Be able to critique their own and others’ work by emphasizing global revision early in the writing process and local revision later in the process.
After reviewing my feedback on the Marked First Draft of the paper I peer reviewed, I have noticed that looking at other’s papers helps develop my own writing because I am able to see what works with a paper and what I should avoid. The best way to improve is to learn from others. Peer review gives us the opportunity to grow as a group as we read and annotate our peer’s papers. During the peer review session, we sit down, usually in a group of three, and we pass out our papers to our peers in our group. We decide to focus on one paper at a time for twenty minutes, to ensure that every student gets enough feedback. We slowly and carefully read the paper and began to add notes to the side.
One thing that I always look for is the transitions between each sentence and each paragraph. This is something that I struggle with, so understanding how my peers use transitions helps me develop my writing skills. For example, in the peer reviewed paper I included, I commented that this student had a “good way to introduce the next topic”. I thought that this student’s transition between the first body paragraph and the second body paragraph was very smooth and easy for the reader to pick up on.
I also commented that I think this student should make sure his thesis was specific enough to address all of his topics in his essay. As I made comments about the thesis, I realized how important it was for me to make sure my thesis does the same.
After we have finished reading and annotating the writing, we verbally share our comments with the writer. I think that writing down the comments and vocally sharing them is a very efficient method because I am able to write a quick note and then further explain it while speaking. This way, the student is aware of what is needed to be fixed and has a better understanding of my comment. Once we finish sharing our thoughts about the paper, we move on to the next essay and repeat the process.
