I always thought that I was a pretty decent peer reviewer ever since high school because I always peer edited everybody else’s papers. I was reliable when it came to breaking down grammar and I can occasionally make edits to their paper to strengthen their argument. Coming into this class, I thought that I was pretty good at what I did. I found out early on that when it comes to peer editing, the grammar is the least of the worries early in the writing process. I had to adjust my revision strategy for my peers so I can help polish their paper.

At first, it was difficult at first for me to focus on the global edits because I didn’t know what to look for at first. Then, I just started reading their paper and annotated as if I was reading any other paper. This way, it was easy for me to critique the paper on the content rather than the grammar. I asked the same questions that I would have asked if I was reading any other article, so this would help the writer see where there could be potential confusion.

At the midway point of the semester, I felt like I adapted really well to the helpful suggestions to their papers, yet I didn’t really know what to do when I was told to add comments that were positive and praised something that I liked. This was difficult for me because I think I would be more useful if I only gave comments that would help their paper. This was the biggest learning curve in terms of peer editing. To help me improve on this, I just observed the comments that were left by my peers in order to draw ideas from other examples. Towards the end of the semester, I believe that I have a good balance of helpful criticism and supportive comments on peer’s papers. The following selection from my Showcase Writing Project demonstrates my ability to make these critical and supportive comments.

In the future, I want to further develop my ability to write positive comments because although I can identify when to write them, I can improve the quality of these comments so they can reach the quality of my critical suggestions.