What's the Point of WEx
Now that we've gotten a little practice working with the Writers'
Exchange or WEx, let's talk about why it's such a useful learning tool.
(If you need a refresher on what WEx is, check out the WEx Guide pt. 1
and pt. 2 and the WEx infographic in the Week Four module).
"Peer Review." When I say those two simple words in my in-person
courses, I watch a collective shudder run through the classroom, as if
I'd just asked them all to watch The Ring video. Believe me, I
get it. I've been in truly terrible peer review groups before. Sometimes
people are too polite and just tell you that your paper is great, and
you'll definitely get an A (and then don't, and you want to tear your
hair out). Or you'll have that one person who tears your work apart like
they want nothing more than to see you weep, but they don't offer
anything beyond insults. And it can be hard to be the person giving
feedback You have this whole essay in front of you, and you might not
know where to begin in terms of giving the writer helpful suggestions
for making their paper better.
WEx is an elevated form of peer review. In other words, it's designed to provide you with enough structure and direction that everyone gets something out of it. There is a misconception about peer review. A lot of people think it's about getting feedback which takes the place of instructor comments. But that's not what peer review or WEx is all about. Yes, you should get a healthy amount of feedback if the students reviewing your draft do a good job.
BUT, what WEx/peer review is really about is learning how to break down a text and figure out how to make it better. When you evaluate another student's work using the WEx criteria, you are training yourself to revise your own work more effectively.
As you move on after English 1110.01, you will have to write a lot of
papers for other classes. You probably won't have the advantage of peer
review, and being able to work on the same project throughout the whole
semester, getting instructor feedback along the way. If you have the
experience pinpointing an essay's weakness and looking for ways to
improve it, you'll be able to revise your work using those skills you
developed in WEx.
Post either one original comment relating to one or more of the questions below OR respond to two other students below.
What worries you about WEX? What have your past experiences with peer review been, good or bad? What does your revision process look like now (how many drafts do you write, do you have anyone look over your essays, etc.)?
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| Peer Review Time! |
WEx is an elevated form of peer review. In other words, it's designed to provide you with enough structure and direction that everyone gets something out of it. There is a misconception about peer review. A lot of people think it's about getting feedback which takes the place of instructor comments. But that's not what peer review or WEx is all about. Yes, you should get a healthy amount of feedback if the students reviewing your draft do a good job.
BUT, what WEx/peer review is really about is learning how to break down a text and figure out how to make it better. When you evaluate another student's work using the WEx criteria, you are training yourself to revise your own work more effectively.
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| This could be you! |
Post either one original comment relating to one or more of the questions below OR respond to two other students below.
What worries you about WEX? What have your past experiences with peer review been, good or bad? What does your revision process look like now (how many drafts do you write, do you have anyone look over your essays, etc.)?
I am worried about I can't give the writer correct suggestions. I think different people have different views on the same article. And my opinion may not the same as the writer's. If I give the wrong advice, the writer might be misled. My past experiences with peer review is not good because the review I received is not useful. Now I use the process taught by WEX that describe-assess-suggest. And through WEX my essays have enough suggestion and I can revise my essays about 4 times.
ReplyDeleteYeah, being worried about giving good feedback and receiving good feedback is pretty normal.
DeleteWhat worries me about WEX is the deadlines because I don't have much time to work on stuff during the week only the weekends. I am also worried that people may rush their review and not leave insightful comments that will help me grow as a writer and improve my grades in the papers. My past experiences have been mostly good but I've also had people that just review things to get it done. My revision process usually matches what the class requires, if I need 10 drafts then I will write and revise 10 drafts. Usually I will have group mates or friends help me out.
ReplyDeleteYeah, unfortunately, you can't work ahead on WEx, so that work has to be done during the set windows. I'm a weekend worker, too.
DeleteWhat worries me about WEX is the time limitation that I can complete one review, because I'm used to work in small gaps in my day, so I'm afraid of forgetting that the review window is open and the time lapses. I think my past experience with peer review is good because many suggestions from my partner is valuable and worth considering. Now, I usually write 3 to 4 drafts, but that depends on the kind of work I am doing. For most times, I have my friends look over my essay.
