Blog Post 3: How Can You Provide Meaningful Feedback to Your Peers?

Peer Editing by nrpatric and Tutorial Peer Editing by Adriana Zardini

      These two sources provide almost identical information. The main difference is how the information is given; the first one is a simple video and the second is a PowerPoint. First, they give the definition of peer editing. This is where you help a classmate improve and revise his or her work. Then the sources make sure that you know one very important rule: stay positive. I've always considered this common knowledge, but I can see how some students would need to be reminded of this courtesy.
      Then the two sources went over the three steps to peer review. The first step of peer review is to compliment their work. If you tell your fellow student what they did well on first, it is not only polite but it will help the other student become comfortable with you critiquing his or her writing. The second step is to make specific suggestions. Here is a list provided by both sources of different suggestions you can make:
           1. Word Choice - Boring or Interesting?
           2. Details - Are there enough details?
           3. Organization - Does it flow well?
           4. Sentences - Is it too choppy? Are there
              TOO many long sentences?
           5. Topic - Is it on topic throughout the work?
The third step is to make corrections. Here is a list (also provided by both sources) of different corrections you can make:
           1. Spelling Mistakes
           2. Grammar Mistakes
           3. Missing or Incorrect Punctuation
           4. Incomplete or Run-on Sentences

Writing Peer Review (Peer Critique) TOP 10 Mistakes by Tim Bedley

      This video is quite amusing. The children demonstrate similar topics from the previous two sources but from a different angle, and they shed some light on a couple new areas that I would like to touch on. I think that it is great that this video not only talks about what the student reviewing needs to be aware of, but it also shows the mistakes that the author of the work can make during the peer review process. I would like to mention that three of the "Top 10 Mistakes" are irrelevant. Being too loud and being social with surrounding groups are not problems due to the fact that we are doing our reviews as comments on blog posts. Being too picky is not relevant because it was about human errors due to it being written not typed. So, there are seven relevant mistakes that I will be touching on.
      First, there are four mistakes that the reviewer needs to avoid. Here they are:
           1. Being General
           2. Going Too Fast
           3. Being Pushy
           4. Being Mean
If you are too general or fast, you are not helping your peer. You are most likely just going to make him or her feel helpless or overwhelmed. If you are being pushy or mean, all you're doing is making your classmate not listen to you or hurt his or her feelings. How does that help your peer?
      Second, there are two mistakes that the author needs to avoid. Here they are:
           1. Not Caring
           2. Being Defensive
Please acknowledge what your peer is helping, and take the advice they give you into consideration. Also, your peer is not out to get you. They are trying to help you, so try not to be too defensive.
      The last mistake can be made either by the reviewer or the author. Neither one of the participants in this process need to be off topic. Don't post random things in the blog posts or the comments. Now that we all know the expectations, let's do our best to make the peer review process what it was meant to be!

Thanks for reading,
Jennifer L. Cole