Peer review was an important part of the writing process in my English 110 class, and it helped me develop both as a writer and as a reviewer. At first, when I started peer reviewing, I wasn’t sure how much I could actually help someone else with their writing. Well, to begin with, I thought the whole process was going to be a bunch of minor ‘point-out-the-obvious’ things: grammar here, spelling there. Really, it has to be said that the most important concept related to peer review is greater than that. One big thing I learned was giving constructive feedback. First of all, I had not a clue as to how to say what I felt or thought without sounding overly critical. I realized that instead of pointing out what wasn’t working, I needed to explain why something didn’t make sense or how it could be improved. For example, when a classmate’s argument seemed unclear, I didn’t just say, “This part doesn’t make sense,” but I also suggested, “Maybe you could add more detail here to clarify your point,” or “Consider reorganizing this part to make your argument flow better.” This kind of feedback was more useful and helped my peers see how they could improve their writing. Also through peer review, I developed my own awareness as a writer. Reading other people’s work made me more aware of things that I could do to improve my own drafts. For instance, when reviewing a classmate’s paper, I noticed that in each paragraph she had a really strong, clear topic sentence, and it made her arguments way easier to follow. I realized that I wasn’t doing this in my own work, and it was something that I needed to work on. Seeing my peers’ strengths helped me to find my weaknesses, which helped to make me a better writer. Another important part of being a peer reviewer was learning to be specific in my feedback. Instead of just saying, “This paragraph needs more support,” I tried to point out exactly where the support was lacking and suggest what kind of evidence or examples might help. This helped me think more deeply about what makes writing effective and how I can improve my own papers in the future. Overall, peer review helped me grow in many ways. It improved my ability to give thoughtful, constructive feedback, and it made me more aware of the elements that make writing strong. It was also a great reminder that revision is a process, both for me and for my peers and that we all have something to learn from each other.