ReplyDeleteI definitely recommend planning on creating and completing a whole review in one sitting since WEx will take back the review after eight hours. You can take breaks in between reviews, but it's better to not work in gaps for the reviews.
DeleteSomething that worries me about WEX is the process of reviewing another person's work. I think that sometimes I get too caught up in not wanting to be too harsh to the other person yet also give helpful reviews, so I spend a lot more time than probably necessary trying to come up with things to suggest. Most of my past experiences with peer review have not been the best, just because I think that it is always a challenge to critique other people's work, and some people don't put in all of the effort to actually do that. My revision process usually includes writing a few rough drafts where I pull stuff from for the final product. If I want a second opinion, I ask a friend to read the essay over and make suggestions/comments.
ReplyDeleteSpending a lot of energy on your tone and word choice can definitely make peer review challenging.
DeleteI worry about the tight deadlines with WEx and the 8 hour review window, because I am dyslexic and a slow reader and writer, and the short turn-around time and 8 hour window means I have to find big blocks of time to work on it, which is hard with my schedule. My previous experience with peer review was not that helpful to be honest, people tend to just give vague suggestions. I generally do a lot of revisions when I write, because I take long time to go over things and tend to reorganize and rewrite a lot.
ReplyDeleteLet me know if we need to chat about an accommodation, H!
DeleteI am not sure that I can give good reviews to my peers. Sometimes I feel something strange, but I cannot tell exactly what it is. Since I know the author put efforts in composing the essay, I need to pay more attention to reviewing the paper and check whether the suggestion is useful. Also, the 8-hour limit of each review makes me worry. I feel the time management is going to be important in the WEx process. My past peer review is good but sometimes the suggestion is not helpful and makes me confused. I am not sure about how many drafts I write every time since it depends on the situation. Usually I do 3 or 4 drafts. Then I will let my friends or the writing center read my draft for revision.
ReplyDeleteEven if you just have a feeling about something not really working, that's worth making note of.
DeleteI think what worries me most about WEx is that there are no reminders sent out when a window is opening or closing. I know Professor Romines sent out reminders for the practice assignments but I think I will have to make reminders myself to make sure I complete the assignments on time. In the past, I haven't had great experiences with peer reviews because I've received incomprehensible assignments that I was expected to comment on. My classmates submitted work that they did not proof read or structure properly, making it very difficult to understand. I start my revision process by reading my paper over myself and then I have someone else proof read it as well. I don't usually write separate drafts and save them because I edit my paper as I go since I usually have a plan for how I want to structure it beforehand.
ReplyDeleteI actually send out an annoying amount of reminders for every single cycle because it's better to do that than have a bunch of students missing the deadline. So yeah, I'll be haunting that inbox on WEx weeks.
DeleteWhat worries me the most about WEx is the fast deadlines, the issue with that is the window is not open for long. I prefer to do my homework all in advance and with WEx I have to wait until the window opens, that style homework is very difficult for me to adjust to. My past experience with peer review have to not been good. When it has been used in my previous classes, it is usually only done for completion points and the comments made are not useful to me and do not help me in perfecting my essays. My revision process now include writing 3-4 drafts, I go through the original draft by myself and fix things, and then have a few friends go through a review it.
ReplyDeleteNot being able to work ahead is one of the annoyances of WEx, for sure.
DeleteI think the biggest thing that worries me about WEx is how structured the feedback has to be and making sure I am reviewing to the right criteria. Also like many people have been saying the deadlines are slightly scary. I do not entirely like peer review because I know it is helpful, but it is a very vulnerable thing when you allow someone else to read your personal writing. The revision process I like to go threw is to brainstorm, write down some bullet points for organization, and then just write whatever comes to mind. Then go back and synthesis my ideas more, correct grammar and sentence structure, and perhaps add new ideas that came to me. I sometimes send my work to my sister or mom to help with pointing out grammatical errors that I did not catch, or to help me decipher what does not make sense.
ReplyDeleteThe anonymous nature of WEx can help with those feelings of vulnerability.
DeleteI‘m worried that I cannot give the correct and useful suggestions to the writer. All my suggestions come from my personal idea and feeling so that I'm not sure are my suggestions helpful for the writer. Because everyone looks everything through different angles. I am afraid that I will negatively affect the writer's thoughts and lead him to a wrong direction. My past peer review experience was very good since my classmates gave me many useful suggestions and pointed out some dead zones which I ignored. I can revise my draft for around 4 times under the peer review. Sometimes the peers are my classmates and sometimes they can be my teachers and parents.
