Peer Review
ENGL 111 English Composition Statewide Online Course
Principles of Peer Review
Concerns about Peer Review and How to Handle Them
In this class, you will be asked to review one another's writing as a regular, graded assignment. You will be provided with a series of questions to guide you as you read and respond to one another's drafts. In this handout, we address some general concerns many students have about reviewing classmates’ work. If you have these concerns, you are not alone.
The first concern is: What if I say something that upsets a classmate about her writing? To address this, consider how you would want to be treated by your classmates when they read your writings. Do you want empty, feel-good responses that are nice and safe for you to read? Do you want an honest reaction to what was written? Do you want to be attacked in some personal way for the views that you might be discussing in your writing? Typically, most students want an honest reaction that is both respectful of them as a person, and lays it on the line if there is an opportunity to improve the draft before turning it in for a grade. You’ll do just fine if your comments are tied to the assignment guidelines—what the assignment actually calls for; are honest assessments about what worked or didn’t in the writing; are respectful of the writer’s personality, character, and motives; and do more than just point out errors but also provide clear suggestions, examples, and ideas for improvement.
The second concern is: What if I give bad advice? After all, I am a student writer, not a professional writer! Good point—but we never expect editors (students doing a peer review, for example) to take responsibility for the writer’s choices. One of the characteristics of a competent workman in any field is the ability to sort out advice, to know what to use, what to politely ignore, and what to modify and use in a different way from what might have been intended. As a writer, you are
Principles of Peer Review
Concerns about Peer Review and How to Handle Them
In this class, you will be asked to review one another's writing as a regular, graded assignment. You will be provided with a series of questions to guide you as you read and respond to one another's drafts. In this handout, we address some general concerns many students have about reviewing classmates’ work. If you have these concerns, you are not alone.
The first concern is: What if I say something that upsets a classmate about her writing? To address this, consider how you would want to be treated by your classmates when they read your writings. Do you want empty, feel-good responses that are nice and safe for you to read? Do you want an honest reaction to what was written? Do you want to be attacked in some personal way for the views that you might be discussing in your writing? Typically, most students want an honest reaction that is both respectful of them as a person, and lays it on the line if there is an opportunity to improve the draft before turning it in for a grade. You’ll do just fine if your comments are tied to the assignment guidelines—what the assignment actually calls for; are honest assessments about what worked or didn’t in the writing; are respectful of the writer’s personality, character, and motives; and do more than just point out errors but also provide clear suggestions, examples, and ideas for improvement.
The second concern is: What if I give bad advice? After all, I am a student writer, not a professional writer! Good point—but we never expect editors (students doing a peer review, for example) to take responsibility for the writer’s choices. One of the characteristics of a competent workman in any field is the ability to sort out advice, to know what to use, what to politely ignore, and what to modify and use in a different way from what might have been intended. As a writer, you are