Using Peer Review Feedback in Your Courses

When teaching students to write and revise drafts of their work, use the peer review workshop method to allow students to work on drafts of a paper. Within a carefully designed environment, students can provide each other with invaluable feedback on their work as they work together to produce a final draft that will please you. (You only need to read and comment on the final draft.)

Here are some ways to incorporate peer review response in your writing courses.

1. As a class, workshop a sample student paper early in the semester.
I think this is vital to incorporating a successful peer review experience. Bring in a sample student paper from a previous semester, ask the students to read it, and then conduct a class wide workshop on that draft, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses based on the criteria of the assignment and the goals and expectations of the course. Below is a sample list of questions students should read for when reviewing a sample draft. You can make these questions specific to your discipline and to your writing assignment(s):

•  What is the quality of the content of the writing: the ideas, the perceptions, the point of view?

•  How well is the writing organized?

•  How effective is the language?

•  Are there mistakes or inappropriate choices in usage?

2. In-Class Peer Review
Students bring in copies of their preliminary drafts and gather in groups of 3-4 (Five or more tends to be a little unwieldy.) Students distribute their drafts to their peer group, and each student takes turns reading the draft out loud while the other follow silently along with their copy. After the student reads, each group member takes turns offering feedback, suggestions, advice, praise, etc. Students will get the most out of this activity if you require them to fill out a separate peer evaluation sheet. You can collect these evaluation sheets with their drafts and respond to them with a check system (check, check +, check -). The peer evaluation sheet should be consistent with the goals and purposes of the writing assignment.

3. Require students to write a cover letter for each draft.
A cover letter (or writer's memo) is a short note from the student writer to the reader of the draft in which the writer raises questions about the draft. An effective memo familiarizes the reader with the purpose and audience of the draft before asking specific questions. To get the most out of responses to the draft, students will need to play an active role in preparing your reflective memo:

Ask your reader questions: Readers will give you more helpful specific reactions if you question them. Be specific about questions you have. Point out parts you found difficult to write. Ask what they would do about any weak spots. Get at the why's behind their responses. Make sure students ask pointed questions:

•  How clear is my purpose? Can you sum up what I'm trying to say? What steps can I take to make my point hit home to you?

•  Paragraph four looks skimpy – only three short sentences. What could I do to make it longer?

•  Does the language I use correspond to my intended audience? If not, what could I do to make the language more effective?

4. Take-home peer review . Another way to incorporate peer review is by asking students to take home their group's drafts and read and respond to them outside class. When students return, ask them to return to their groups and discuss the papers and responses in class.

Click here for sample peer review guidelines