Peer Review

Whenever one of my papers has been peer reviewed, the comments and edits have been drastically different and varied from person to person. I believe that peer review is a great way for both the writer and the editor to learn. While the writer is getting great review done on his paper, the editor also gets to practice editing papers and finding mistakes. I always believed that you do not really understand something until you can teach it to someone else, so peer review is a good way for people to find out whether or not they really understand a concept. I also like peer review because it gives a personal touch from someone who has completely different opinions and ideas about your paper. You could have two different people review a paper and they could say completely opposite things about the same subject. However, this sometimes leads to problems since some people don’t really understand exactly what they are talking about, and can sometimes give bad advice to someone. There are minor things that are wrong with peer review, such as the bad advice or incorrect information, however for the most part I think it is a great way for people to learn and to better master their skill of writing.

As a writer I always love having people find grammatical errors in my paper. I am not the best proof reader and often miss many grammar mistakes. I also like when people say where they get confused about something in my paper or if I need to explain it in a better way. I like when they tell me when I need to clarify because sometimes I know what I want to say, but don’t get my point across. As a reviewer, I like when someone makes the topic and thesis of their paper very clear. I don’t like reading something and for half of the paper having to wonder what they are saying and what point they are trying to make. I also like when I am told to look for a specific aspect of the paper to improve. There are so many things you can change and improve in a paper, sometimes it is a daunting task to have to find just one thing at a time to improve. If there were stations where one person focused on one aspect of the paper then I think editing would be more effective.

I always like when at least two people look at my paper, that way I know when something is clearly confusing or when I need to change something. If it’s just one person, sometimes it makes me wonder whether or not I really need to change something. Ideally, as many people as possible would edit my papers so I get the most feedback I can and change what I think I need to.

I like to work on peer review for a longer time than most people, I feel like I usually am still working on someone’s paper when everyone else has finished, but maybe I am just a slow reader or editor. I like when the teacher selects the pairings because that way I just get a random person reading my paper instead of someone who I might already know what they will say.