Computer-Assisted Grading of Essays and Reports
http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~candc/archives/v1/1_2_html/1_2_3_Jobst.html
  peer-reviewed

Jobst, Jack W.
Computers and Composition
1984

Abstract:

Someday computers may grade our students' essays and reports, but until then they can assist human graders in this onerous task. I wrote a program composed of three major sections: the first is a simple test editor for writing original comments; the second section consists of pre-written commentaries on common writing errors, principally in mechanics and organization; section three keeps track of bookkeeping. Questionnaire results show that students prefer this type of grading over traditional hand-written methods because it doesn't involve marks on their papers, and it produces more extensively detailed comments.