ReplyDeleteI'm worried about being too nice in my reviews and not giving enough quality feedback to help the person whose paper I'm reviewing. None of my past experiences with peer review have been very helpful because there was little to no structure to guide us through the process. The reviews my peers gave me on my papers were either too vague or just said my paper didn't need any changes, and I felt like I didn't know what to look for while reviewing other's papers. My personal revision process usually involves outlining, one or two drafts, and possibly having a parent or friend read through it.
ReplyDeleteYes! The "too nice" reviews are hard to avoid, but really aren't helpful.
DeleteWith WEx, I think I am most worried about giving and receiving effective reviews. I do not like how there is no way to comment on a particular sentence. I think it is good to get wholistic reviews, but it is not how I am used to doing peer reviews. In the past, I have thought of peer review as more of a grammar check and to make sure that my message is getting across because the paper was about my ideas, not the suggestions that my peers made. I have had a variety of experiences when it comes to peer review. My bad experiences were usually because my partner had a lack of effort which was frustrating because I spent time editing and commenting on their work. I found that I was more successful when one of my friends reviewed my paper because they weren't afraid to offend me if they thought something needed to be changed and they also praised the parts of my essay that was good. For my writing/revision process, I always start with an outline and then pretty much fill in the outline until the paper writes itself. From there I would say that I have 1-2 more drafts. I always like to have at least one other person read over my essay, whether it is peer review or just a friend reading it. Before I submit the final draft, I always try to go over the paper printed out with a pen and read aloud to catch anything that just does not sound right. I usually do not have a lot of drafts because I just edit my original as I get feedback and come up with new ideas.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the lack of line edits in WEx is intentional to keep everything focused on the big picture. Peer review can easily devolve into copy edits, which isn't what we're wanting to work with here.
DeleteI had a experience about peer review at my EDUTL 1902 class last semester. At that time, I get not only the healthy feedback from other person but also get the unhelpful feedback such as just pointing out the grammatical error.So,when I am worried about getting peer review because there are possibility that I don't get the healthy peer review. But in the anonymous system, I think WEx will help me to get the healthy peer review because when people know they are anonymous, they express themselves well. Also, due to exam period, I don't start off with the writing revision process. After exam period, Friday, I think I go into the Writing process.
ReplyDeleteYou're definitely not going to be stuck with just grammar feedback in WEx.
DeleteI have to say WEx is really amazing network platform to give comments and get reflection. However, I am worried that I cannot meet a person who get my point and give me effective feedback, because I have such an experience. When I need some fresh idea from other or I need someone help me find some logic problem, they just point out grammar mistakes. Of course, grammar is also important. Thus, I suggest that WEx can add a message board which can let peers know the shortcoming of authors. When authors submit their works, they can leave some message. When I planned to write an essay, I always revised draft everyday if I have some new ideas
ReplyDeleteI am worried about missing the deadline on WEx website, and whether the person can give me a effective review is also my concern. I did the peer review last semester, and my feeling was that people not pay so many attention to my paper, but finish their assignment. However, I still like to accept the suggestions from peer review, because I have a blind area of my work. And I believe I can make a great work with the helps from others. My draft is not finished yet, and I'd like to analyse my details from many perspectives.
ReplyDeleteI am worried about getting honest feedback from my classmates on my papers. A lot of them time people will try to sugar coat and be nice but that isn't effective when trying to improve my work. My current process for writing papers is I write one draft and I don't have anyone review my work.
ReplyDeleteThe sugar coated reviews is my personal pet peeve.
DeleteI am worried about how to make a good reflection when my classmates make reviews. Because some reviews are not really serious but some reviews are pretty good. So I need to make different reflections. My past experience about peer reviews were usually good and effective. As for me, I probably have 2-3 drafts now and it depends on the reviews and my own satisfaction with my drafts.
