot of barriers to user feedback that could undermine it, or make students actually do worse than they would have if they got no feedback at all.”

Emerging research from several studies pointed to several ways to develop better feedback to students:

• Make comments specific rather than general. Teachers could say, “use more examples from the text to support this argument,” for example, rather than labeling a student essay as a “weak argument.”
• Connect comments to the learning goals and criteria associated with the assignment.
• Ensure feedback describes what students should do or think about, rather than just evaluating overall quality.
• Develop a positive class culture around receiving and using feedback without it being a “failure.”

Margaret Heritage, a senior scientist at WestEd and author of the book, Formative Assessment: Making it Happen in the Classroom , also warned teachers to keep feedback separate from grades. She noted that many schools in the United Kingdom create separate grading and feedback policies to encourage students to improve their understanding of an assignment rather than focusing on boosting a score.

Students need to be taught how to use feedback

Van Boekel and their colleagues asked undergraduate students to write an essay summarizing information from an article; the texts were then given feedback and the students were recorded as they thought through their responses to the feedback aloud.

Nearly half of the time, they found students considered teachers’ comments as just text to read, rather than a tool to improve their work or to think about more broadly. By contrast, students spent less than 10 percent of their time thinking through what they didn’t understand about the assignment or content, or inferring ways to improve their work. As a result, students rarely asked for help or clarification in response to feedback, nor did many try to respond to comments in revisions.

“While we assume students are doing these higher-order things [in response to feedback], we’re not scaffolding them,” Van Boekel said. “We need to help students see feedback as information rather than just a score ... and develop this idea that feedback is part of a process” of reviewing and improving one’s learning. In a separate but related survey , the majority of students told the researchers that the primary purpose of feedback is to give strategies to grow academically and better understand the material, but they personally wanted more task-specific feedback focused on what they did right or wrong in a particular activity.

The more negative judgments students make, the less likely they were to say they were going to review the feedback and make changes to the essay.

Teachers should also monitor how students respond to the feedback they give, said Angela Lui of the City University of New York. “If [students] don’t understand it or think it is not useful, they will not use it,” she said.

For her study, Lui analyzed feedback in 7th grade English-language arts classrooms. Teachers provided both immediate verbal and written feedback as students worked through essay drafts, but also gave students checklists to review their own drafts and revise them before submitting.

She found students were more likely to use feedback to improve their writing if it aligned with their understanding of the assignment’s expectations, and they were able to justify the feedback in their own words.

“We need to shift our understanding of feedback from something given to something received,” Liu said. “If students don’t understand it or think it is not useful, they will not use it.”

A little praise goes a long way

That doesn’t mean teachers should focus only on encouraging students, though, according to a separate study by Anastasiya Lipnevich, an education psychology professor at Queens College in the City University of New York.

As part of an undergraduate course, students wrote a 750-word essay on evidence about climate change. Lipnevich and her colleagues then assigned them to one of three groups. The first group was given no feedback, but was asked to reread their essays and identify ways to improve them. The second group was given detailed comments on improvements. The third group also received detailed feedback, but prefaced with praise: “This is an excellent draft! You did a wonderful job presenting your arguments. Below are a few suggestions on how you can make it even better.”

After getting back comments, all three groups were asked how motivated they were to make changes to their essays. They found students who received detailed comments were more motivated to improve their essays than those who got no feedback. But students who had been told they had an excellent draft already were less likely to rework their essays than those those who did not receive praise.

Education Week is reporting live from AERA, the nation’s premier education research conference. Here’s the latest coverage.

A version of this article appeared in the May 03, 2023 edition of Education Week as Here’s How to Give Feedback That Students Will Actually Use

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