# Many Hands Make Light Work: Using Essay Traits to Automatically Score Essays

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.00781 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.00781/

## Key facts

- Cited by 25 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 9 of its 46 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 1 Feb 2021.

## Builds on (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [BERT: Pre-training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.04805/) (2018)
- [ALBERT: A Lite BERT for Self-supervised Learning of Language Representations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.11942/) (2019)
- [Equilibrated adaptive learning rates for non-convex optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1502.04390/) (2015)
- [Automated essay scoring with string kernels and word embeddings](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.07954/) (2018)
- [SkipFlow: Incorporating Neural Coherence Features for End-to-End Automatic Text Scoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.04981/) (2017)
- [Co-Attention Based Neural Network for Source-Dependent Essay Scoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.01993/) (2019)
- [Eyes are the Windows to the Soul: Predicting the Rating of Text Quality Using Gaze Behaviour](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.04839/) (2018)
- [Happy Are Those Who Grade without Seeing: A Multi-Task Learning Approach to Grade Essays Using Gaze Behaviour](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.12078/) (2020)
- [Automated Topical Component Extraction Using Neural Network Attention Scores from Source-based Essay Scoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.01809/) (2020)

## Built on by (most cited first, 25 of 25)

- [Unleashing Large Language Models' Proficiency in Zero-shot Essay Scoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.04941/) (2024)
- [Prompt- and Trait Relation-aware Cross-prompt Essay Trait Scoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.16826/) (2023)
- [Rationale Behind Essay Scores: Enhancing S-LLM's Multi-Trait Essay Scoring with Rationale Generated by LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.14202/) (2024)
- [Autoregressive Multi-trait Essay Scoring via Reinforcement Learning with Scoring-aware Multiple Rewards](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.17472/) (2024)
- [Competent but Rigid: Identifying the Gap in Empowering AI to Participate Equally in Group Decision-Making](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.08807/) (2023)
- [Automated Long Answer Grading with RiceChem Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.14316/) (2024)
- [Autoregressive Score Generation for Multi-trait Essay Scoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.08332/) (2024)
- [DREsS: Dataset for Rubric-based Essay Scoring on EFL Writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.16733/) (2024)
- [Teach-to-Reason with Scoring: Self-Explainable Rationale-Driven Multi-Trait Essay Scoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.20748/) (2025)
- [Survey of Natural Language Processing for Education: Taxonomy, Systematic Review, and Future Trends](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.07518/) (2024)
- [WikiSQE: A Large-Scale Dataset for Sentence Quality Estimation in Wikipedia](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.05928/) (2023)
- [LLMs Do Not Grade Essays Like Humans](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.23714/) (2026)
- [PsyScore: A Psychometrically-Aware Framework for Trait-Adaptive Essay Scoring and ZPD-Scaffolded Feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.20287/) (2026)
- [Enhancing Automated Essay Scoring With Three Techniques: Two-Stage Fine-Tuning, Score Alignment, and Self-Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.01747/) (2026)
- [Trait-Aware Policy Optimization for Autoregressive Multi-Trait Essay Scoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.25731/) (2026)
- [RDBE: Reasoning Distillation-Based Evaluation Enhances Automatic Essay Scoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.13781/) (2024)
- [Euskarazko lehen C1 ebaluatzaile automatikoa](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.01851/) (2025)
- [CLEAR: A Comprehensive Linguistic Evaluation of Argument Rewriting by Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.15027/) (2025)
- [Qayyem: A Real-time Platform for Scoring Proficiency of Arabic Essays](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.01009/) (2026)
- [Decision-Level Ordinal Modeling for Multimodal Essay Scoring with Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.14891/) (2026)
- [MAPLE: A Meta-learning Framework for Cross-Prompt Essay Scoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.17569/) (2026)
- [Towards Self-Referential Analytic Assessment: A Profile-Based Approach to L2 Writing Evaluation with LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.04298/) (2026)
- [MADRAG: Multi-Agent Debate with Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Training-Free Analytic Essay Scoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.06754/) (2026)
- [ICLE++: Modeling Fine-Grained Traits for Holistic Essay Scoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.27671/) (2026)
- [A Unified Framework to Elicit Structured Feedback for Interpretable Multi-Trait Essay Scoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.28407/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Most research in the area of automatic essay grading (AEG) is geared towards scoring the essay holistically while there has also been some work done on scoring individual essay traits. In this paper, we describe a way to score essays holistically using a multi-task learning (MTL) approach, where scoring the essay holistically is the primary task, and scoring the essay traits is the auxiliary task. We compare our results with a single-task learning (STL) approach, using both LSTMs and BiLSTMs. We also compare our results of the auxiliary task with such tasks done in other AEG systems. To find out which traits work best for different types of essays, we conduct ablation tests for each of the essay traits. We also report the runtime and number of training parameters for each system. We find that MTL-based BiLSTM system gives the best results for scoring the essay holistically, as well as performing well on scoring the essay traits.