Figure 1. Getting input from others about your writing can be intimidating at first, but feedback from others is invaluable and worth every bit of effort or humility it takes on your part.

You don’t have to revise alone—seek feedback to refine your draft. You can (and should!) call upon your peers, teachers, and writing center tutors to help clarify your ideas and improve your writing.

You should realize that reviewing your work, like planning, drafting, or revising, is a recursive process. This means you will revisit and refine ideas throughout the process. For example, you might draft an introduction and get feedback before continuing. If you’re on the wrong track, you’d be better off knowing about it sooner rather than later — especially if a deadline or due date is looming. Some writers even write their introduction last. Writing isn’t a step-by-step process—it’s a cycle of drafting, reflecting, and revising.

When In Doubt, Talk it Out

Even if optional, discussing your writing with someone else can be highly valuable. Ask a friend to read your draft and mark unclear sections. Then, explain what you meant—sometimes verbally articulating an idea helps you clarify your ideas. Take note of what you expressed more clearly in conversation than in writing. What did you leave out that should be added? What questions or insights did your listener offer? Talking through your ideas helps you identify and strengthen weak points in your paper.

The Need for Specific Feedback

Being a Good Peer Reviewer

At some point, someone will ask for your opinion on their writing—whether it’s a classmate, a friend, a sibling, or a coworker. Strong reviewing skills will help you provide useful feedback in these situations.

Effective reviewing means identifying problems, suggesting alternatives, and backing up your feedback with clear reasoning. More importantly, you need to present your suggestions in a way that encourages the writer to make improvements. You should not only recognize what’s wrong with a piece but also understand why it’s wrong and how to fix it.

One of the best ways to improve your own writing is by reviewing others’ work. The more you practice, the better you’ll become at spotting errors—skills that will serve you well when editing and revising your own work.

Reviewing Criteria

In the example above, you were not able to gain any insights or knowledge from your roommate letting you know that your “terrible” paper. What you need is some feedback that would help you improve your paper. You don’t know if your paper is “terrible” because it lacks a strong thesis, strayed from the assignment, or if it contains too many grammatical errors.

When you are reviewing your own paper or the paper of a friend or classmate, ask yourself three questions about its organization, focus, style, development, and grammatical conventions:

Organization

1. What strengths and weaknesses does the paper have?
2. What’s the most important thing that the writer is trying to say?
3.  Does the writer employ transitions effectively from beginning to end?

Focus

1. Is the paper focused on the assignment throughout the paper without jumping from subject to subject?
2. Does the writer fulfill the obligation stated in the thesis?
3. What’s the writer’s position on the issue?

Style

1. Which style is the paper written?
2. Does it work for the subject matter and assignment?
3. Is the writing at an appropriate level for the target audience?

Development

1. Does the title indicate what the paper is about?
2. Does the opening paragraph draw you in?
3. Does the concluding sentence draw the argument of the paper to a close by bringing together the main points provided in the paper, or does it just end?

Grammatical Conventions

1. Are common or appropriate writing conventions followed?
2. Are grammar, spelling, punctuation, and other mechanics observed?
3. What is your advice on how to improve the paper’s grammatical mistakes?

While reviewing the paper, make notes in the margins of any problems you find. If you believe that developing a paragraph a little bit more would be helpful to the argument, write <more>. If you are unclear about something, write <? not sure>. If you notice a missing comma, insert it in the correct spot, but be sure to set it off somehow so that you or your friend will notice the correction. If another word might work better, write <WC> to indicate inappropriate word choice.