During the semester, you will complete one or more written assignments. Such assignment(s) will be introduced orally at the beginning of the semester. Your grade on this/these written assignment(s) will be based upon (1) your own self-critiquing; (2) one or more other students’ peer-reviewing; and (3) the professor’s grading.

Through self-critique, you will gain greater insight into your own writing. Through peer-review, you will further strengthen your own writing skills by examining other students’ writing, and all students receive and provide valuable feedback so that all students can improve their own work-product.

In addition to learning how to critique one’s own work-product, the opportunity to peer-review other students’ work-product improves a student’s:

1.) Investment in the assignment and his or her engagement with the writing process;   

2.) Understanding of the relationship between the assignment itself and the course topics; and

3.) Reflection ability thereby improving his or her critical thinking skills.

Self-critique makes learning to write more interactive and peer-review makes learning to write more collaborative.

Source: https://www.southwestern.edu/offices/writing/faculty-resources-for-writing-instruction/peer-review/benefits-of-peer-review/

A 2017 study by Duke University professors perhaps sums it up best when they concluded, “Self-grading and peer-grading embodies assessment for learning in that it requires students to engage in higher-level thinking and disciplined inquiry to review, clarify, and correct one’s own or others’ work. Additionally, as students apply assessment criteria, they develop a clearer conception of the assessed material because of the increased exposure to it.”

Sources: https://www.peergrade.io/blog/self-grading-impacts-test-performance/

and https://scholars.duke.edu/display/pub1241756