Peer Review

An important part of writing is the review process. For me it's usually a hard process of what to cut out and add in. Since most of my writing has been done while pursuing education, I have had many opportunities to experience the joys of peer review. For me peer reviewing has always been a mixed bag. For this class it's been helpful, but in the past I've had experiences where it's felt like a burden. Mostly what I've found is that its largely dependent on the one's contributing. If it's viewed like a chore, it becomes a chore for everyone involved. If there's sincere interest, there's usually good collaboration that comes into play and the process becomes an amazing tool.
I remember one experience I had in high school where I was basically told that my paper was "good". There was no substantiated feedback other than him saying that and he hadn't even really started his own paper. In this experience I resented just being assigned to the same group as he was. I know that for sure I'm not the best, but at least I try to give analysis and help out whoever I'm working with.
Another problem I've found is when views conflict. In our opinion editorial I was told in the writing center that my thesis didn't necessarily need to foreshadow the rest of the paper. I'm glad that I didn't listen to the advice given and stuck to what my teacher wanted and what the rubric was graded on. Something I learned was to take everything with a grain of salt. For the most part there are good feedback and pointers that do wonders for a paper, but on the flipside, it's important to remember that there isn't such a thing as a perfect reviewer.