Helping Psychology Students Write Better Essays

Abstract

The paper reports on an intervention to help psychology students write better essays by using an Essay Feedback Checklist (EFC). A sample of first year and third year psychology students were asked to rate their own essays in terms of how confident they felt they had been in meeting the departmental assessment criteria. Tutors used the same rating scale when marking the essays and used any mismatches between their rating and that of the student to target their feedback. The aims of the study were to look at the effects of using the EFC in i) writing an essay and ii) clarifying written tutor feedback. Findings showed some mismatches between students and their tutors particularly in the third year. Students were mainly positive about the EFC, although some comments indicated that more help was needed. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of an action research framework and student self-assessment.