Journal 4: Responding to Other Students' Writing

As a peer reviewer, I have a very important job. I have to make sure to review an essay with just the right amount of criticism and just the right amount of praise; it's a very fine line. I see myself as a reader that is not trying to pick and pull what's right or wrong out of the essay, but as a reader just commenting on what I see. I plan on reviewing other students' essays the way I would like my own paper to be reviewed. As a peer reviewer, I have to make sure to not be too harsh. Sometimes, being too harsh can really lower a person's self-esteem about essay writing, and I can relate first hand. Therefore, when I review other essays, I should make sure to add praise or criticism depending on how that student has been acting in class, just as the article said. If a person seems to not be very confident about their writing, I can praise them and hopefully lift their spirits. On the other hand, if someone is too cocky about their writing, a little bit of criticism would not hurt. However, when giving criticism, I have to make sure not to act as if I'm all-knowing or as if what they wrote is completely wrong. 

I hope to get lots of insight about my paper and what I can fix in this peer review. I'm not feeling too great about my draft and honestly feel like I just have a ton of mush written on my paper. I really need to work on clearly organizing all of my thoughts into coherent paragraphs. However, I feel like my opening paragraph and explanation of the topic is very strong.