Peer Reviewing for Students
One way of improving your academic texts – as well as your communication skills in general – is to engage in peer review with your fellow students. That is, to read, comment on, and discuss each other’s texts. Most programs at KI ask you to peer review each other’s texts at some point during your studies, generally in conjunction with the degree project or master’s thesis. You can also organize informal peer review groups on your own.
Why peer review?
There are several benefits of peer review. One major benefit is getting feedback on your own text. Getting a fresh set of eyes on your text is immensely valuable, as it helps you understand firsthand how your writing affects readers. Ideally, you will also receive concrete suggestions for improvement, allowing you to make your text even better than it was.
However, just as useful as getting feedback on your text is giving feedback on other students’ texts. When you read intending to provide feedback on a text, you read intensely. It is not enough to simply point out what works well and what could be improved, now you need to consider why something works, as well as why something does not work well yet. In other words, you need to consider what constitutes an effective text and why – and doing so helps you reach new insights about your own writing.
Last, but not least, being able to both give and receive feedback is considered a key skill in the scientific community and part of the assessment criteria for many programs at KI.
What do you need to think about when you give and receive feedback?
The first thing you should consider is the purpose of what you are doing, to help each other develop your writing skills. You need to:
- Be kind. Respect the hard work your fellow students have put into their writing. Focus on the text and your reading experience, not on the author. Do not hesitate to bring up potentially fraught issues in a respectful manner. Drawing attention to such issues allows your fellow student to address the issue early on.
- Be concrete. Avoid giving general or sweeping comments. Instead, point to concrete examples in the text. It may help to show two examples of the same thing to better help your fellow students understand the principle, not just the one instance.
- Focus on bigger issues. You may, for example, ask about the feasibility of the method, or comment that you found it difficult to follow the line of reasoning in a specific section of the text.
- Be curious. Ask questions and try to have a conversation about the text, rather than just stating what works well and what does not (yet!).
Feel free to use this list of questions related to the readability of the text, organized from higher-order issues to lower-order ones. Use the list to help you pinpoint aspects that you want to address with your fellow students.
What should you do when you receive feedback on your text?
When you receive feedback, try to think of the session as an opportunity to discuss your text in depth with someone who has spent time engaging intensely with it. To get the most out of the session:
- Make sure you understand the feedback. Ask questions to clarify points that may be unclear to you. Not only will doing so benefit you, but most people who have spent time preparing feedback want you to understand their feedback and benefit from it.
- Ask for specific examples, or suggestions for improvement, if these have not been offered.
- Consider each suggestion, but in the end, remember: this is your text. You decide what to revise and how. Keep in mind that you may not always agree with a suggestion, but the peer reviewer’s comment may still indicate that something is unclear in your text. Adjust accordingly.
- Finally, try to enjoy yourself! It is quite a luxury to have someone read your text carefully and comment on it, while also trying to genuinely both understand what you are trying to say and help you say it even better.
How can you find someone for informal peer review groups, and what should you think about when you form a group?
Talk to your classmates! Perhaps they are interested in forming an informal peer review group with you.
When you have found a group, agree on some ground rules to ensure that the group will be rewarding and that frustrations are kept to a minimum.
Discuss, for example:
- Where, when, and how often will you meet?
- How long should you spend reading texts, preparing feedback, and discussing?
- How okay is it to be late or reschedule?
- How can you ensure everyone feels comfortable during the sessions?
Good luck, and happy peer reviewing!
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