The chances are that you've encountered some form of peer review before, either in your academic life or perhaps in a work or school context. The reason for this is that peer review works, and thus educators are keen to reap its benefits for their students. If you've participated in peer review before, you've probably witnessed these benefits firsthand. In this video, I'm going to talk about some of the reasons why peer review will make you a better writer. But firstly, I should explain what peer review is. Peer review involves some sort of evaluation of your work by people of a similar level, or at a similar stage of their studies. If you are new to peer review, you might be asking your self, well, what's in it for me? What can I possibly get from feedback from someone who only knows as much or maybe even less about a topic than I do myself? Perhaps the idea of giving and receiving feedback from your peers is something that you feel uncomfortable about. And another thing, students I meet also often worry about their own ability to provide useful feedback to their fellow students. Of course, all these reactions are valid but receiving and responding to feedback from your peers can be invaluable to your own development as a writer. Yes, your peers are probably not likely to be as experienced at giving feedback as your teachers. But the more sets of eyes you can get on your own work, and the more feedback from different perspectives, the better. Sometimes we as writers are up so close and personal to our own writing that we can fail to see the wood for the trees. In other words, we might miss the bigger picture such as how the essay fits together as a whole, because we are so focused on the details. Equally, it's very easy to be blind to mistakes in our own texts, mistakes that a second reader will pick up easily. You should bear in mind though that a peer reviewer should not do the job of proofreader for you. Your text is your responsibility. And if you proofread your own text carefully before handing it over, your peer reviewer will find it much easier to comment on the text itself. One of the trickiest things about writing is seeing our text from the perspective of the audience since it's literally impossible to get outside of our own heads. All language is about transmitting a message to a receiver. And your peer reviewer can help you to evaluate how successful this process of transmission has been without the need for a brain transplant. For instance, your reviewer will help you to see if there were any parts of the text that don't make sense, or if there's any terms that need to be more carefully defined. Peer review can also help provide the motivation that you need to get writing in the first place. Producing drafts for peer review is one way to keep writing projects on track. Writing can be a lonely activity sometimes but the peer review process can provide you with a ready-made support group. There are other people out there who are going through similar struggles to your own. When it comes to receiving feedback from your peers, it's important to think carefully about how you will use the comments that you get. Ultimately, you are the author of your essay, and it's up to you to carefully evaluate feedback and think about what changes you will make as a result. If you're not used to receiving feedback on your writing, it can be something of an uncomfortable experience. Some people tend to take feedback on their writing personally, but it's important to remember that criticism on your writing is not criticism of you as a person, and even experienced writers can sometimes produce bad texts. When it comes to receiving feedback, think carefully about each comment, and ask yourself what you will do with it. If you choose not to act on a particular piece of feedback, reflect on why this is the case. Peer review usually involves texts in progress, and this is of course where feedback can be most useful to you. Because when it comes to peer review, we're not talking about the finished product. It's inevitable that there will be some aspects of the texts that you as the author are not 100% happy about. I understand that this can be a particular challenge for perfectionists. Handing over an unfinished piece of writing for review can be a daunting prospect, but understanding why the peer review process is so useful to your development as a writer can help to overcome some of these anxieties. I wanted to save the best thing about peer review until last. Perhaps you have worries about the quality of the feedback that you might get or maybe you doubt the value of receiving feedback from students who may have even less experience in the writing process as you do yourself. Well, as far as I see it, these issues don't actually detract from the main benefit of the peer review process and this is in developing your own critical and evaluative capacities. There is plenty of research to suggest that as the reviewer, you gain just as much, if not more, than the reviewee. If you learn what to look for in the essays of others, you'll be much better equipped to evaluate your own writing also. One of the most effective ways of learning is to explain a concept to someone else. If you can successfully explain the problems with someone else's essay and suggest possible solutions to fix these problems, you can be sure that you probably understand the principles of academic writing yourself. [MUSIC]
