The Power of Peer Engagement: Exploring the Effects of Social Collaborative Annotation on Reading Comprehension of Primary Literature

In graduate education (GE), critical reading of reading primary literature (CRPL) is the principal method of learning a discipline and its practices, such as discourse about research and preparation for writing. CRPL is inconsistently taught in GE yet essential, forming a hidden curriculum advantaging the best-prepared students. In traditional reading or journal clubs, PL discourse follows a hierarchical social model, where those with the most knowledge and extroversion dominate discussions. This article reports qualitative findings explaining why online peer engagement using social collaboration annotation (SCA) with embedded prompts supported CRPL in a broader mixed-methods intervention study with doctoral participants in spring 2022. The broader study reported elsewhere was an online intervention delivered over four weeks where participants in various fields read science policy research. Qualitative data collection elicited participants’ practices, experiences, and self-perceptions of CRPL in the new field while using SCA for peer-based discourse and collaboration. The findings indicated that when everyone was learning with SCA, they asked questions and learned from seeing each other’s ideas in real time, thereby correcting mistakes, activating various critical strategies, and improving comprehension and confidence. Self-doubt and fear calmed down in a supportive environment without the hierarchy of traditional journal clubs. The implication is that students encountering CRPL need and benefit from explicit instruction and low-stakes peer-based discourse practice with SCA.