Really Responding - Kelly Barnes

Really Responding - Kelly Barnes

1. This text surprised me in that I never truly knew how expansive peer reviews can be. In years past, I would always just make small comments in the margins of my classmates's papers and not go into too much detail. I would always just give constructive criticism rather than any other type of comment. The reading goes into more detail about peer reviews and how they don't necessarily have to be so simple. If anything, they can be more than a sentence and criticism shouldn't be the only comments added - but rather positive comments should be added in the review as well. I never thought to go into detail or give positive reinforcement in my peer reviews before, so it was surprising to learn.

2. I think the strategies discussed in this text can help in peer review. The two strategies that really stuck out me were the "praise and criticism" and "how to sound." Like mentioned earlier, in past peer reviews, I always focused on the negative and what could be improved on. I never really focused on the good parts of someone's paper because I was too focused on what needed or could be fixed. I think it's a good strategy to try and write as many positive comments as negative ones. It would help the reviewer let the writer know what is good in their paper as well as what can be improved. The "how to sound" section was interesting as well because when I a doing peer reviews, I always felt the need to use this insightful and intelligent persona. I was always very serious and blunt when writing my reviews, which isn't my personality. It's good to know that I don't have to do that, but rather I can just talk like I normally would to people I know.

3. I have done peer review many times in the past. It was never a positive or a negative experience, just somewhere in the middle. It was good to get other people's feedback, but often I would find myself not taking their feedback or only using very little of it since I am very stubborn and I like to use my own ideas. That's something I need to work upon and hopefully I can with this assignment.