Student perceptions of the effectiveness of self-editing on their writing: towards a self-regulated approach

Abstract

A number of studies have highlighted the importance of teaching students to self-edit their work. Self-editing within higher education has been demonstrated to support students' academic writing skills. It also capitalises on lecturers' written corrective feedback on students' essay-based assignments making it more effective and meaningful. Utilising a collaborative approach between the Study Support and the School of Health Sciences at a UK-based university, this research evaluated the usefulness of a self-editing worksheet based on the perspectives of students, writing tutors, and the subject lecturer (staff) feedback. Students' perspectives were investigated by content analysing their responses provided in the reflection section of the self-editing worksheet. Qualitative analysis of staff feedback on pre- and post-edit writing was also evaluated. The results show that 65% of students found the worksheet useful and the worksheet helped them make some positive changes to their essays. Evidence would suggest that this pedagogical model is effective in improving levels of academic writing. Implications and suggestions for effective teaching practice and future research are provided in this paper.

Keywords

• self-editing
• independent learning
• academic writing
• self-regulated approach