Peer review and feedback are indispensable elements of the essay writing process. Constructive criticism and commentary from peers, professors, and other readers allow writers to identify weaknesses, improve arguments, strengthen evidence, refine organization and flow, elevate word choice, and enhance the overall quality of their essays.
This article will take a comprehensive look at what peer review and feedback entail, explain their immense value for developing writing skills, and provide helpful advice on giving, receiving, and integrating feedback to maximize essay writing growth.
What is feedback?
In the context of essay writing, feedback refers to any advice, criticism, evaluations, or praise given in response to a written work. Feedback can come in many forms, including handwritten notes, track changes on a Word document, verbal comments in a peer workshop, or ratings on a rubric. High-quality feedback engaged with the actual content of the essay, offering the writer constructive ways to improve upon weaknesses and further develop strengths.
What is a peer review?
A peer review is when students critically read, evaluate, and provide feedback on each other’s essays. Acting as “editors,” peers carefully review essays to identify strong points as well as areas needing improvement. Peer reviews allow writers to gain valuable outside perspectives beyond their own self-editing. Robust peer reviews offer honest, thoughtful, and constructive feedback to push the writer to strengthen their essay.
Why are feedback and peer review so important?
Regular feedback and thorough peer reviews are essential for improving one’s writing skills. Without the objective perspective, others provide, it becomes nearly impossible for writers to identify weaknesses and gaps in their work accurately. Comprehensive feedback provides:
- An impartial outsider perspective writers can’t get just from solo self-editing
- Useful specific critiques on everything from argument coherence to evidence integration to citation format
- The chance to significantly refine and elevate essay quality before final submission for a grade
- Motivation to closely review and self-assess one’s own writing with a critical eye
- Practice applying feedback, which develops self-editing skills over time
How to get high-quality feedback and peer review
Students aiming to improve their essay writing abilities should proactively seek copious feedback using these strategies:
- Meet with professors and TAs during office hours to get feedback
- Frequently visit campus writing centers for consultations on papers
- Form a study group to exchange essays and provide peer critiques
- Use peer review services and discussion boards built into online courses
- Join writing communities or forums online to receive feedback from diverse perspectives
- Schedule sessions with privately-tutors specialized in essay development
- Submit essays to scholarly journals for reviewer feedback on publication potential
The more quality feedback from others, the faster essay writing skills will evolve.
How to give thoughtful peer review and feedback
Learning how to review peers’ essays and provide constructive feedback critically is just as vital of a skill. Consider these tips:
- Thoroughly read the essay first, without distractions, taking detailed notes
- Focus first on evaluating the macro elements like thesis clarity, overall structure, flow, transitions between ideas, and use of evidence
- Then, drill down into paragraph-level concerns like topic sentences, supporting details, explanatory logic, proper citations, etc.
- Don’t overwhelm the writer by harshly nitpicking every minor grammar and spelling error
- Be ultra-specific, and precise, and offer tailored suggestions to push the writer rather than vague praise
- Balance positive notes on strengths with critical advice for improvement
- Frame feedback professionally and kindly to avoid discouraging the writer
How to gracefully receive and integrate writing feedback
The final crucial aspect of the feedback process is having an open mindset to accept criticism and meaningfully integrate it to elevate writing willingly:
- Maintain a receptive attitude rather than a closed off or defensive stance
- Review feedback from multiple sources to identify trending issues needing focus
- If numerous peers highlight the same specific problem, seriously reflect on it rather than instinctively dismissing it
- Ask clarifying questions on any feedback that seems unclear or subjective
- Analyze feedback objectively to determine which advice is most relevant and actionable for revising the essay
- After revising based on feedback, send the essay back to the peer for follow-up thoughts
- Express genuine gratitude for the time peers invested in improving your writing
Powerful benefits of peer feedback for essay writing development
Regularly seeking, accepting, and integrating quality peer feedback has immense benefits for rapid growth as a writer, including:
- Receiving insightful, objective critique on issues within essays that writers are inherently blind to on solo review
- Providing motivation and accountability to closely re-assess one’s own writing with a self-critical eye
- Developing skills to give highly constructive feedback on others’ essays which indirectly improves self-editing abilities
- Mastering the art of taking criticism professionally rather than personally
- Learning to determine which pieces of advice will measurably improve essay quality vs. which to disregard politely
- Dramatically improving the strength of arguments, evidence integration, flow, grammar, and more in essays
- Elevating writing to levels far exceeding what one could achieve without regular peer feedback
Final Thoughts
In summary, continuously soliciting and implementing detailed feedback and peer review is indispensable for developing stronger essay writing skills. While being critiqued can feel uncomfortable or discouraging, embracing constructive criticism with an open mind is key to improvement. Peer feedback provides the impartial perspective necessary to identify writing weaknesses and meaningfully refine essays before high-stakes submission. Therefore, writers should actively seek feedback, graciously accept criticism, and integrate selective advice to maximize essay writing growth.
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