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Using the MS Word Review Tool

-- Teaching Features Revealed: That’s Been There All This Time? by Kathleen Riepe

An Objective Way to Insert Comments on Student Papers

One math student to another upon getting an assignment back: "Well, he gave me a C on this assignment because he doesn’t like me." Not a very likely comment, right? However, in the English Composition classroom this sentiment is all too common. In fact, no matter what the discipline, whenever evaluation of student performance is subjective, it is human nature to sometimes resist constructive criticism. The subjective nature of assessing student writing puts the English instructor in a position of needing to find ways to get students in an accepting, non-defensive frame of mind when they read teacher comments on their papers.

We return student drafts hoping that our students will take our suggestions to heart when they revise. We construct our remarks carefully hoping they will not get defensive about our comments scrawled all over their papers. Students believe the fewer marks the better on a returned draft. It occurred to me that it wasn’t just what the teacher wrote, but the personal nature of the teacher's handwriting on the paper that the student felt sullied by. So how could I make my handwriting, which can get pretty illegible at times anyway, look less like handwriting? I struck upon one such method in one of the many functions of MS Word.

The Reviewing Tool in MS Word allows me to insert comments into my students' papers, which they have submitted to me electronically. When the student hovers the mouse over the yellow highlighting, my comments appear. (subsequent versions of Word will insert blue brackets.)

For six semesters, I have been using the MS Word Reviewing tool to insert comments in students' papers. While I have mostly anecdotal evidence through student interviews and an online survey, I have found that students are less likely to feel defensive about my comments on their papers and are more likely to make significant revisions. Preliminary response to the following survey, which I have had students complete in an online educational platform, shows that students react positively to the Reviewing Tool comments.

I have opened _______________ returned essay/s and used the Yellow Highlighting to make suggested revisions.
For each of the following statements indicate whether you strongly agree, agree, are neutral, disagree, or strongly disagree.
- I did not have trouble figuring out how to find the revisions suggested by my instructor.
- Overall, I prefer getting my essays graded electronically using the yellow highlighting.
- Overall, I prefer getting my essays graded by hand in the traditional way.
- It was easier to understand the suggested revisions using the yellow highlighting.
- In the future, if given a choice I would prefer to use the Yellow Highlighting rather than written comments on my paper.
- I prefer submitting my essays electronically rather than turning in a hard copy.

As an added benefit for my "at risk" developmental students, I believe that any additional familiarity with technology that I can provide will give them a much-needed advantage in their college experience and in the work world. If nothing else, if they think they have an edge, then they will have. There also seems to be an intrinsic appeal to using computers to write papers and to get feedback from me.

Here is how you set the Reviewing Tool in an opened MS Word document.

Click on View
Click on Toolbars
Click on Reviewing

Then check one other setting.

Click on Tools
Click on Options
Click on View and make sure the box by "Screen Tips" is checked

Example of a writing paper with review tool comments included. Inserting your comments into a student's paper is easy. Once you have the Reviewing tool turned on, simply place the cursor wherever you want to insert a comment, click on the yellow "insert comment" button on toolbar. Type away! When you type from your own computer, your name may appear in the yellow (subsequent versions of Word will insert blue brackets rather than yellow highlighting) comment box instead of "unknown user." You will also notice a list of your comments in a box at the bottom of your screen. On the right is an example of a student’s paper with comments inserted.

My students send their assignments as attachments in the WebCT e-mail. The advantage to this method is that you don’t clog up your e-mail. You can also set up a free Yahoo or Hotmail account for student papers. Another method is to have students simply give you a floppy disk with the document. A word of caution about the latter: your computer is more vulnerable to viruses each time you insert a student's floppy.

Using the Reviewing Tool to provide feedback on student papers allows us one more way to encourage students to recognize that writing is a process. They see the benefit of time spent revising. The Reviewing Tool allows us to capitalize on the intrinsic appeal of using a computer and students’ natural curiosity for discovering new computer features.