Peer Review in Biology: Of Novices, Experts, and Disciplines

Abstract

• Background: In 2015, five institutions with nationally recognized writing programs and STEM disciplines received funding by the National Science Foundation to implement peer review activity in STEM courses. As part of that larger project, this study examined the context and content of peer feedback for entry-level and advanced biology courses and compared the key terms used in these peer reviews to terms used by peer reviewers in chemistry and words identified as “high-quality” by writing experts.