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Wong Wei Kang

Referee Report - Guidelines


Please do not circulate without permission

Rationale for the Requirement of a Referee Report

The purpose of the referee report is to force you to think critically about the research
papers that you read. In your referee report, you should think of reasons why the research
findings are not as solid as they sound. You will be rewarded for asking critical questions.
By asking you to comment critically on a paper, I hope to show you that most papers
actually have loopholes and problems, which are grounds for further research. It makes
thinking about your own research less daunting. If you start by thinking that your paper
has to be perfect, you will probably never get it done (actually you may never get started).

Main Things I Look for in Your Referee Report

1. Critical thinking based on good reasoning, in finding loopholes in the assigned paper,
e.g., argument, experimental design, interpretation of results, confounding factors not
discussed, etc.

2. Clear, concise, and to the point writing. Length doesn’t matter. It’s the content that
counts.

Guidelines

• Students are required to submit a referee report. Tentatively, the report is due on
the Saturday of week 9. Please submit hardcopy of the report to my mailbox
(#76) on the level 6 of AS2 by 12noon.

• The report should not exceed 3 single-spaced pages, with the usual margins (at
least one inch on all sides). In your submitted report, please use Times New
Roman font with a font size of 12 point.

• Referee report that exceeds the page limit (including playing with margin, font
size, and font) will be penalized – it will be downgraded.

• The grade you receive does not depend on its length. Don’t beat around the bush.
Get to the point in the first sentence of your first paragraph. If you can say it
clearly in one sentence, don’t use two. The best referee report says insightful stuff
concisely without testing the reader’s diminishing patience. Quantity is not a
substitute for quality. Remember: your audience attention is a scarce
resources and reading your work has opportunity cost. In reality, if you don’t
write clearly and straight to the point, your readers always have to option of not
reading it. Good and concise writing style will be rewarded.
• A good referee report will provide a brief summary of the primary methods and
results of the paper. The bulk of the report should be analysis and critique.
Students should address the strengths and weaknesses of the paper as well as
provide ideas for extensions or further work.

o Give any reasons why the results may not be as solid or as convincing as it
seems. Carefully explain and elaborate on your arguments. Be
specific. You will be rewarded for being critical.

o For empirical papers, the devils are sometimes in the details, which mean
for example that you may need to read the experimental instructions
carefully and whether they are doing what they claim to be
doing. Sometimes the methodology is flawed.

o More generally, one may want to ask whether the paper is asking the right
research question or interpreting the theoretical frameworks or
implications correctly, or whether the paper has been doing things
consistently. What you write in a particular paper often depends on the
specific paper you are asked to comment on and so it is hard to give any
general advice.

o The bottom line that I want you to follow is that you should articulate and
elaborate on any reasons why the results may not be as solid or as
convincing as the paper makes it sound. So basically the referee report is
your critical response to and comments on the paper.

• Student found plagiarizing would be penalized and reported to the university.

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