I have improved significantly in the area of peer review/critique. My comments from week one are not strong at all. For example, I commented on a paper about sentence structure: “These are complete sentences so they should either be linked with a semi colon or have periods where the commas are currently. If you use semi colons, the two sentences should relate in a way to “connect” with each other.” This comment may be helpful for structuring, but would not help the writer improve the content of their essay. My comments from week one focus mostly on local revisions such as commas, subordinating conjunctions, correct punctuation, etc. Compared to my recent peer review comments, the difference between the two is drastic. I am not focused on commenting about main arguments, claims, evidence, and naysayer arguments. These types of comments help the writer build on their own ideas and further their essay. The process of peer review has not only strengthened my editing skills of to help others, but it has also improve my editing process of my own papers. I can now identify where content is lacking. I can identify quicker if a claim isn’t going to work or if my main argument isn’t strong enough. The process of peer review has overall strengthened my peer editing skills as well as the skills I use to edit my own writing.
