Blog Post #3

How Can You Provide Meaningful Feedback to Your Peers?

Editing My Group Members

When it comes to editing my group Raphael members, Lisa Smith, Heather Smith, and Briann Smith, I chose to edit them through Google docs. I would rather do peer editing privately rather than publicity. If I did find something wrong with their work I would rather tell them in private to help improve their grades and blog. I think that my group members would be more appreciative of me then to wait until after their blog is posted. I do think that there are pros and cons of both, depending on the person or group. I do think that it’s something that should be discussed among group members. No one is perfect, no matter if you have a 4.0. Sometimes we need our work to be reviewed, even more than once or by multiple people.

 Peer Editing

After I viewed the slide show, “Peer Edit with Perfection Tutorial,” and watched the videos, “What is Peer Editing” and “Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes.” I realized several different aspects of peer editing that I did not know. Yes, I have edited and critiqued several of my peer’s papers before, but there are several things that I did pick up on that taught me how to critique with a positive attitude.

The two videos and the slide show made me understand the meaning of peer editing.  More importantly, it broke down each individual part of peer editing and taught me the meaning of what a peer is, what editing is, and the reasoning behind peer editing.  Where would we be without peer editing? What would our success rates be? No one is perfect, we all make mistakes, and I think it is important for everyone to understand the steps that create peer editing.

First, when you are reviewing your peers work make sure that you compliment their work. They may have several errors or no errors, but do not intrude with a negative attitude. How would you feel if someone wrote something negative on your work? You need to make sure that you compliment their work in a positive manner.

The second step of peer editing consist of making suggestions. You can make suggestions about anything that you want too, but make sure that you do the suggestion with a positive reflection.

Now all that is left of peer editing is making corrections. When you make corrections you are looking for errors in spelling, grammar, capitalization, quotes, and punctuation. Always remember to stay positive! It is okay to make a suggestion or add a comment to someone else’s work but just respond in a way that you would want someone to respond to your work. It’s your job as the editor to let the person know when he or she has made a mistake or left something out and its okay to critique.

I found the video “Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes” to be very humorous and it made me realize things that I do as an editor. The mistakes that are made during peer editing were very well described by the students in this video. The mistakes that were talked about by the children were: Picky Patty, Social Sammy, Whatever William, Jean the Generalizer, Mean Margaret, Loud Larry, Pushy Paula, Off-Task Oliver, Speedy Sandy, and Defensive Dave. I could see where all of these mistakes could happen. I would definitely recommend this video for peer editors because it points out things that we do as an editor and may not even realize it. I hope that every peer editor gets a chance to view this video! You do not want to be Mean Margaret!