When responding to someone else's writing, remember that writers
often invest considerable time and energy in their work, and many feel greatly attached to their written words. Therefore,
it is just as important to be considerate in our response as it is to be helpful. Here are some suggestions that may be helpful:
1. Be mindful of your tone as you respond to your peer's writing
There is certainly no need to go overboard with niceties, but consider
integrating a couple of positive comments for things that seem to be working well, especially at the beginning of your comments.
You might want to use language such as: "I like how you..."; or "I'm impressed by..."; Essentially,
think about ways to achieve something like the balance between being both honest and congenial that you'd aim for if you
were talking face-to-face. A tone that works particularly well is one that is both friendly and supportive.
2. Ask questions
Your job as a reviewer is not to fix the paper, but rather to help your
classmate understand how the writing affects readers. Given this approach, it can be very helpful to ask questions, just as
you might do if you were talking face-to-face. It will be helpful for the writer to reflect on these questions when making
writing choices.
o Questions about claims. You might ask, "What in the readings or evidence prompted
you to develop this claim? Why are you interested in this aspect of the topic? How does the evidence support your claim? How
many pieces of evidence do you have (and does the quantity of evidence say anything about the strength of that evidence)?
Do you have additional evidence that isn't included in this draft?"
o Questions about evidence.
If the writer needs more evidence, you might say that you would like to hear more about a particular point, that you didn't
understand a certain point, and/or that you have additional unanswered questions.
o Questions about organization:
If you think a certain paragraph doesn't belong, you can describe your response as a reader; for example, "When I
got to this paragraph, I wondered what it was doing here-it seemed like you had been talking about A, but all of a sudden,
here's this paragraph about B! Can you help your reader understand how this paragraph should fit in?" The student
may need better transitions, or may have left out something important that will clarify matters-or he or she may see that
the paragraph doesn't really belong. But let the writer make those decisions; if you say "Take that one out!"
you are making the writing decision for him/her.
o Questions about sentence structure: How might you help
your classmate learn to revise a sentence without changing it? Make up a similar sentence and carry out your revisions on
it, explaining what the problem is, what options there are for revising it, and why you selected the option you did. Offer
several different options, not just one, so that the writer sees that he/she has many choices.
o Questions
about word choice. Ask why the writer chose the word; tell what the word means to you and why it seems odd to you in this
context. You could say, for example, "In your opening paragraph, I wonder how you chose the word 'bellicose.'
When I read this word, I think of someone who is aggressive and warlike; is that what you meant?"
3. Look for patterns
When addressing sentence-level issues, look for patterns of error, rather
than going through the draft and pointing out errors in the order in which they occur. The same sort of big-picture reflection
will be helpful with non-sentence-level issues, too. If you notice wordiness, see how often it occurs; if you see one transition
that troubles you, check out the others. You can then try to offer the writer new ideas about this general issue, instead
of just commenting on one sentence here and another one there.
4. Beware of taking over
Avoid the following, as easy and tempting as they may be:
* Revising the writer's thesis or claim
* Presenting new evidence for the writer to include
* Telling
the writer to use a different word (and suggesting what the new word should be)
* Telling the writer to remove a paragraph
or to move it to a specific place
5. Organize your comments
Consider outlining or clearly grouping your comments, realizing that
a certain approach may work well in one instance, but not necessarily another. Here are some strategies:
* Organize
your comments by first addressing the writer's concerns (in an orderly way) and then moving on to additional concerns
you noticed.
* Emphasize the more significant writing issues (such as how effective the claim is, how powerful the
evidence) at the beginning of your feedback, and ending with more minor issues (word choice, spelling errors, etc.).
* Make your comments chronologically: Feel free to note specific paragraphs or sentences where problems occur; for example,
you could say, "In the second paragraph you...";
6. Use your time effectively
You should plan to spend about an hour reading, thinking about, and
responding to the paper. To use this time most effectively, consider the following strategies:
* Consider holding
off making any comments until you've read through the whole paper at least once. This allows you to get a sense of the
overall writing, to make sure your comments focus on the real issues, and may save you having to go back and amend earlier
comments. (Taking notes as you read, of course, is still a good idea!)
* Consider letting the writer's stated concerns/goals guide your approach to the organization of your
commentary. This gives you a focus while reading, as well as a set of topics on which to center your comments. (Of course,
if you identify issues that you perceive to be of more concern than those your classmate raises, you should certainly comment
on those.)
7. Consider your language choices
Because your classmate isn't with you and you can't see his/her
reactions, be sure to write in a respectful and fairly neutral style. It's important to avoid evaluative claims; instead
of saying, "your paper is really successful,"; it would be more appropriate to say, "after seeing your presentation
of the evidence, I was convinced of your argument." Be especially careful about anything that might sound overly harsh,
offensive, or patronizing.
8. Making your organization explicit
If you are responding in writing, consider simple visual strategies
(bullet points, numbering, boldface, etc.) to keep your content clear and to emphasize your main points.
9. Know the limitations of this type of work
In the time you spend with this paper (roughly an hour), you may find
that you could discuss a large number of different writing issues. Keep in mind, however, that your classmate may be overwhelmed
(and dismayed) if presented with a list of fifteen things to look at or work on. Therefore, it is essential that you prioritize
your comments. Use signals such as "If you only had time to work on one thing, I think you could increase clarity the
most by considering..."; or "The three areas that gave me the most trouble as a reader were...";
10. Refer the writer to other resources
As a peer reviewer, no one expects you to be the expert on all issues
related to writing. If you sense that there is a problem with the writing but are unsure, feel free to refer your classmate
to one of the writing modules from class, a chapter from one of our texts, Duke's Writing Studio web site, or the course
instructor. It is particularly helpful to point out several places in the paper where the error/problem occurs, and then let
the writer try to resolve the issue using the resources you suggest.
11. Emphasize the fact that you are just one reader
Keep in mind for yourself, and emphasize for the writer, that you are
just one a reader; consider prefacing your comments with phrases such as, "As one reader..."; or "From my perspective...";
You are not offering the definitive summary of what does and does not work in the paper.
return to Writing Module #3