Guide to the peer-review system for publishing homework assignments
Publishing means that a final grade has been recorded in the course 
gradebook
NOTE: Only the editor and associate editor will have access to the 
gradebook


Editorial board

Editor: Jonathan Williams (course instructor)
Associate Editor (AE): TBD (course TA)


Instructions for submission of completed assignments:

(1) Each (weekly) assignment must be turned in to the editor on time 
    via Moodle. Otherwise, the assignment will not be sent to the AE, 
    and will not be published (this is commonly referred to as a 
    "desk reject"). Unpublished assignments receive a grade of zero 
    points.
		
(2) Assignments that are considered for review (i.e., those that are 
    turned in on time to the editor) will be sent to the AE for 
    further review. The AE will then randomly assign a reviewer 
    (i.e., another student in ST 705), and send the reviewer the 
    assignment under review via email.

(3) Reviewers will be given one week to complete the review of their 
    assigned assignment. Reviewers will have their own assignment 
    grade recorded as long as they have completed the review that 
    they were assigned, each week. If the reviewer fails to complete 
    their review on time, then the TA will grade the assignment that 
    they were assigned. Upon completion, the reviewer will submit a 
    typed report, including a recommended numeric grade, to the AE 
    via email.  
		
    Instructions for grading assignments:
	
    Each exercise should receive:
      2 points of credit if the solution is  correct,
      1 point of credit if the solution is mostly correct,
      0 points of credit otherwise
    The AE will assess the report for accuracy and relevance.
    
    (3a) If the AE does not agree with the reviewer report it will be 
         sent back to the reviewer to be revised.
    (3b) Once the AE agrees with reviewer report, the AE will record 
         the (tentative) assignment grade in the course gradebook, 
         and will then send the reviewer report to the author of the 
         assignment for revisions. Authors will be blinded to the 
         reviewer of their assignment.

(4) Authors of assignments will have one week (from the date of the 
    AE's email) to revise and resubmit their work to the AE based on 
    the reviewer comments (in which case, step (3) is repeated with 
    the same anonymous reviewer). If the author does not respond to 
    the AE within one week (to resubmit or ask for an extension on 
    the revisions), then the last available grade is published.
		

NOTE to authors and reviewers: 

It is in the best interest of the author to respond and revise their 
work as thoroughly as possible based on the reviewer report. 
Reviewers always reserve the privilege to reject any revisions that 
they deem to unsatisfactorily address the concerns in their report.  
However, the reasonableness of the reviewers is assessed by the AE.  
Reviewers should take responsibility for their role in this review 
process; the integrity of the assignment grades relies on their 
integrity and respect for the process.

It is in the best interest of the reviewer to provide as constructive 
and detailed feedback as possible in their report.  Authors always 
reserve the privilege to revise and resubmit their work within one 
week of receiving reviewer comments. Unhelpful reviewers will only 
increase the number of rounds of review they must participate in.


Disputes or delays:

In the event that the author disagrees with a reviewer report, the 
author should address their disagreements in their revision 
(sometimes reviewers are misguided, and sometimes the AE will not 
notice mistakes in reviewer reports). Such formal academic discourse 
is typically very enlightening for both the author and the reviewer; 
since all parties are forced to articulate arguments as precisely 
(and politely) as possible, gaps in proficiency become quickly self
-evident. Further, impolite authors/reviewers will only prolong the 
time they must endure through the process because it is very easy for 
the opposing party to also not play nice.

If resolution cannot be achieved or if there is an unresponsive 
reviewer, authors should reach out directly to the editor.  Authors 
are ultimately at the mercy of the editor. However, note that the 
editor almost always assumes the recommendation of the AE, and the AE 
approved the reviewer report that the author must respond to.