This site requires Javascript to be turned on. Please enable Javascript and reload the page.

Rhetoric and Writing Main Menu INTRODUCTION to COLLEGE WRITING RHETORICAL ANALYSIS ARGUMENT CRITICAL READING AND THINKING RESEARCH COLLABORATION RESOURCES and TOOLS TECHNOLOGY

Peer Review: The Process of Providing Constructive Feedback Without Pissing People Off.

22942

The peer review process is a system that works...yes it really does...to help you improve your paper by having other people looking at your work and “hopefully” offering advice and suggestions to make it better. Remember when you asked your friend or parent(s) to look over your essay you wrote for whatever class...its the same thing that we are talking about. You have someone look over what you have done and are asking their advice on how to make it better. Sound simple? Well basically it is a simple process that is effective as long as everyone plays by the same rules.

In the next few sections we will discuss how to perform the peer review process and the pros and cons that students run into.

Everyone is out to get you. Giving feedback does not have to be a bad thing. However, as with any form of group work, the important thing is not to bring the wrong mindset to the table. Many students get defensive about their work and take the comments as a personal attack. You have to convince yourself that the process is to help-not hurt. You get feedback but ultimately it's your paper so you have to make the choice as to whether or not to change your work.

Not Everyone can actually do it. FALSE! Sure there might be concepts that are not your strong point but there will be other areas that you are good at. Maybe you are better in grammar and sentence structure then you are at writing thesis statements. Share your expertise with your fellow classmates and they will hopefully do the same for you. Everyone has something to contribute so everyone CAN do this.

The process is a mystery. This too is a false statement. Your instructor will provide you with guidance on how to perform the review. Generally there are documents associated with the paper you are writing. These documents can consist of a assignment sheet or a rubric, or may even be a separate form to conduct the peer review with. Often times instructors nay even have you annotating within the other student paper. Whatever method the instructor chooses, you can be assured that there will be some form of guidance provided as to what to look at and how to perform the review. Often times there will also be a revision period/time between peer reviews which allow you time to revise your paper before the next round. Bottom line is that this will be a controlled evolution so do not worry about chaos.

I don't need peer review, my papers are perfect-my last instructor always told me so. FALSE. Everyone can use peer review. Your previous instructor may have had different views than your current instructor--everyone has their own ideas sometimes of what makes good writing and instructors are no different. That makes it very important that you have another set of eyes look over your work.

Helping others while also helping yourself. This is TRUE! The initial thought is that you will only be helping others but you will also help yourself-how? Well as you review other papers you will see different approaches and styles in writing. This will help you to broaden your own style of writing. Copying styles of writing is fine as long as you do not copy the actual words that someone else has used. Also, some instructors may even offer additional incentive for writing really good reviews-possibly even extra credit.

How to write responses for peer review will be discussed in the next section.