ReplyDeleteI am worried that this peer review process will not be taken seriously by some students and that I will not receive as much valuable feedback as I would like. I am also worried about providing valuable feedback to the other students in the class because there is a chance I will not fully understand their topic. I only wrote two papers in my freshman year other than lab reports and other technical communication documents. Usually I got an idea of the points I wanted to make, sat down, and wrote the paper in its entirety. Then I would sit down the next day and read it over to make sure it was strong and grammatically correct before turning it in. This process worked for me.
ReplyDeleteBrandon Harroff
I am worried that the WEx reviews will take me too much time, and I won't be able to truly focus on my paper and what I am reviewing because I will just be worried about getting it done in time. I am also worried that the feedback that I will get will not help me enough with improving my paper so that I can do well. In the past, when people peer reviewed my papers, they would typically just fix my grammatical issues, and not give me feedback on how to improve the quality of the paper with the way I say things, or how strong my thesis and supporting evidence is. Right now, I write a rough draft for my papers and then go back later to change the structure and the way I say things. After this, I will reread the paper and fix any grammatical issues I have and further strengthen my essay. Once I feel like it is done, I will have a friend look over it to get another opinion.
ReplyDeleteWEx is definitely time-consuming, but you probably won't be working on your essay simultaneously as you'll want to wait for peer feedback.
DeleteI haven't done any peer's reviews before this class, but after the first period of WEx, I feel like the peer's reviews from other students do help me improve my understanding of the materials of the topic. However, I'm not sure if the peer's reviews will always go well compared with the guaranteened useful comments directly from professors. Besides, sometimes my reviews for others could be wrong since I am also a student with less experience too. And i feel terrible if my reviews mislead the writer. Finally, writing three reviews each time could be a little too much works especially if those articles are long.
ReplyDeletePeer feedback and instructor feedback are definitely different, but instructor feedback (on full drafts) is reserved for final, graded drafts, so make the most of the peer feedback.
DeleteI haven't done any peer's reviews before this class, but after the first period of WEx, I feel like the peer's reviews from other students do help me improve my understanding of the materials of the topic. However, I'm not sure if the peer's reviews will always go well compared with the guaranteened useful comments directly from professors. Besides, sometimes my reviews for others could be wrong since I am also a student with less experience too. And i feel terrible if my reviews mislead the writer. Finally, writing three reviews each time could be a little too much works especially if those articles are long.
ReplyDeleteWhat worries me about wex is the time commitment and the word count. I often find it hard to write a lot about other peoples work just because they have different writing styles than I do. In the past, I've never gotten good peer reviews from my peers because they never went into detail with what they wrote for me, so I adapted to not writing detailed reviews for other students. My review process is having my friends look at my work and helping me edit and fix grammar mistakes.
ReplyDeleteRezvan Atena Baghbanian
You've got nice friends!
DeleteWhat worries me about the WEx is the deadlines because for the 8 hours time limitation I can only finish my peer review on weekends. And it's hard to find the provided time to do. I haven't had the experience with peer review before. However, the peer reviews helps me to discover the weakness from others' essay and have the reflect on myself to find out what should improve. And I usually do many revisions about my drafts. I always write the subtopics first to broaden my mind and then write down every ideas on drafts. Sometimes my friends will give me suggestions.
ReplyDeleteYeah, WEx isn't the type of assignment that you can save for the weekend, unfortunately.
DeleteI'm worried that my fellow students and I might not have the same expectations for a good paper as the professor does, and that I might get a worse grade because of that. WEx seems to be an awesome tool for feedback, but I was worried when I read that we wouldn't get any feedback from Prof. RS on our rough drafts. What if the expectations of my fellow classmates don't match the expectations of Prof. RS? What if I'm going in the wrong direction for the project and I don't find out until the final draft has been graded? That's what worries me the most.
ReplyDeleteYou can definitely check in with me if you are unsure about peer feedback you've received, but the idea is for you all to learn how to become strong writers through developing skills like you acquire in WEx. You'll get instructor feedback on the graded PSA, SSI, rough draft of the ARP, and graded ARP, so you'll have plenty of opportunities to learn through instructor comments. Remember, you are working on one long research paper throughout the whole semester, so each step (even though those are separate grades) is an opportunity to course correct is necessary.
DeleteI'm worried about if I can not give appropriate suggestions for my peer. My view my be different from professor's view. For the same reason, I'm also worrying about the suggestion that my peer gave me is not going to be helpful for my paper score. If revise my paper to a worse level according to suggestion, that will be kind of bad.
