Guide to Peer Response

"No praise, no blame--just response." William Stafford

Responding in helpful ways to each other's writing is one of the most important activities in a writing classroom. As writers, we need good feedback to help us see our writing from a reader's perspective. As peer responders, we can serve as a test audience for our peers' writing. Good feedback supports revision and writer's development of their thinking and their texts.

This guide will provide some basic guidelines for how to approach peer response, along with some examples of strong and weak peer responses.

Use these principles to guide you as you respond to your peer's writing

1) Respond in a constructive, respectful way
Praise those aspects of their work that deserves praise and point out weaknesses constructively, in a voice that suggests that their work can and will improve with work. This doesn't mean being dishonest, nor does it mean to sanction insincere flattery.

2) Respond based upon what "success" means for the writing task
Every essay you write has goals and learning outcomes, and you should provide your feedback in terms of these goals and outcomes. For example, if you have been studying how to write good thesis statements, provide feedback on how the writer is doing in terms of successfully writing a good thesis in his or her paper. Review these learning materials if necessary so your provide better feedback.

2) Point directly at their writing; be specific
Rather than making general and abstract comments like, "You had some good description in here," make comments that point specifically at their writing: "I liked the description you had in the story, especially when you described your grandfather and that moment when he dropped the cat."

3) Be observational; comment as a reader (not as a teacher)
The best help you can give your peer is to serve as a good reader for them. You need not respond in the role of the teacher or fixer of their writing. Respond as a fellow writer and as a reader. Observe closely what you see in their writing as well as what you experience as a reader.

Being "observational" means that you point out and notice aspects of their writing, but you don't infer what those "facts" suggest--let the author do that. For example, rather than saying, "You need to include a better 'lead' for the beginning of your introduction," say, "I did not notice a 'lead' in the beginning of your introduction." Instead of saying, "You need to move your thesis to the end of your introduction," say "I noticed your thesis in the first line of you second paragraph."

4) Follow the peer response questions:
Let these questions be your guide as you respond.

A few more words about being observational:
The peer response questions will guide your responses predominantly, but you should also be guided by your role as a reader of the author's text. Your job is to play the role of a reader and share your experience as a reader with the writer of the text. No one likes sharp criticism, and that is not your role. A better stance as you respond is to be observational--notice things while minimizing critical or directive statements.

Avoid this kind of response:
You didn't include a Works Cited page and you are supposed to for this assignment. You better do that.

Do this kind of response:
I noticed that you had no Works Cited page. My understanding of MLA is it includes both in-text citation and a Works Cited page.

Don't feel that you have to tell them what to do or what they are doing wrong. Instead, provide them the information to make their own inferences and conclusions.

A word more about being specific:
Peer responses that point directly to the writing and provide examples are much more helpful than general abstract responses.

Avoid this kind of response:
I got kind of lost in your paper. I was confused.

Do this kind of response:
I noticed that I got kind of lost in your section describing how the car crashed. I got confused about where they were and what exactly caused the crash. Was it the road conditions or was there something else? I couldn't tell.

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Examples of Helpful and Weak Peer Responses

The peer response questions used for the examples below:

1. Address one concern the author has expressed about their story in their Draft Letter.
2. POINT to some examples of good description you liked in the story.
3. POINT to what you think is the central image or central event of the essay?
4. What MORE do you think is needed? Where? (any places in the story that need more description, any information you need to understand what is going on better)
5. What LESS is needed? (anything that detracts from following and seeing the core of the story.

Example of Good Response

Examples of Poor Peer Responses

Peer Response is a two way street. You will be giving peer response, and you will be receiving it. The more you do peer response, the more you see how helpful it is to get feedback from your readers as you work on a writing piece. As you review peer responses you have received, remember that you are the ultimate "author," and you decide what to use or not use from this feedback.

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