Peer Feedback
First and foremost, be kind, considerate AND critical!
Format
A few times during the course, students may be expected to give feedback on the fellow students' work. Peer feedback is a way of entering a dialogue with your fellow students. By reading the work of your peers, you can see how they write and see their strengths and weaknesses – this helps students improve their own writing.
Students are expected to provide feedback on fellow students's writing using the "Suggesting" function on google docs. People will not be assessing (i.e. grading) your work, only providing constructive feedback. Normally academic peer review is private or "double-blind" – meaning that neither reviewer nor author are known by each other, but in this class it will not be anonymous. So please be extra collegial when offering feedback to others.
The goal of this work is to learn how other people write (if you are the commenter) and how other people read your writing (not just your professor). Both reading others' writing and having your own writing read allow you (in different ways) to learn the strengths and weaknesses of how you write. Since we (and you) would likely prefer to receive helpful feedback, your own comments on other people’s writing need to be polite, helpful and collegial.[1]
Your academic criticism of your peers should do the following:
In google docs, either search the menu (under the Help menu) for "Suggesting mode" or click on the stylus (pencil?) icon in the top right corner of the window (under the share button). Editing is the default mode, choose "Suggesting" which tracks changes. You can thus edit text directly to add, delete or modify text. You can also make comments by clicking on the Comment icon (a speech bubble with a + inside it) or by using the Insert menu and scrolling down to comment. Adding a comment is a good way for students to offer suggestions of a more general or theoretical nature, and comments allow different people to discuss ideas back and forth via the "reply" function. It also allows you to point out detailed issues (typos, improper syntax, weird word choice ...).
In a comment at the top of the character sheet, indicate what you think the writing did well (1-2 sentences). What was the author's most interesting idea? Was there something about their writing style that you would like to emulate in the future. The goal in making these comments is not to say, “X was good” but to say “X was good for reason Y”. Be very explicit so that the author can learn from your comments when revising their draft.
Note/ List obvious problems: typos, misspellings, poor syntax. Note sentences you find ambiguous (i.e. if you weren’t sure what something meant and you’re pretty sure the writing is unclear, let the author know). Does the author cite sources properly? Suggest corrections.
Indicate more subtle problems. If a text has an vague or unclear focus or a thesis which is not fully argued, communicate to the author what you think they were doing (e.g. "your thesis sentence argues X but your analysis seems to argue Y, am I missing something?”). If you feel more evidence is needed to convince you, let the author know. If you think the author includes evidence which is not pertinent (and should be eliminated), let them know.
Suggest ways to improve. If you know something about the subject under analysis, is there additional information which the author could include? Can you think of more examples to support the argument? Are there other resources to help understand it? Is there an alternate way to interpret the material presented? Is there a better way to organize the information that springs to mind? This kind of comment is some of the hardest to make but also the most helpful for re-editing the commentary.
Do not repeat criticisms made by other students (there is thus an advantage to being the first to contribute feedback), unless you are using the same problem to make a different point.
Etiquette:
Use formal language, and treat your feedback as a piece of academic writing. Avoid contractions, slang, profanity and other objectionable speech.
Be nice. Don’t be mean. Follow the “Golden rule”.
Provide evidence for your comments. Back up what you say – since your comments are a form of argument, which needs to have a logic and proof.
You can comment on more than your three assigned if you choose. Bonus marks apply - but let me know if you do so I can keep track.
[1] Commentators will be penalized for making rude and mean-spirited comments. Criticisms which have support (i.e. you marshall evidence from the text) even if highly critical do not fall into this category.
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