As the class has progressed, I have learned how to properly peer review a paper, and what is helpful vs harmful when doing so. While it is always important to be mindful of ones feelings, criticism is definitely necessary for helping a fellow student with their writing. This doesn’t mean that you can’t be nice about it, because I always do my best to be kind when adding comments or small edits on someone’s paper. As shown in the pictures, it is important to point out what a writer does well, as well as what they can improve on. I think something I have learned about doing peer reviews is that just because I wouldn’t write something a certain way, or I am not crazy about the topic at hand, doesn’t mean it is bad writing. I do my best when peer reviewing to immerse myself in the topic, and try to be objective as possible, asking questions to myself as I read that I think would be beneficial for the author to answer. Does this connect to their thesis? Can I follow the train of thought in this paragraph? Could the organization of the paper be better? This all comes down to global and local revision that my peer has the option to do. I try to do a little bit of both when reading, usually at first glance I stick to the local simple revisions that are a bit easier to spot. In a second read through, I think this class has taught me it is really important to view an essay as building blocks, look at it more abstractly, and see if it can be put together better. Not only has this helped me with peer reviewing better as shown in the images I provided, but it has also helped me when it comes to revision throughout my own writing, and recognizing what I should still work on.
