This article will guide you through selecting the relevant criteria to generate automated feedback. The relevance of the criteria could depend on the type of writing assignment for which you are using Automated Feedback, or the language in which it is written. To help you decide on what will be most beneficial and appropriate, we will walk you through the function of each one.
Is the criterion you had in mind not (yet) provided? Please let us know at the end of this article so we can improve.
Choosing feedback criteria
Automated Feedback criteria that can be chosen are divided into five overarching categories, addressing the content and its structure, academic language use, formatting, citations and references, and tables and figures in a piece of academic writing. Within each section, you will find which criteria can be selected including their learning goal, description and language support.
Category 1: Content and Structure
Criterion | Learning goal | Description | Language Support |
Required sections | Students learn to include all necessary sections and have sections of the appropriate length | Each section that is required within an assignment can be entered here (including a minimum and/or maximum amount of words) | International |
Word count | Students learn to write work of the appropriate length | Enter a minimum or maximum amount of words that the work must contain | International |
Document language | Students learn to write consistently in one language | Verifies that the document is consistently written in the same language | English, Dutch |
Sentence length | Students learn to avoid using long sentences to make their writing more clear and comprehensible | Sentences longer than a certain number of words should be split into shorter sentences | International |
Category 2: Academic Language
Criterion | Learning goal | Description | Language Support |
Abbreviation introduction | Students learn to properly introduce the abbreviations they use | Abbreviations that are not commonly known should be introduced in brackets, e.g. NLP (Natural Language Processing) | International |
Active voice | Students learn to avoid the passive voice (active voice is generally preferred) | Passive voice should be avoided and replaced with active voice | English |
Formal writing style (beta) | Students learn to follow formal, academic writing conventions | Formal writing conventions should be followed, avoiding "contractions (it's, they're)", and starting sentences with a coordinating conjunction | English |
Grammar | Students learn to use proper grammar | Feedback is given when grammar mistakes are made to ensure student work is clear and comprehensible | English |
| Students learn to avoid first and second person pronouns | Feedback is given to reduce the use of specified (first or second) personal pronouns to ensure students' writing is objective | English |
Punctuation (beta) | Students learn to use proper punctuation | Feedback is given when punctuation mistakes are made to ensure student work is readable, clear, and fluent | International |
Spelling (beta) | Students learn to use proper spelling | Feedback is given on spelling errors to ensure students' writing is correct | English |
Verb tense (beta) | Students learn to write in the correct tense (either past or present) | Document should be written in the specified verb tense (past or present) | English |
Vocabulary | Students learn to choose words appropriately for their writing | Feedback is given on the use of vocabulary based on context, collocations, and redundant and easily confused words | English |
Category 3: Format
Criterion | Learning goal | Description | Language Support |
Table of contents | Students learn to provide an table of contents | Ensures there is a table of contents present in the document | International |
Page numbers | Students learn to use page numbers | Ensures that all the pages in the document are numbered | International |
Category 4: Citing and Referencing
Criterion | Learning goal | Description | Language Support |
Citation style | Students learn to use proper formatting for references according to a given citation style | Feedback is given on whether the references are written in the correct pre-defined style or are consistent throughout the document | International |
Citation count of references | Students learn to use high-quality academic literature | Checks whether the citation counts (the times a reference is cited in other academic works) of listed references meet the specified requirement | International |
Reference count | Students learn to refer to an appropriate amount of literature in their writing | Checks whether the document contains a specified minimum and/or maximum number of references. | International |
Reference content | Students learn to provide all necessary information for references | Feedback is given when references don't contain specified elements necessary (e.g. a publication date) | International |
In-text citation of references (beta) | Students learn to cite all listed references in the body text | Feedback is given on whether all listed references are properly cited in the body text | International |
Category 5: Tables and Figures
Criterion | Learning goal | Description | Language Support |
Figure captions (beta) | Students learn to properly format figures with a caption | Ensures that all figures contain an accompanying caption that describes the figure | International |
Figure count | Students learn to include the appropriate number of figures | Ensures that the document contains a specified minimum and/or maximum number of figures | International |
In-text citation of figures (beta) | Students learn to refer to used figures in the body text | Ensures that all listed figures are also cited in the body text | International |
Table captions (beta) | Students learn to properly format tables with a caption | Ensures that all tables contain an accompanying caption that describes the table | International |
Table count | Students learn to include the appropriate number of tables | Ensures that the document contains a specified minimum and/or maximum number of tables | International |
In-text citation of tables (beta) | Students learn to refer to used figures in the body text | Ensures that all listed tables are also cited in the body text | International |
*Beta: you can learn more about this label here.
We also have a set of criteria that are in experimental phase. This means that they need to be manually enabled for you. Are you interested in trying out experimental criteria? Check out the information here and let us know
Changing feedback criteria (for teachers)
Any criterion that has been added will appear in the overview. If you’d wish to remove the criterion added, simply press the "rubbish bin" on the right. It is also possible to change the criterion that was selected by navigating to "configure".
If you decide at a later stage that you would like to make changes to the criteria you have selected, that is also possible. The new changes will automatically be visible for the students, and any work that has been uploaded will be checked again to ensure it receives feedback on the new criteria.
Do keep in mind that adjusting the criteria will mean that any objections made by students will go away.
Adding new criteria
Is there specific feedback that you would like to see but currently isn't supported by our tool? Let us know! We will continuously improve and add more criteria to increase the value for you and your students.
This concludes the Choosing the right criteria for Automated Feedback article.
If you have any questions or experience a technical issue, please contact our friendly support team by clicking on the blue chat button (Note: support is available 24h every weekday & unavailable on the weekend).
