If you grade essays, you probably write the same ten comments every week. A comment bank saves those comments once so you can paste them in seconds, and spend your time on the one or two comments that need to be specific to that student.
Where to keep it
- Google Classroom: the comment bank in the grading tool lets you save and reuse comments.
- Canvas: SpeedGrader supports saved comments, and rubric criteria can carry comments.
- Google Docs: a separate doc of comments, organized by heading, is perfectly workable.
- Text expansion tools: short codes that expand into full comments work anywhere.
Organize by criterion
Group comments under the same criteria as your rubric. That way the feedback and the score point at the same thing. A typical bank for argument writing:
Claim
- "Your claim is clear. To make it arguable, add the reason someone might disagree."
- "I can't yet find your main claim. Try writing it as one sentence at the end of the intro."
Evidence
- "Good choice of quote. Now tell me what it shows, in your own words, right after it."
- "This paragraph has a claim but no evidence. Which part of the text supports it?"
Organization
- "Each paragraph starts with a new idea. Try a topic sentence that links back to the thesis."
Conventions
- "Run-on sentences are making your ideas hard to follow here. Read this paragraph aloud and mark where you pause."
Make them actionable
The best comments tell students what to do next, not just what's wrong. "Awkward" or "unclear" gives the student nothing to act on. "Split this sentence after 'because'" does.
Add one personal line
Paste the bank comments, then add one sentence that is clearly about this paper: a line you liked, a specific improvement since the last draft. That single sentence is what makes students read the rest. Our post on feedback students actually read goes deeper on this.
Limit the number
Three or four comments per paper, focused on the highest-impact criteria, are more useful than fifteen. Students fix what they can hold in their heads. If you're working on overall grading speed, see how to cut essay grading time in half.