While editing my peers’ essays at the beginning of the semester I was definitely overwhelmed and felt a little pressure. I hadn’t done much of this in the past especially to this extent. I wasn’t educated about global and local revisions, and I didn’t know how to tell someone to fix something in a positive way. I spent a lot of my revisions in high school just saying good job, or fix grammar, and never really focused on sentence structure, the larger idea of the essay, connecting paragraphs back to your main thesis, or even giving them other ideas in order to enhance their writing. I have seen a lot change from my first paper peer review to my last paper peer review. I enjoy them now and I enjoy giving effective criticism because I know that in end, they’ll appreciate it more than I know, and it’ll only help their paper in the long run. In paper 3, I edited Madelyn’s narrative and found myself not only connecting to her piece personally but also being emotionally invested as well. By the time I got to her piece I had learned a lot about helpful comments, global and local revisions, sentence and paper structure, introducing and exiting quotes, the importance of a thesis, how to paraphrase and make meaning out of it, and analyzing different texts to incorporate into each piece. Her writing was very unique and descriptive and with all of these writing techniques that we’ve learned, her and I both tried to find ways to enhance each technique throughout her piece. I started by reading the whole paper without making a single comment and once that task was completed, I went back to the beginning and read each sentence at a slower pace. Sometimes I would make comments that were simple things they just needed to remember when finalizing their draft such as remembering their header or citation page. Other times I would make short comments stating if something didn’t flow right, if it was too choppy, or even if I didn’t understand the point she was trying to get across. When these comments weren’t happening, I dove deep into her essay and was very nit-picky about what I was reading. I highlighted things and gave her new ideas in which she could improve upon, and I tried to figure out the bigger meaning behind her piece. This is when I went to what I thought her thesis was and then went to the end of each paragraph to make sure it was connecting back to her thesis. I also made sure she was engaging with her audience and had engaging topic sentences and paragraph ideas that flowed together smoothly. These are things that you don’t usually catch when you finish writing and reread it over again in your own head because their writing usually sounds good to them but to others it could be confusing or not explained fully. I also revisited all of her quotes and made sure she introduced and exited them in a proper manner. I got a grasp of how she writes and knew that a boring “he/she said” to introduce a quote didn’t match her capability so I made comments of that as well. Since the beginning of the semester I feel as though I have come a long way and have veered away from just fixing grammar and brought myself to be more involved in the papers of others as well. I really focused on the difference between local and global revisions which I believe is a lot more helpful especially to the person on the other end. Specifically, in her piece I made a comment on something that sounded off and gave her an idea in a comment that went as follows: “Reword maybe… so you aren’t starting with but. I feel like it will add to your intro and idea rather than contradict it. Maybe say “try looking at stories from those who experiences the 1918 Flu Pandemic and you will begin to notice that there truly is more to these pandemics than just sickness.” I like the sentence just seems like the BUT is contradicting in a way. Just a thought”. To me this puts an idea into her head and allows her to think of other ways in which she can allow other people to understand the point she is trying to get across. Another comment I made was after a quote she had mentioned but I felt as though she could relate it to her own life so I commented: “is there a way you can relate to this and incorporate some of your life and your experiences into this paragraph too? I think it could tie the reader in a little more and enhance your writing”. This to me can allow her to dive deeper into her writing and think of something that would’ve never came to her own mind. It is always good to walk away from your piece and have another eye look at it to give new ideas that you never would’ve thought of and I think doing peer reviews throughout this semester has definitely allowed us to do so. I feel as though I now have a good grasp on how to effectively peer reviews someone else work and it has opened my eyes up to so many different things.
