Blog Post #3

Looking over your peer’s work can be very helpful. It can also be a confidence builder and help improve writing.  Peer editing is reviewing someone’s work while giving positive, but also instructive suggestions and corrections.   You must always be positive when giving criticism.  Start out with complimenting his or her work and point out the things you enjoyed most.  No one likes to have their mistakes pointed out to them, especially if they worked really hard on it.  Give suggestions on things they could do differently.  Then lastly, give corrections.  Correct the writer on grammar, word choice, organization, and other things of that sort.  Remember to give specific criticism.  Don’t just tell a peer, “You have so many spelling mistakes all over your paper and a lot of run-on sentences.”  This is not specifying what he or she must correct or improve on.  The most important thing to remember while editing peers work, is to stay positive and polite.  

When I am peer editing someones work, I am going to give constructive criticism on their work while still giving positive feedback on what the writer’s high points are.  I want to be able to make suggestions on what my peer could improve on if need be.  My number one thing to remember is to never be rude or make the writer feel insecure about his or her work.  Doing so takes away from the whole purpose of peer editing.  Peer editing is important for many reasons.  Editing a peers work can help improve his or her use of organization, staying on topic, use of word choice, correct use of grammar, and most importantly it can improve a writers confidence.  The video,”Writing Peer Review TOP 10 Mistakes,”  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBuq4qgRhCc&feature=player_detailpage), is a great entertaining video that shows exactly how not to edit a peer’s work.  Don't be like Picky Patty,  Whatever William,  or Jean the Generalizer.  Being to picky,  not caring about the editing process, or not being specific are terrible ways to peer edit.  Just remember to follow the steps of giving compliments, making suggestions, and finally making corrections.