After all the peer review secession this semester I have definitely noticed a difference in my abilities to give critiques on other peoples writing. To be completely honest; during the first batch of peer reviews I only gave positive feedback. I now realize this is of no help to the writer of the paper, it leaves out the critically important information on how to better their writing. Initially I thought that giving blatant negative feedback would be taken as an attack on the person, not as constructive criticism. However, I now realize that when I received ample amounts of constructive criticism on my paper, it was a real eye-opener as to what I need to fix or add to my essay. At first I was concerned about being too harsh toward other peoples writing, but now I see that if you do not tell your peer review partner the discrepancies that you see in their paper, they are likely not to be aware of the problem. This will consequently lead to a lesser final draft compared to what the final draft could actually be. Ultimately I have come to realize that feedback on my papers and feedback I have given to others plays a crucial role in developing not only the ability so progress one’s paper, but to also to have the confidence in telling one another what can be done differently.