ReplyDeleteMake sure you are revisting the assignment guidelines and check out the PSA tips email I'll be sending out. That way, you can check and make sure the peer feedback isn't leading you in the wrong direction.
DeleteIn the past I have had both positive and negative experiences with peer reviews. Getting feedback from other people who are also trying to write a paper is very helpful when it is done well. However, some people do not take the task of peer review seriously, I am worried that some will receive reviews that are not well thought out and constructive.
ReplyDelete"When done well" is so true.
DeleteI am worry about that I can not receive useful advice from peer revision. Peer revision just point out the grammar mistakes, but hard to give correct suggestion about thought of the essay. I have the experience of peer review when I take the course 1902, but all of the suggestions is too broad and I do not know how to improve my essay through these suggestions. However, I have a good experience of peer review in class, because we can communicate face to face and I can understand their points immediately. I believe I will have one or two draft and let someone to check my essay such as teachers in the writing center.
ReplyDeleteWEx isn't really designed for grammar feedback, so you should be receiving big picture feedback.
DeleteI think, in regards to WEx, my biggest worries revolve around the due *times* in particular. While I know I have already talked about not being great with due dates, having a due time of 3pm every day sort of messes with my brain, and I think I might forget to do the submissions sometimes- which isn’t great, considering that if I miss 1 part of the cycle, I won’t be able to complete the rest of it. My past experiences with peer review have been mixed; once I found a couple of good people to work my drafts with, they became much better, as we all felt comfortable giving each other truthful and helpful comments. When I begin writing a paper, I usually try to write an extensive outline to begin with and work out what I want in my paper. Then, I usually write the draft over a couple of days (my mindset is that if I can take a break and come back to look at it later, I can see the problems easier than I can when I sit down and write it all at once). I will go make comments on my own paper and continue revising it from there, rinse and repeat the last step until the paper is completed.
ReplyDeleteChristy Welder
Yeah, 3PM deadlines are truly terrible for me as well, so I feel you.
DeleteWhat I am worried about is that I am a little afraid of giving the wrong suggestions and resolutions, which will be definitely embarrassed and misleading. One time, I have had a peer review in ESL 1902 writing class in last semester. And one of my peer reviews for other classmates has some wrong corrections and before I hand in this submission to my classmates. My teachers corrected me about this problem. I feel relieved and embarrassed about my fault.
ReplyDeletePeer review is nothing new to me. As I've stated previously; I am not a traditional first year student. I've been in my career field for a little over 10 years now. Three years ago I transitioned from the military where I was an intelligence analyst to the private sector. In the private sector I worked as an intelligence analyst again except this time I was analyzing finance intelligence. As our group evolved I was asked to be part of a newly forming Quality Control team. This team's task was to ensure that a certain set of standards were met. These standards were set by both the bank and then superseded by the Federal Government's regulations. My day to day task included providing peer feedback while helping to develop our investigators into more knowledgeable and attentive analysts. I hope these skills will be transferable (and received well) in this peer review system.
ReplyDeleteI almost forgot about the good vs. bad portion of the question. To be honest I have had both good and bad experiences with peer reviews. It honestly depends on how your feedback is developed and the language you use. It also depends on the person who receives the feed as well. Some individuals can be overly sensitive while others are entirely dismissive.
DeleteSounds like you're a pro!
Deleteit's really impressed when I see the WEX platform first time because of its convenience. But it's also my first time to review my classmates' paper and give them suggestions. I think I can do a good job for pointing out which part is good, but it's really difficult to use critical and logical thinking to point out where is bad. However, the first time of WEX studying is successful, it's also a good way to view other's advantages for improving my points firmly, and learn other's disadvantages for avoiding them on my own.
ReplyDeleteCan you reply with your name, please, so I can give you credit?
Deleteit's really impressed when I see the WEX platform first time because of its convenience. But it's also my first time to review my classmates' paper and give them suggestions. I think I can do a good job for pointing out which part is good, but it's really difficult to use critical and logical thinking to point out where is bad. However, the first time of WEX studying is successful, it's also a good way to view other's advantages for improving my points firmly, and learn other's disadvantages for avoiding them on my own.
