Peer REview
Peer Review Instructions:
First, if you don't know how to do peer review on Canvas, please watch the video. Note: This video shows you finding the peer review via the assignment tab. For my class, you need to go to modules > find the assignment.
Second, peer reviews are assigned at the time the essay is due. If you turn your essay in late, I have to manually assign your peer reviews. If you do turn your essay in late, you will need to find other students to work with via Discord.
Third, please spend 5-10 minutes on each person's essay. Give them constructive feedback and fix mistakes your might notice. You will review 5 essays.
Fourth, failure to provide good feedback will result in loss of points on your final draft!
To complete peer review, please follow these steps.
To review feedback from your peers, please follow these steps.
Why Peer Review?
I know many people dislike Peer Review, it is is actually important! Please see this below from Shoreline Community College:
Peer review is one of the most loved and most hated features of college writing classes. Here are some reasons some people love it:
they learn a great deal about their writing
they get good feedback
they are able to improve their papers dramatically.
And some reasons other people hate it:
the reviewer doesn’t offer constructive criticism (just says things like “great job!”)
they want only the instructor’s opinion
they don’t want other people to see their work before it’s “finished”
I use peer review extensively. I have tried to set it up to avoid some of the most common complaints. But this explanation of my reasons may help you as well, if you’re the sort of person who doesn’t really like peer review.
Peer review is for the reviewer
The first and most important thing to remember is that peer review is for the reviewer as much as for the author.
Editing someone else’s work is one of the best ways to learn how to edit your own.
If you keep this in mind, uncooperative partners who don’t give useful feedback will not faze you. That’ll be their loss, but you’ll get the benefit of practicing on another person’s writing the skills you need to be a better editor of your own work.
Writing is revision
This in turn is based on the basic idea that writing is all about revision. In order to revise successfully, you must be able to read your work objectively. The more you practice reading and critiquing someone else’s work, the stronger your editing skills will be when it’s time to apply them to your own work.
Some people want only the instructor’s feedback, either because they think the instructor’s opinion is the only one that matters, or because they are afraid they’ll get the “wrong” feedback from other students. The first objection, when it’s not really just a disguised version of the second, is simply mistaken. Most writing is for more than one person to read, and you want to know how to reach them all, not just your ideal audience. Getting feedback from your peers will help you learn about readers’ expectations, assumptions and attitudes, all of which affect the way they receive your work and, therefore, will affect how you address them.
Writing is communication
Some people are just uncomfortable showing others their writing. That’s understandable, but it should not prevent you from taking advantage of the opportunity peer review represents. Writing is communication, after all. Lots of different people, with different skill levels, interests, attitudes and so on, will read what you’ve written. Getting feedback from several different readers greatly enhances your ability to reach a wide audience, because it shows you the expectations and assumptions your readers bring to your writing and helps you reach them.
Most work is collaborative
That’s the general answer. But there’s a specific answer too. More and more jobs require you to work collaboratively. Learning to take constructive criticism, whether it’s on a piece of writing or something else—a design, a proposal, a plan—will greatly enhance your future success in employment.