Resources: Channeling Barclay

What you do during peer revision is precisely what I do when I grade: both activities are a kind of consulting work in which we point out strengths and weaknesses, offer feedback and advice, and evaluate writing. The big difference is that when you're done consulting, the author has a chance to revise; when I'm done, it ends with a grade.

Yet the fact that these activities are so basically similar suggests a few things. For one, it suggests that you should take peer revision as seriously as I take grading. For another, it suggests that the better you become at peer revision, the more you help your classmastes and the more you help yourself. Helping your classmates is pretty obvious, but you might not realize why being an effective peer reviewer can help you with your own work. It's simple--the better you are at peer review, the more you understand what makes a paper strong, the more you can use this understanding to help you with your own paper.

The best way to improve your skills with peer revision is to channel me. At this point in the semester, you've seen my comments three times: Rough Draft One, Final Draft One, Final Draft Two. Using that base of experience, you should:

1. Think about where I usually place my comments
   The end of the introduction, the end of each paragraph, the end of the paper

2. Think about what I usually comment on
   The specificity of a project, the work with text, the analysis at the end of the paragraph that connects the work you're doing back to the project, the transitions between paragraphs

3. Think about what I usually say
   Be more specific, use the quotation, explain how this relates to your project

4. Think about what I usually don't say
   Nice!, Good!, I like your paper!

5. Think about what I am concerned about
   Strong, clear project, good work with text and connective thinking, solid organization

If you give these items some thought, you should be able to channel me nicely, both as you work on others' papers and as you work on your own.