ReplyDeleteWEx is impreesive for me because it contains the function of submit, review and even reflection. You can see others' suggestions can some of them can be useful for article. The thing that worried me is that the principal for reviewing is good but sometimes it is hard to follow.
ReplyDeleteIn the WEX process, I am worried that my suggestions for my peer reviewer's reading can be incorrect. My previous experiences with peer reviews have been fine; I have been able to point out the flaws of the writing, but I haven't been able to point out the critical aspects of peoples' writings.
ReplyDeleteMy revision process is just writing a simple rough draft, then have some expert give me a solid review on the draft so that I can write a smooth and well organized paper.
I can be too critical of an idea or theme which might lead to a skewed judgement and a false interpretation. Incorrect understanding leads me to write a peer review which is not as useful as it should be. The second thing that I am worried about is the response from other people. The feedback from others helps to make the writing more effective and understandable to a larger diaspora without different interpretations. If I am not able to receive the accurate feedback, then WEx will not be of any help to me. Peer review has helped me a lot in the past, especially in my landscape architecture class, the feedback from my classmates helped me to write a better research paper that I could have ever written.
ReplyDeleteI have the same concern as I may not be helpful or giving the wrong direction to the person. And the WEX system can be complicated sometimes. My past experience with peer review was average. My classmates are all international students so we could not help out each other that much as we are struggling ourselves. There were two drafts that one we would get peer review and after that we revise and get the professor's review.
ReplyDeleteWhat worries you about WEX is the potential quality of reviews. In past experiences, peer reviews were always done quickly, not thoroughly, and as participation instead of with the idea of providing quality feedback. I am worried that because we have to do three reviews, that consist of three mini reviews, students might be in a rush and do them quickly.
ReplyDeleteMy revision process is writing a draft, printing it out, and editing it with a red pen. After this, I make the edits in the computer, and repeat the cycle. Usually, I finish the editing process with having my mom read over the paper.
I get what you're saying, but it's hard to rush a WEx review if you're hitting all the criteria using "describe, assess, suggest."
DeleteThe WEX has already given me lots of introductions about reviews. However, I still worry about my writing skills. The thing is that I am not good at writing, so I am afraid that the review that I give is not very valuable. What I wanna say is that I will try me best to write reviews.
ReplyDeleteIn my environment and natural resource class, there is also peer review section about paper we write. It is pretty good. My classmates gave me several useful suggestions which improved my paper to a higher level.
Brady Scott
ReplyDeleteWhat worries me about Wex is that its yet another online resource besides carmen. It seems like every other class has abandoned it also so finding the point in bounding between websites seems confusing rather than solidifying it all in one spot. My peer review experience has been mostly negative. I would rather someone qualified review my paper rather than give me two cent recommendations because them, along with me, have no idea what they are doing. After all, if they were an expert they would be teaching the class. My revision process starts with me spewing as much as possible, going through an trimming the fat to make it more concise and well worded. Then I send it to someone significantly more knowledgeable than myself, usually my father, then to the teacher in charge of a class to review it to their standard as each teacher is different in what they look for and then I will finally turn it in.
Carmen doesn't really have a useful peer review system, so doing peer review on Carmen wouldn't really work. It's more of a collection service, housing readings, links, assignment dropboxes, grades, etc. rather than an actual program designed to run something complex like a peer review algorithm.
DeleteI'm worried that people are either going to not give enough meaningful corrections, or that people will try to focus on correcting a part of the essay that doesn't need as much correcting compared to another part. In my experience, peer reviews were like the former, and it did little to help my paper. My usual writing process involves one draft, and then I read it over myself and make corrections. For very important assignments or other pieces of writing I'll have a couple of my friends to review it for me.
ReplyDeleteThe most difficult part for me of doing WEx assignments is writing reviews. I am worried about providing useful suggestions and the questions of review part is different from what i did before. For example in the last assignment, the second and third question seems a bit similar for me and i tried to write comments differently in those two parts. WEx is a system similar to carmen, which is an online assignments communication system. This could help us to see others' work and find what could be improved in our own assignments.
