Guidelines to an effective peer review, Discussing Peer Review help

Read the Guidelines for Effective Peer Review (see Resources area) and answer the following questions:

• Why do you think peer review is important?
• What are important questions to ask when reviewing a peer’s paper?
• What do you think are important elements of peer review?
• What concerns do you have regarding peer review?

Guidelines for Effective Peer Review
© Capella University
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Guidelines for Effective Peer Review
The following guidelines are from the Capella University Writing Program. You can find more
writing advice at Capella University’s Online Writing Center.
Peer review can be one of the most beneficial aspects of writing, as it gives you the
opportunity to test out your writing on an audience before you officially submit your work.
However, engaging in peer review is not an easy task. It requires reviewers to be careful and
thoughtful readers, as well as rigorous but tactful responders. It also requires writers to be
open to feedback and willing to take that feedback seriously. A well-conducted peer review is
a benefit to both writers and readers. Writers are able to determine what and how to revise in
order to improve their writing, and readers are able to apply their comments and criticisms to
their own writing.
The following guidelines help you maximize the peer review experience for writers and
readers. Feel free to add your own guidelines as you develop your skills as both a writer and a
responder.
Guidelines for Writers
• Be open to receiving constructive criticism. Remember, your peers’ comments reflect
their perspective of what you have written. Their comments are not personally directed
at you.
• Look for patterns in the peer responses, because patterns indicate general issues you
can focus on improving. For example, if your reviewers regularly comment on the
absence of topic sentences, that should encourage you to focus on topic sentences as
you are revising your work.
• Do not begin revising your own writing until you have read through all the peer
responses you have received. Look for commonalities among the comments and
consider prioritizing the common issues. Do not simply implement one peer’s
comments.
• Before you begin revising, prioritize your work. Work on the global concerns first, such
as transitions, flow, and confusing passages. Save the local concerns, such as
grammar and spelling, for a later stage.
• Remember, you have ultimate control over your writing. Make good rhetorical choices
that you believe will lead to a better written text.
Guidelines for Readers
• Offer praise as well as criticism. Indicate what works well, because this shows the
writer what habits he or she should continue.
• Focus on global concerns before local ones. It is more important for you to help the
writer produce a unified, coherent, and intelligent piece of writing than a grammatically
correct one. Grammar has its place, but it should not be your first concern as a peer
reviewer.
• Offer comments that are constructively critical, not rude or mean-spirited. Whenever
possible, comment on the writing, not the writer. For example: “This paragraph
confuses me because…,” is more effective than a blanket statement such as “You are
© Capella University
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Guidelines for Effective Peer Review
not clear here.” Remember that explanations about what does and does not work
helps the writer more than short, cryptic notes.
• Use peer review as a tool to teach yourself. As you note what works well and not so
well, you can learn how to improve your own writing.