Working with Peers

Revision doesn’t have to happen by yourself. You can call upon your peers to help you develop and clarify your draft.

Talk it Out

Students talking on a porch

 

Find some peers and have a conversation about your piece of writing. Have a conversation where you tell them your ideas and verbalize each of your points. If possible, record your conversation. Then listen to the recording–sometimes valuable ideas or insights will come out of this conversation. What did you say more clearly in the conversation than you wrote in the draft? What did you say that needs to be included in your draft? What kinds of questions or points did your peers make that could be included in your draft?

What I really mean is

Two students talking around laptops at a table

Ask a friend to read through your draft, and mark places where difficult or complicated ideas don’t seem to be coming through clearly. Then, look at each passage and explain to your friend what you meant to say in that passage, and ask your friend to write down what you are saying. Sometimes verbally articulating an idea helps to clarify it.

Watch It

Some classes may require a peer review as part of an essay project. Even when not strictly required, though, peer review can be valuable for many reasons, as the video below explains.

You can view the transcript for “Otis College: Peer Writing Review Process” here (download).

Who better to ask if your essay is meeting its goals than someone else working on the same task? Consider reaching out to a classmate to offer to exchange insights on drafts before the due date.

The Need for Specific Feedback

Imagine handing your paper to your roommate and asking for honest feedback. You’ve worked on it for three days and want an A. As she reads, she grimaces, laughs, yawns—then hands it back and says, “This is terrible.”

This kind of vague, overly critical feedback isn’t helpful. Even if you agree your paper needs work, without knowing why, you won’t know what to fix. Plus, how can you trust her judgment? Maybe she just dislikes sentences that start with However and dismissed your paper because of it.

Good feedback is based on clear criteria. It’s not just about whether someone likes your paper but why. Are they focused on grammar, argument strength, or organization? Does a comma splice matter more than a weak transition? Before starting the review process, both the reviewer and the person being reviewed need to be as clear as possible about the criteria that will be used to evaluate the work for it to be effective.

To get useful feedback, think about your strengths and challenges as a writer. For example, if you’re writing a paper for a professor you’ve had before, and who has made comments on your past work, use those comments to provide your reviewer with a focus. If you’re the reviewer, ask to see the assignment and rubric, and clarify what the writer wants feedback on—whether it’s structure, clarity, or something the grader is likely to emphasize. Clear expectations lead to more constructive criticism.

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.
PRO TIP: It is important not to overwhelm your writer with comments. As much as possible, try to avoid repeating similar comments (e.g. don’t correct every single comma error you find). Also, although it can be tempting to make some of the changes you suggest yourself, you never want to rewrite the work you are reviewing.

CARES Peer Review

The least helpful comment to receive from a peer reviewer is, “Looks good to me.” The CARES method helps you to articulate useful things that can benefit the author when they revisit their draft. Keep in mind that as a reviewer or as the writer being reviewed, you want to make and take comments in the spirit of helpfulness.

  • C: Congratulate. What does the writer do well in this assignment? (List one or more aspects.) Also, please write the writer’s main claim or focus (thesis) according to what you have read. (It may not be the last sentence of the first paragraph – the traditional place for the thesis.)
  • A: Ask clarifying questions. What part(s) of the essay were a bit confusing? Why? What specific suggestions (3 or fewer) do you have for revising the unclear parts of this writing?
  • R: Request more. What would you like to know more about the topic that can enhance the essay and that supports the thesis?
  • E: Evaluate its value. What specific detail(s) do not work with the essay (e.g. doesn’t support the thesis) or can be moved within the essay?
  • S: Summarize. Overall, what new information have you learned or how are you thinking differently after this reading?

Visit the Excelsior Online Writing Lab to watch a video of students using the CARES method.