ReplyDeleteI feel that I learned a lot through the last cycle of WEx assignment. The only thing I am worry about is that I may be not sure what review is the right one. Because there is a sample review in last cycle, I find I reach an agreement with it in some places, which are also not written in other three review. If there's no relatively standard answer for my article, I may confuse that if it's right to write this way. However, I still learn a lot in last cycle. I get the view how my peers think about the same article and have a better view about how I should start my article.
ReplyDeleteWhat worries you about WEX? What have your past experiences with peer review been, good or bad? What does your revision process look like now (how many drafts do you write, do you have anyone look over your essays, etc.)?
ReplyDeleteThe biggest thing that worries me is giving/receiving the "right" advice. People all write in different ways and styles. I want to be able to help someone with their writing but if I feel like something should be changed but they don't then it won't be the most helpful advice to them. I haven't done many peer reviews but I think that they are good opportunities for growing as a writer. I usually have two different drafts when I write. One I will look for the simple mistakes in and the other I do larger changes to. I usually let a friend of mine read a paper before I turn it in for clarity.
Alicia Cox
One thing that worries me is that the advice I am giving could be taken directly by someone else to alter their assignment. It's a little nerve-wracking because if you give them the wrong advice and they take it, you could actually be hurting their assignment. It's also a little different than typical peer review, where you might know the person and their writing style and how they will take your constructive criticism. My past experiences have been mostly semi-helpful, but typically just other students wanting to get their points or get through the class period, so it doesn't always feel like they genuinely want to help you improve your assignment. Typically now I write one draft, and have some of my roommates, friends or my girlfriend look over my assignment.
ReplyDeleteIt can feel kind of high-stakes to give someone feedback on their essay.
DeleteI am worried about how to write the review, since my writing skill is that bad. I had asked to write the peer reviews before, but that is just a short paragraph. I have never been write such long reviews, I am afraid I can not find out that much details, and cannot give writers good suggestions. But, as a writer, peer review also helped me a lot. Those feedbacks pointed out my problems, helped me to improve my writing. And I can heard other opinions from those feedbacks.
ReplyDeleteI think the WEX is very helpful, since we not only review others' articles, but also learn something new from each other. However, I am a little worried about WEX. My article may receive many reviews and suggestions, but I don't know how to define it's "helpful" or "helpless", and I don't know which suggestions I should adopt since some suggestions are conflict to each other. Also, I am worried about whether I can give my peers some useful advice, because I think I am not very good at writing, so sometimes I just don't know how to give some advice correctly.
ReplyDeleteI’m worried about the time it takes me to write the reviews because my writing skills are bad and it takes me a long time to write a sentence. I’m also worried about being too generous with my scores because I tend to be lenient with criticism and I don’t want to overcompensate for that by being overly critical. I haven’t enjoyed peer review before because I don’t like other people reading what I write but I guess since this is anonymous, it might be better. My writing process is very scattered and it takes me a very long time to just write a rough draft, so I usually only have time for that and a final paper after revisions.
ReplyDeleteBrianna Lewis
I took Edutl 1902 in the last semester, and wrote peer review for other students and also received peer review from others. The peer review I received not not so helpful, it did help me at the revision, but not much I have to say. One of the peer review I received seems like he didn't read my writings, he just took a few seconds to look through my paper quickly and then rushed out to finish the review on time. Of course, that review doesn't help at all. But the other review I received is very helpful, he carefully read my essay and give me a lot of good suggestions. That review and the feedback from the instructor gave me a clear way about how to revise my essay.
ReplyDeleteThe most aspect of peer review, for me, is that it may influence peer relationship in a unexpected way. In my writing experience before, since all students will know to who the comments belong to, we may not focus on how this comment will benefit the original author but on how to prevent causing bad feelings of others. This is not good as a peer review experience. For on WEx all comments are anonymous, there is no more distraction. Actually, I am not worried about peer review under present circumstance. Instead, I am glad to try a better peer review environment.
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ReplyDeleteWEX worries me a little bit from the deadlines because 3 PM seems random to me and I keep forgetting that because I am used to things being due at 11:59 PM. Also, I find WEX confusing searching through the website. I would much rather turn things in and have peer reviews through Carmen. Overall, my past experiences of peer review have been good because the other people are being helpful and getting me better grades.
ReplyDeleteI'd really love 11:59PM deadlines, but we have to do it during business hours so we can get tech help in the hours before the window closes.
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