Benefits of peer reviews

In the past I have never really enjoyed peer review. It always seemed scary like your peers were going to tear apart your paper and you make you feel stupid. So far this semester I have enjoyed the peer review. I think that it has been beneficial in writing our papers. Peer review gives us the opportunity to help each other be more successful in our writing. As reviewers it is your responsibility help your peers out and help them better their paper. I think that as we review others it also helps us to become better writers because it helps us look for things in the paper that can strength our writing or make it weaker. As reviewers we can better know what to expect in our own papers because we reviewed others like it and we can see what works and what doesn’t. I also think that reviewing is a good way for us to help each other become better writers by pointing out our weaknesses (gently) and our strengths. I like in class that the review begins with positive aspects of the papers and is then followed by critiquing. This helps me to know that my paper wasn’t awful and points out the few fine tuning items that we may need to address before it is final. I like the review sheets that we are given because it helps the reviewers know what to look for and then it helps them to organize the discussion in class. Overall I think that peer review is effective and it has been useful this semester.