Reaction to Peer Review

Peer reviews are helpful to me in the sense that they open my eyes to flaws in my paper that I may not perceive myself. In the past I have had doubts about peer reviews because people are too nice and do not give me substantial criticism that I can apply to my work. The peer review in class on Thursday showed me minor grammar errors to fix that I did not see when I read through my paper. I also received insight that led me to realizing that I have to elaborate on my quotes more, along with including proper introductions for them. I learned that reading others’ essays can help me strengthen my own paper by avoiding common mistakes they might have made as well. I also learned that I have to make my thesis more concise and support it more clearly in the body paragraphs. My citations were the topic of most criticism, so in my revisions for the final draft I plan to focus on making them as robust as possible. I enjoy peer editing because I like to challenge my understanding of applying grammar rules while intertwining that with strong content. Brainstorming with others on themes is helpful when someone gets stuck in a certain mindset or encounters writer’s block. The checklist provided for the peer review was helpful in outlining what should and should not be done in the draft, and my editors’ comments highlighted the lacking areas of my paper. In the future I hope to use peer review again for essays because, as they say, “two heads are better than one.”